Metro Council tells the chamber to knock off its efforts to give the mayor more power over schools

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is pitching state lawmakers on an idea for county mayors to appoint school board members, and that’s drawing criticism from the Metro Council.

The proposal would apply to any local district has at least 10 schools listed by the state as failing for three consecutive years. But it appears to take aim at two Democrat-led cities in Tennessee — Nashville and Memphis. Many of Tennessee’s underperforming schools are in those cities.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the Metro Council approved a resolution telling the chamber to knock it off.

“Do we need to be allocating money to an organization that was actively lobbying against the interests of our own government and our own taxpayers?” Metro Councilmember Zach Young said.

The Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit that’s supposed encourage economic development in the city. Young says it receives six figures from the city and says the mayor should rethink that.

The Tennessean reports that the mayor’s office says the chamber didn’t consult with it before making the proposal.

In the past, the chamber explored switching the city’s school board election system to one where the mayor appoints members. The chamber says it got the idea from looking at other urban school districts.

“The Chamber remains committed to transformative change that will significantly improve student outcomes,” Stephanie Coleman, the chamber’s chief talent development officer, told WPLN News in a written statement.

Update: This story has been updated to include a written statement from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.