From the Legislative Chair
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A quick summary. Each line jumps to its section below.
Germantown holds its city and school board election on November 3, 2026. Because the ballot is the big news, this edition is built around it. I start with a plain civics map: three different bodies make three different kinds of decisions about our schools. Then I list every contested race and candidate on an even footing. I also share the same neutral questions you can put to each one, and I do not grade or endorse anyone.
Our district is the Germantown Municipal School District (GMSD), and our group is the Dogwood Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). The main new item from September is at the board level. On September 29 the board approved, on its second and final reading, a change to its inter-district transfer-priority policy, and it takes effect for the 2027-28 enrollment cycle. I also correct one detail from last month, and I walk through what the city's Houston High bond actually buys. The state legislature is out until January 2027, so there are no new bills to report, but the November 3 ballot includes the governor's race, the legislature, and three statewide amendments, which I cover below.
Three bodies shape GMSD, and they do very different jobs. Only the school board and the state decide how our schools are run. The city's role is money and buildings. Here is who does what, and which seats you actually choose on November 3.
Sources for this map: the school board's duties come from Tennessee Code Annotated 49-2-203, summarized by the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service (ctas.tennessee.edu); the board's makeup is on the district site (gmsdk12.org/board); the TISA formula is explained by the same service (ctas.tennessee.edu). The city's $3.08 million contribution is an institutional figure set by city ordinance.
Here is every contested Germantown race, with the candidates listed evenly. I am not publishing a positions chart. The public record on school issues is uneven right now, with statements easy to find for some candidates and not for others. A chart would quietly reward whoever happens to have said more, so instead I give you the same fair questions to ask each person, plus nonpartisan tools to look them up (linked below). I do not rank or endorse anyone.
Mayor (open seat, Mayor Palazzolo is not running)
Alderman, Position 2 (contested)
School Board, Position 4 (contested)
On the ballot as an independent candidate.
Unopposed seats
Appointed to Position 2 in August 2026.
Source for the candidate field: the Shelby County Election Commission (SCEC) official sample ballot for the November 3 election (electionsshelbytn.gov).
Where a candidate has a campaign website, their name links to it. Each card notes when we could not find one.
November 3 is a combined state, federal, and city ballot, so you vote on all of it at once. The state offices matter most for schools, because the governor and the legislature set the funding formula (TISA, Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement), the voucher program, and the testing and graduation rules. Here is the state part, as it appears on the Shelby County sample ballot.
Governor (open seat)
The ballot also lists a long field of independent candidates for governor, plus a write-in line.
State legislature (look up your district)
Germantown is split across more than one state Senate and House district, so your state races depend on your address. Much of Germantown is in Tennessee Senate District 31 (Brent Taylor, Republican, and David Weatherspoon, Democrat) and Tennessee House District 83 (Mark White, Republican, and Margaret Price, Democrat), and parts of town fall in neighboring districts. See your exact districts and your exact ballot by address, no birthday needed, on the Secretary of State's GoVoteTN website or app (sos.tn.gov/govotetn) before you vote.
One name appears twice. Brent Taylor is on the ballot for re-election to Senate District 31 and also as the Republican nominee for U.S. House District 9, where he faces state Rep. Justin Pearson, who likewise appears for his own state House seat. If Taylor wins the congressional race, he would have to give up the state Senate seat, which would change who represents much of Germantown in Nashville. Sources: the SCEC official sample ballot and Tennessee Lookout (August 6, 2026).
Three statewide questions (constitutional amendments)
Every voter also decides three yes-or-no amendments to the Tennessee Constitution:
Read the official full text and the Attorney General's summary of each amendment from the Tennessee Secretary of State (sos.tn.gov), or a neutral plain-language breakdown at Ballotpedia (ballotpedia.org), and decide for yourself. One rule worth knowing: an amendment passes only if it gets more yes votes than no votes and its yes votes add up to more than half of all votes cast for governor. So leaving an amendment blank while voting for governor makes it harder to pass. The same ballot also carries federal races (U.S. Senate and U.S. House); those sit further from K-12 decisions, so this edition stays on the state and local offices. This report does not take a position on any race or question. Source: the SCEC official sample ballot (electionsshelbytn.gov).
Ask everyone running for the same office the same things, which keeps it fair. The questions differ by level, because the local offices and the state offices control different parts of our schools.
How to write to them. Each candidate's own contact details are on their Vote411 and Ballotpedia pages, linked just below. You can also reach the current officeholders directly: the Mayor and Aldermen through the City of Germantown (germantown-tn.gov), the school board through the district (gmsdk12.org/board), and your state legislators through the Tennessee General Assembly (capitol.tn.gov).
A public board or city meeting is another way to hear a candidate directly. This report does not endorse anyone, and these tools treat every candidate the same.
The board met twice in September, a work session on September 15 and a business meeting on September 29. Both were at the District Office, 3350 Forest Hill Irene Road, and live-streamed on the GMSD YouTube channel. One scheduling note: September's meetings fell on the third and fifth Tuesdays, not the usual second and fourth. October returns to the normal pattern, on October 20 and October 27.
The board approved its inter-district transfer-priority policy on the second of two required readings at the September 29 business meeting. The policy takes effect immediately and will apply to the open-enrollment process early next year, for families applying for the 2027-28 school year. Source: Daily Memphian, September 30, 2026.
