IT'S TIME FOR ACTION ON ST. LOUIS DESEG CASE

The offer has been withdrawn. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon put a $304 million offer to settle the St. Louis desegregation case on the table. The proposal received very little attention and a cold shoulder from St. Louis city school officials.

The offer should have provided a starting place for earnest negotiation. It included $100 million to build 14 new schools, $102 million to fund magnet schools in the city, and another $102 million to phase out the voluntary busing program between the county and the city.

I can be hoped that the withdrawal of the offer had nothing to do with President Clinton's visit to St. Louis Monday to help raise funds for Nixon's campaign for U.S. Senate. Some black Democrats had asked Clinton not to come because of the Nixon's efforts to end court-ordered busing.

The state's desegregation efforts have enough problems without getting bogged down in more politics. Nixon has been a champion for the state in working to end desegregation efforts that have sucked billions of dollars from state coffers without an appreciable gain in educational performance. Millions of dollars have also been pocketed by lawyers involved in the tangled desegregation litigation.

Kansas City's desegregation case is finally settled. It is time to move toward settlement in St. Louis.