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← Back to Shelby County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-05-05

Contest for County School Board District 8

Shelby County School Board 8
primary - Partisan - County School Board Division 8

About this office

Members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Board of Education are elected from nine districts covering all of Shelby County. The board hires and evaluates the superintendent, adopts district policies, reviews and approves the school-district budget, and sets the district's goals. Board members are elected officials, not district employees; as of 2025 they are limited to two consecutive four-year terms. Regular business meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month at the Frances E. Coe Administration Building, with a preceding work session.

Compensation: members receive a per-meeting stipend set by county government; state law requires a minimum of $4/day (T.C.A. Β§ 49-2-202).

Term length: 4 years.

This role calls for

  • Policy judgment on a large urban district β€” Memphis-Shelby County Schools serves roughly 110,000 students across more than 200 schools, with a budget over a billion dollars.
  • Budget literacy for both operating and capital budgets, in coordination with the County Commission (which appropriates) and the Tennessee Department of Education.
  • Ability to hire, evaluate, and when necessary replace the superintendent β€” historically the highest-stakes recurring decision the board makes.
  • Constituent relations with parents, teachers, principals, and community members across an economically and racially diverse district.
  • Willingness to complete the state-required seven hours of annual training through the Tennessee School Boards Association School Board Academy.

Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.

Campaigns

Democratic Primary 2 candidates
Tanya Frey

Tanya Frey
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Frey’s two-decade tenure as an employment and nonprofit lawyer, including roles at AutoZone and ALSAC, provides experience in organizational governance and accountability through her firm Terra Firma Consulting. Her sons’ attendance at Richland Elementary, East High, Middle College High School, and Houston High establishes direct constituent relations with parents and community members across the district. Residing in District 8 for twenty years further grounds her local engagement.
Ayleem Connolly

Ayleem Connolly
πŸ‘ πŸ‘Ž 🀑 😑 🀷
Connolly served as a Spanish teacher and department chair in MSCS from 2015 to 2023, providing direct classroom experience with district operations. Her current role evaluating multi-million dollar projects for a Fortune 500 company suggests capacity for budget literacy and policy judgment regarding capital expenditures. Holding two master’s degrees in education supports her academic background. Endorsements from Mayor Lee Harris and the National Women's Political Caucus indicate community support, though this does not confirm constituent relations skills.