City schools budget calls for closures, new programs (MO)

April 21, 2011

ST. LOUIS  • The city’s schools superintendent plans to lay out a plan tonight to close three schools, reduce staff across the district and trim nearly $11 million in operations, while at the same time opening programs in four vacant school buildings.

Superintendent Kelvin Adams’ budget for the 2011-12 school year is based on the assumption that the district will continue to lose students, he said. And it also assumes that the district will not be billed for any St. Louis child who wants to transfer to schools in St. Louis County.

Adams plans to present his budget to the district’s Special Administrative Board at 6 p.m. today at 801 North 11th Street. The $272.8 million proposal is a balanced budget that includes putting $3 million into reserves.

It would involve closing three schools — an elementary school, a middle school and a high school — though not necessarily three building s, Adams said Wednesday. A small handful of school buildings hold two schools, such as the Central Visual & Performing Arts High, which also holds Cleveland High.

The savings would be up to $900,000, Adams said. Meanwhile, the school district would expand the number of alternative programs for students who have problems in traditional school settings.

Adams will announce tonight which three schools he intends to close, he said. Notices to principals were to go out today.

Also tonight, the board will consider a plan to repurpose the district’s 44 vacant buildings, many of which have fallen into disrepair. Adams will propose opening a charter high school in one of the district’s unused buildings for the 2012-13 school year.

Wrapped into the proposal are initiatives for next school year, including day-care centers at high schools, schools where girls and boys attend class separately and a school with an African-centered curriculum.

Expanding early childhood education is not in the budget but will be funded separately, he said.

Drafting the budget was tricky because of the uncertainly surrounding the state budget, Adams said. The Legislature is expected to approve the state’s plan, including what it will send to school districts, in May. Compounding Adams’ uncertainty is a lawsuit filed by four St. Louis parents claiming the unaccredited city district should pay tuition costs for their children to attend Clayton schools. The Missouri Supreme Court supported the parents last summer but sent the case back to the lower courts to decide.

“It’s a real clear and present danger,” Adams said. “I have to build a budget around what I know to be the facts to date.”