State intervention to shift control of Missouri’s St. Louis Public Schools to unelected board nears reality
A proposed state intervention that would shift control of Missouri’s St. Louis Public Schools to an unelected board for the next six years has edged toward reality. Missouri Education Commissioner D. Kent King says the state board of education will vote on the measure next month. In a briefing on the proposed "transitional school district" the board raised few questions. Mr. King and state board president Peter Herschend have made clear that removing politics from a school system that has become synonymous with bickering board members, a revolving door for superintendents, and subpar education is the state education department’s priority. With the transitional district moving toward a vote, State Senate Minority Leader Maida Coleman of St. Louis says her top priority is helping identify three "consensus-makers" to lead the district under the plan. Mr. Herschend says the state board will have "veto power" over the three people appointed and warns that the board will remove any transitional member that plays politics with the city schools or fails to move the district toward full accreditation. The officials responsible for appointing the three-person committee, Gov. Matt Blunt, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, and city Aldermanic President James Shrewsbury, have agreed to those terms, he says. He also emphasizes that a transitional district is just that. The objective of the proposal, he says, is to return an elected school board to govern over a financially and academically stable district by 2013, if not sooner.
That promise does not placate opponents, including a coalition of teachers and parents. St. Louis school board member Peter Downs says an intervention would disenfranchise city voters and derail what he believes are significant efforts by current Superintendent Diana Bourisaw. Mr. Downs asked that the state give the current board majority, which he hopes will be enhanced in the April school board election, for an opportunity to turn the district around. But when the school board met to review the superintendent’s 178 goals aimed at improving the district's academic achievement rate, safety, and financial solvency, jeers and personal attacks again took center stage. A former school board member, Amy Hilgemann, verbally attacked current member Bill Purdy, and eventually her microphone was turned off and security escorted her from the building. The board did not vote on the plan, but did talk a lot about the failing system. Liz Johnson, a mom who sends her three children to city schools and attended the meeting, is encouraged by the superintendent’s proposed comprehensive plan. She also believes the board needs some help, but doesn't support a complete state takeover. "I'm not opposed to some guidance by the state," she explains. "There are issues the district needs help with. I think the school board needs to take a training program."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Steve Giegerich
[Full story]
KSDK
By Leisa Zigman
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: Mr. King’s statement is below. NSBA’s position on governance takeovers, as adopted by its Delegate Assembly, is set forth on page 8 of the NSBA Beliefs and Policies, also below. The policy opposes takeovers generally, but calls on states to work with education officials to set forth clearly the criteria, conditions, and timelines under which a state intervention shall occur, the schools shall receive the resources and support needed to improve, and the community shall regain its local school board governance. The policy also sets forth what NSBA envisions as the appropriate role for mayors and other local civic leaders in supporting the community’s education goals.]
[Missouri Commissioner statement on takeover proposal]
[NSBA Beliefs and Policies]