Here is what it does. It adds a new tier to the ranked order the district uses to fill the out-of-district seats it chooses to open. Two groups move up: grandchildren of Germantown residents, who attend tuition-free, and the children of people who graduated from Houston High, or from Germantown High before the district formed in 2014, who may attend but pay tuition if they live outside Germantown. For 2026-27 that tuition equals the city's per-pupil contribution, about $535 for a family living in Shelby County, and more for families outside the county or the state.
All of it depends on space. Resident students are guaranteed a seat, and the district takes non-residents only if room is left after that. Enrollment has been easing, mainly from lower birthrates, so each incoming kindergarten class tends to run a little smaller than the class that graduates. For a sense of scale, the district turned down 640 transfer requests this year, more than 500 of them in kindergarten through eighth grade. Superintendent Jason Manuel framed the change around the city being landlocked and around longtime residents who keep paying taxes after their own children graduate. Board member Andy Ellis called it "more of a goodwill gesture," not a guarantee. Chairman Brian Curry said the district is competing with private schools because of vouchers, and called the priority the right thing to do for tax-paying residents.
A correction from last month. My September edition said the change would give tuition-free priority to two groups: grandchildren of residents and legacy alumni families. That was half right. Grandchildren of Germantown residents attend tuition-free. The legacy alumni families, tied to Houston High and the pre-2014 Germantown High, get priority but still pay tuition if they live outside Germantown. Sources: Daily Memphian (September 30, 2026) and Fox13 Memphis (fox13memphis.com). I am correcting it here, and I apologize for the earlier overstatement.
Dr. Heather Fisher holds Position 2. The city appointed her in August, and the school board seated her the next night, after Scotty Hendricks Jr. resigned. In Germantown the city government fills school board vacancies, not the board itself. Dr. Fisher is the unopposed candidate for the seat on November 3, and nothing about this changed in September.
In August the city approved a bond of about $13.5 million. A bond is money the city borrows now and repays over time. About $10 million is for Houston High School. The rest, about $3.5 million, is for the indoor pool, the natatorium, at the Germantown Athletic Club (GAC), which is a city recreation facility, not a school. The two portions are funded differently. The Germantown Athletic Club's own revenues repay the $3.5 million pool portion, so that part is self-funded and does not rely on taxes. The $10 million school portion is a general obligation the city repays from its general budget over time, the same budget that property taxes, local sales taxes, and state-shared revenue all feed. The record does not show the city raising property taxes to pay for it. Keep the two apart, since only the school portion pays for school work.
Where these figures come from. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the $13.5 million bond unanimously on August 24, 2026, with $10 million for Houston High and $3.5 million for the natatorium, as reported by Daily Memphian on August 25, 2026. The specific bond resolution numbers are not posted on a public city page yet, so I am not printing any.
This is a targeted renovation, not a rebuild. The $10 million funds a larger cafeteria, with added capacity so the school can run fewer lunch periods, which eases scheduling, a renovated front lobby, and some fine-arts upgrades. Bigger items would need separate funding later.
On timing, there is no firm groundbreaking date on the record yet. Superintendent Jason Manuel has framed the near-term work as design and readiness, so the money can be spent when it is available.
The board sets its building priorities in stages, then looks to the city and county to fund them. The board approved Houston High renovation work at a special-called meeting on April 14, 2026. A full redesign by the firm 4F Design was estimated at about $100 million, which city leaders said was too steep, so the city pledged $10 million toward a targeted set of work.
The $100 million full-redesign estimate and the $10 million city pledge are from Daily Memphian's August 25, 2026 report of the bond vote.
The 114th General Assembly adjourned on April 23, 2026. No new bills moved in September, and the 115th General Assembly convenes in January 2027. The items below reached their final form this spring. I re-checked each status on the state legislature website on September 30.
Why the state picture matters for Dogwood: state money is about 51 percent of the GMSD general fund (the FY27 general fund basis). Because those dollars follow enrollment, both the voucher program and the November 1 TISA report are worth watching over time.
How to engage: confirm your voter registration (tnmap.tn.gov/voterlookup), learn about the November candidates, attend a public board or city meeting, track bills yourself at wapp.capitol.tn.gov, and bring questions to the Legislative Chair.
When reaching out, identify yourself as a Dogwood Elementary parent and reference the specific bill number or issue.
The main sources behind this edition, grouped by origin. PRIMARY means an official record. PRESS or SECONDARY means a news outlet.
Official state bill pages showing status, sponsor, and public chapter. Re-pulled September 30, 2026.
The statute and formula behind the "Who Controls Your Schools" map.
The September minutes were not posted at the September 30 pull, so the second-reading outcome rests on the posted agenda, not approved minutes.
The candidate field and voting dates from the Shelby County Election Commission.
Non-paywalled reporting used to corroborate items. Dollar sub-figures from paywalled or unreachable records are flagged in the text.
Dogwood Elementary PTO · Legislative Chair Report · October 2026 (Election Edition)
Prepared by Monica Burt, Legislative Chair
This publication reflects the author's own research and analysis as an individual parent volunteer. It does not represent official positions of the Dogwood Elementary PTO, the Germantown Municipal School District, the City of Germantown, or the State of Tennessee.