State answers St. Louis' questions on schools takeover

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Missouri education officials answered questions Friday about the side effects of a state takeover on the St. Louis public schools.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said that under state law, St. Louis students may be able to transfer to an accredited district in the county, at the expense of the city district.

Their findings open the door to the possibility of significant transfers from the city to St. Louis County public schools, though city officials said there's no way at this point to gauge how many students that might involve.

The city school district also was concerned that underperforming students might have to enroll in school this summer and feared that could lead to an unexpected increase in summer school enrollment numbers.

Based on the findings from the state, that will not be the case.

The State Board of Education voted March 22 to strip accreditation from the city's schools, long plagued by academic and financial problems.

The department said Friday that any resident student, "including those presently enrolled in a public, private, parochial, charter or home school," can transfer at the St. Louis district's expense to an accredited district. The accredited district can accept or reject students based on their own policies and capacity.

City students cannot transfer under these conditions until the 2007-08 academic year, the department said. Each district may charge students from the city schools at its current tuition rate.

"If the right number of seats open, or if there were a mass exodus, it could have a devastating effect on us," said Tony Sanders, spokesman for the St. Louis public school district.

The state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education notes the St. Louis School Board has 30 days from March 22 to appeal the decision to strip accreditation to the state's education commissioner, Kent King. There is no set time for a response.

"It is unknown whether an appeal might affect the June 15 date for the district to become unaccredited," state educational officials write.

The existing, elected city school board would remain in place, but lose its power.

The governor, St. Louis mayor and aldermanic president would each appoint one member to a new board, with the governor's appointee serving as chief executive. Gov. Matt Blunt has chosen home builder Rick Sullivan, who lives in a St. Louis suburb, to lead the board. The other two appointees have not been named.

-----

On the 'Net:

St. Louis Schools: http://www.slps.org

State Board of Education: http://www.dese.mo.gov/stateboard