COLLIERVILLE, TN (abc24.com) - Collierville and Germantown are picking up the pace in the race to start new school districts.
On Monday night, the board of Aldermen in each city voted for a second time to ask voters to decide on May 10th whether to proceed with a suburban school district. A referendum takes three readings.
Each city also moved forward with plans to ask voters at some point to fund these suburban school districts through a 1/2 cent sales tax increase.
Both cities want to ask voters with hopes they could have their own school boards in place by November, and a superintendent selected by early January 2013.
Arlington has already voted to ask its voters to consider each matter, and Bartlett is expected to do the same on Tuesday.
In a related note, both Collierville and Germantown have approved consulting contracts with Southern Educational Strategies. SES advised each city about the feasibility of starting its own districts. Officials in each city say the contracts are on a per-needed basis and could be worth up to $45,000.
