We agree with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the Missouri Legislature has created the current crisis in unaccredited public school districts, and it is the responsibility of the Legislature to solve the immediate crisis by keeping these struggling school districts solvent until a long-term solution to the crisis is put in place.
We also agree with the Post that if nearly all of the school children affected by the school transfer law responsible for this crisis were not black and poor, this situation would never have disintegrated to the present crisis mode.
Finally – and it is rare for us to agree so completely with the Post on so many points in a matter concerning African Americans in St. Louis – we agree that it is Gov. Jay Nixon’s responsibility to find a way to save these school districts, at least temporarily, if the Legislature fails to act. As we have reminded Nixon before, it would reflect badly on his tenure as governor if Missouri makes national news by its public school districts imploding one after another.
Most immediately, Normandy Public Schools will not survive this school year intact without an infusion of $5 million in operating funds. State Sen. David Pearce, a Republican from Warrensburg, chairs the Senate Education Committee. He told the Post that getting the $5 million approved in a supplemental budget to keep Normandy Schools intact through the end of the year would be difficult because of the precedent it would set.
We agree with the Post that it would set a good precedent. As the Post argued, “It would show that the Missouri Legislature actually cares about poor, black kids. It would prove that lawmakers who disparage public schools and teachers and families stuck in poverty are willing to fulfill their constitutional duty to educate all children in the state of Missouri.”
And if the Legislature fails to act, this governor must set his own precedent and make a move that keeps these 4,000 youths in the schools where they started the school year. The alternative could spell disaster for many schoolchildren and, eventually, misfortune for Nixon.
Supreme Court needs to decide
We encourage the Missouri Supreme Court to take up the matter of conflicting lower court rulings on the legal procedures for operating red light camera programs. The 30-plus cities operating these programs and their vendors are anxious to get the green light to operate their red light camera programs, mainly because of the revenues they bring. The cities’ police chiefs, in addition, want these programs in place because, as St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson told us, a red light camera program is a valuable “force multiplier” that frees up police officers for duties such as hot-spot policing in high-crime areas rather than hiding around a corner to ticket a traffic scofflaw.
The question before the court, as we see it, is whether this is a matter of constitutional rights or of public safety. If it is a matter of public safety (and we are persuaded it is), then it is not a question for the courts, ultimately, but for local municipalities. We feel it ultimately is a question of public safety that the local municipalities should decide for themselves, weighing the benefits in public safety and city revenue against the political risks, as many citizens resent the notion of an inanimate object, in essence, writing a traffic ticket.
While reasonable people may disagree on the value of these programs, it is clear that their legal standing has become muddled in Missouri courts. Our municipalities and citizens need some clarification. The Missouri Supreme Court should provide it.
