This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 2, 2009 - A bipartisan group of area state lawmakers gathered Monday morning at the site of a shuttered city school in north St. Louis to make their case for the city school board to allow groups to open schools in excess buildings.
As the district moves into a second wave of closing and selling unneeded property, it has included a provision to prohibit the transfer any of its buildings to groups wanting to use them for charter, public or private schools.
Those opposing this restriction include a bipartisan group of legislators -- state Sens. Jeff Smith, Jane Cunningham and Jim Lembke, along with state Reps. T.D. El-Amin and Tishaura Jones. They blasted the no-sale policy this morning during a press conference in front of the old Scullin Elementary School, 4160 North Kingshighway Boulevard.
Lembke has introduced a Senate bill requiring the district to lift deed restrictions that forbid public and private groups from setting up schools in the closed buildings. Lembke said he first tried to resolve the issue through a resolution, but opponents thwarted that effort last week. That's when he decided to introduce Senate Bill 439 to lift the deed restrictions, he said.
Like El-Amin and Jones, Lembke argued that schools, like churches, are pillars in their communities and should be kept open and put to good use.
"We don't want buildings to become blighted," he said, "and if the school district wants tax money, it should want to get the maximum return on it property. If the district has so much money that it can restrict certain sales, then perhaps we need to take a hard look at appropriations to the district."
At this morning's press conference, a few people blasted the Lembke bill, arguing that the lawmakers should devote their energy to finding funds to clean up the lead paint hazards in all public schools.
Cunningham said that argument was disingenuous.
"If the buildings are sold, the lead and other problems will have to be cleaned up before they can be used, so that problem would take care of itself," she said. "It's not about lead paint. It's about eliminating competition."
Cunningham said when she began talking to the district in January about the transfer of vacant property, district officials "willingly admitted that they wanted to prevent competition."
She argued that by imposing deed restrictions, city school officials were preventing children from having other options for getting an education.
"This flies in the face of fairness and common sense," she said.
The lawmakers said they were optimistic about getting the restrictions lifted.
"I think it has a shot," Lembke said, "if we have bipartisan support. We have a number of senators and representatives who represent the city and think this is an important issue."
