By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A group of St. Louis-area politicians said deed restrictions prohibiting the sale of soon-to-be-closed public schools to charter schools is a horrible idea.
The bi-partisan group, including Republican Senators Jim Lembke and Jane Cunningham and Democratic Sen. Jeff Smith are supporting a bill introduced in the Missouri Senate to lift deed restrictions.
They spoke Monday on the steps of the old Scullins Elementary school, which has been closed since 2003.
On the street, protestors with a megaphone berated the lawmakers for attempting to let charter schools purchase public school buildings.
Byron Clemens, vice president of the St. Louis teachers union, accused the group of selling out public education.
"All I do is look across the street from Scullins School and see a big private school funded by [Former U.S. Sen. John] Danforth and some of his friends and that's fine," Clemens said. "But to try and get St. Louis Public Schools and try to turn them over to privatizers like Senator Jeff Smith, we're just not in favor of that."
State Representative T.D. El-Amin, a Democrat from north St. Louis, said a charter school is preferable to the empty, crumbling structures that already blight neighborhoods across the city.
"What these deed restrictions amount to is an anti-competition, protectionist clause that leaves our community at disadvantage because it attacks the very anchors of these communities," El-Amin said.
The St. Louis Public Schools are bracing for another round of closures that could take as many as 17 buildings out of service. Most would close by the end of the school year.