Slay sees charter schools as answer to St. Louis school problems

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- With a public school district so troubled the state took control of it this year, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is pushing a plan to attract several new public charter schools to help lure families back to the city.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that Slay is sending roughly 70 letters to educators, nonprofit education groups and big charter school companies. The letters invite each to start a school in St. Louis.

Slay hopes to add as many as 30 new charter schools in the next 10 years -- schools that would steer thousands of children away from the public school district long troubled by poor academic performance, low graduation rates and financial problems.

"Our city is cleaner, safer and more beautiful than it has been in a long time," Slay wrote in the letter. "In short, St. Louis has it all -- except enough quality public schools."

Peter Downs, president of the elected city school board, said that to him, Slay's plan sounds like one "to abandon half the children in St. Louis. It's like setting up two fire departments, two police departments. If you try to do it at the same cost, you have a lot more impoverished schools."

Charters are tax-supported schools free to the public but run independently from the public school system.

Slay said he realized two years ago that he could no longer wait for the district to improve.

Nationally, only a handful of cities have tried such methods. And only Indianapolis has given its mayor the direct authority to start charters.

There, the city opened more than 16 charter schools over six years. Advocates say the result has been resoundingly positive.

Other states have not seen success. In Ohio, half the 300-plus charter schools got a D or an F on the state's school report card this year. The Ohio attorney general is investigating several and even suing to close three.

St. Louis has 15 charter schools now, serving more than 7,700 students. They have largely remained traditional, classroom-based schools. Most have performed little better than the local district, some much worse.

Slay and his staff say his system would only support great schools.

"You're going to have to really want to start a school here," said the mayor's education aide, Robbyn Wahby. "I don't want the just-hand-me-the-keys people. I want them to address a need."

There is one potential problem. By law, St. Louis charter schools must be overseen by one of three groups: the St. Louis Public School District, the state department of education, or certain colleges and universities.

The state will not pick up many schools, Strand said. The public school leadership has historically shunned charters.

That leaves most of the work to local universities. Since charter schools first opened here in 2000, universities have generally become sponsors begrudgingly. At one point, universities were doing such a lax job of overseeing the schools, the state auditor investigated and printed a scathing report.

Universities responded by asking how they could be expected to do something so complicated for free. Last year, a new law required the state to pay sponsoring institutions 1.5 percent withheld from each charter school's total state dollars, a number that ranges from $34,000 to $125,000 this year. Some universities have now hired staffers dedicated to the job.

Also last year, the Legislature gave private universities the authority to sponsor charters.

Representatives at St. Louis University, Webster University and Washington University said Thursday they would consider sponsoring the right charter school.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com