CHARTER SCHOOLS: A TALE OF TWO MISSOURI CITIES

Charter schools have taken root in Kansas City while they have yet to surface in St. Louis.

Kansas City has 15 charter schools operating with two more already approved for next year. Another 20 groups are considering starting charter schools in Kansas City, spurred at least partly by concern over the public school district's inability to secure state accreditation for next year.

So why haven't charter schools taken root in St. Louis.

Laura Friedman credits Central Missouri State University with leading the way by sponsoring most of the charter schools in Kansas City.

Friedman directs the Charter Schools Information Center in St. Louis, a non-profit group that advocates charter schools.

In contrast to the sponsors in Kansas City, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Harris-Stowe State College, the St. Louis Board of Education and the St. Louis Community College system haven't jumped on the charter bandwagon, Friedman said.

There have been four charter applications in St. Louis. One was approved but has yet to open in part because of a lawsuit filed by the St. Louis school board to overturn the charter-school law."The school board made it clear it doesn't want charters," said Friedman.

She believes it would have been tough going in Kansas City too if it weren't for Central Missouri State.

CMSU is in Warrensburg. The university is far enough away to avoid the "incestuous relationship between school districts and higher education" in Kansas City, Friedman said."They seized the opportunity to become involved in the urban-school setting," she said. "The school board didn't have a way to strong arm them."The Kansas City school board also is weaker than its St. Louis counterpart. "They have had trouble keeping superintendents. The board is divided," said Friedman. That has allowed charter schools to gain a foothold, she said.

Friedman and others hope Southeast Missouri State University will follow in the footsteps of CMSU and sponsor charter schools.

Ultimately, charter school supporters like Friedman would like to see the concept expanded statewide. But the 1998 law and an amendment this year that added Southeast as a possible charter-school sponsor only allows charter schools to operate in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Friedman said rural lawmakers backed away from that idea because of opposition from school officials in their districts. School superintendents worried that their small district schools would suffer if many of their students left to attend charter schools.

She said it was easier to sell the Legislature on a bill allowing for charter schools in St. Louis and Kansas City where their public schools already were in crises.