TOUGH HURDLES FOR ST. LOUIS DESEG CASE

Last week Gov. Mel Carnahan signed into law a bill passed by the General Assembly that attempts to get the state out of the costly St. Louis and Kansas City desegregation cases. The Kansas City case is already settled, but any settlement in the St. Louis case is contingent on at least three items. One is the federal judge's assessment of the bill lawmakers passed as to whether he deems that it passes muster to discharge the state's obligation. In this regard, the return to the case of U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh bodes well. Limbaugh is widely known as a reasonable and level-headed jurist.

The second is that any settlement be achieved by March 15. The third is passage by St. Louis voters of an 85-cent operating levy increase by next spring. Obviously, the last is likely the most problematical. If local voters don't approve the higher levy, the St. Louis district can't access additional state funding designed to flow to the two urban districts under the bill.

The bill that attempts to resolve a problem as knotty as desegregation is far from perfect. Still, it contains reform measures for the St. Louis public schools, bloated as they are with bureaucracy. Most promisingly, it permits charter schools that will offer exciting innovations and greater parental choice within the public system.

The bill also solidifies the state's commitment to a method of funding local districts that hinges state aid on the local tax levy. Reasonable people can differ on the wisdom of this policy. Inasmuch as local levies in southern Missouri tend to be at or near the state minimum $2.75 per $100 of assessed valuation, many superintendents look askance on this provision. We must admit to reservations about a state policy that essentially says to local districts: "The more you spend, the more you get."

Nonetheless, such is now the law, and we'll all have to see how it works out.