Even though the St. Louis public school system is now fully accredited, the city school district continues to be run by a state-appointed board. Conversations with state board of education members indicate that it could remain that way for a while.
By Missouri law, the state board was able to take control of the district in 2007 when it declared the district unaccredited. But the statute, which only applies to the City of St. Louis, also gives the state a great deal of leeway in deciding when the appointed Special Administrative Board has “accomplished its purpose.”
“For me, and I think the constitution and the statute dictate, our responsibility is the best educational decision for the children, not the governance preference of the adults,” said Mike Jones, a member of the State Board of Education from St. Louis.
In his opinion, Jones said the SAB would have fulfilled its purpose when there is “an elected board that can maintain the integrity and progress of the educational environment that has been established.”
Fellow state board member Vic Lenz of St. Louis County also said leadership stability was part of the criteria for returning power to the elected board.
Earlier this month, the state board gave a lot of credit to the SAB for creating the stability Saint Louis Public Schools needed to regain accreditation.
“Prior to the time that they hired (Superintendent) Kelvin (Adams) and the SAB was running the district, I think they had like six superintendents in a five-year period. And that doesn’t call for much stability within the district and the city,” Lenz said.
The state board renewed the SAB for three years last February, authorizing the appointed board to continue until 2019.
A few months later, the state board initiated meetings between representatives of the state, the SAB and the elected board to talk about transitioning power. Then in the fall, the state board put those talks on hold after elected board member Bill Monroe tried to participate.
“After that breakdown because of that action by the one member of the elected board, it was pretty much determined by the state board that we would wait until after the election in the city, the April election, and see who the members of the board are, and at that point possibly try to re-institute that meeting,” said Lenz.
Monroe’s term on the elected school board ends in April. He is running for re-election.
Lenz and Jones both said the goal is to return power to the elected board. But they emphasized the need to make sure that transition occurs smoothly, and said the state board only has the authority to decide when the elected board can return to power.
“We do have the authority to make the decision,” Jones said. “We don’t have the authority to dictate the process of how that decision should be implemented. And for me, I don’t think you can disconnect the process from the decision.”
Lenz said April’s school board election will be important because the members voters choose could be on the board when it returns to power.
“Whoever is elected this April will be there for the next four years,” Lenz said, “and will most likely be involved in running the city schools someday in the future, in the near future.”
Follow Camille on Twitter: @cmpcamille.
Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.
Full disclosure: Mike Jones is a member of The St. Louis American’s editorial board.
