St. Louis schools facing cuts for 2008-2009 year

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- One year after the state stripped local control from the struggling St. Louis school system, the district's appointed leader said Thursday that it faces "a horrendous financial challenge" for the coming school year.

Rick Sullivan, head of a three-person governing board, told state education officials that Missouri's largest public school district faces a $30 million gap between its projected expenditures and its $320 million in projected revenue for the 2008-2009 school year.

To compensate, some schools may have to be closed and some personnel laid off.

But Sullivan insists the district is improving since the state stripped the district's accreditation last year for failing to meet academic and financial standards. A board consisting of appointees by the governor, mayor and aldermen president took control of the district in June 2007, leaving the elected school board in place but without any power.

The state Board of Education voted in May to extend its control over the district for an additional three years, until June 30, 2011. It heard a progress report from Sullivan during its meeting Thursday.

Sullivan said the transitional school board hopes to hire a new superintendent by September and is seeking community suggestions while developing a long-range plan for the district.

But the school system also faces some immediate problems.

Steadily declining student enrollment -- due to population losses and parents sending their children to other schools -- has led to a steady decline in school district revenues, because state funding calculated on a per-student basis. Charter schools draw about $65 million away from the public school district, Sullivan said, and it misses out on about $35 million annually in property taxes because of waivers granted for economic development incentives.

At the same time, Sullivan said, costs continue to rise for utilities, fuel and other operations.

Another large challenge, Sullivan said, is that the district has both very high-achieving and very low-performing schools.

"We have the examples of good education, good leadership and good schools," Sullivan said. "We need to find a way to replicate that throughout the school district."

State education board members generally praised Sullivan's three-person governing board for its first year of work, particularly for providing some stability in place of the previously divided and squabbling elected school board.

But Sullivan said much work remained.

"Bringing the district back to the level that people want it to be is a 10, 12, or 15-year process," he said in an interview after the meeting.

Bill Purdy, one of those elected but now powerless local school board members, attended Thursday's state meeting. Purdy said elected board members were denied a request to make their own presentation to the state.

Purdy criticized the state for extending the authority of the appointed St. Louis school board a month before hearing a progress report, suggesting that order should have been reversed. He also attributed any improvements this year to the teachers and superintendent hired by the elected board before it was stripped of its power.