Voters in 6 Memphis suburbs opt for separate school districts

Voters in six suburbs of Memphis, Tenn., have decided to establish their own school systems instead of being part of the newly unified Memphis-Shelby County district. WMC-TV says that the overwhelming majority of residents who voted in the municipalities of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington opted to create school systems separate from the unified district that came into being on July 1. The results:

• Arlington: 94 percent voted yes
• Bartlett: 91 percent voted yes
• Collierville: 94 percent voted yes
• Germantown: 93 percent voted yes
• Lakeland: 87 percent voted yes
• Milington: 74 percent voted yes

Voters in the six suburbs approved similar referendums last year, but a federal judge struck down the law that sanctioned those elections.