So, we have a new mayor
But nothing else has changed
New school board members are expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, April 22 at the work session. I strongly encourage you to clear your calendar and attend. It’s beautiful to watch new members take office, so much hope and optimism, excitement and energy. It’s a great way to celebrate all the hard work of the candidates, their campaign teams, and the citizens who banded together to get them elected. But it serves another purpose too. Our faces staring back remind them that there are real people on the other side of their decisions and real consequences when things go wrong. For positive change to come to SLPS, they need us just as much as we need them.
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Is it just me or was that mayoral election boring?
There’s a special brand of optimism that only emerges around elections but this time we missed the opportunity to capitalize on it. Instead of dreaming up big ideas and creating a vision of what could be possible, we spent all our time on potholes; crime and police; and snow.
Without a doubt, these are the issues we talk about all day, every day. The deep-enough-to-rattle-your-teeth potholes are so prevalent not even slalom-inspired driving is enough to avoid them. Violent crime is down yet the perception problem remains. We don’t really know how the many crime prevention programs have played a part but even if we did it might not matter anyway since the state took over the police department. As for the snow — I don’t think any of us are over the long days we spent trapped inside our homes with restless children as we waited for the City to get its act together.
Potholes. Crime and police. Snow. Repeat.
But, are these the only things we care about? Do we think that’s all it takes to have a vibrant, healthy city? Surely not. Maybe that’s why voter turnout was so low. There wasn’t really anything to vote for, just a lot of promises to get us services we should already have.
We have to move past the topical and emotional to identify and then enact policy solutions that address the city’s toughest challenge — its declining population. Without growing, or at least steadying, the population it is impossible to provide the level of city services we all deserve. There are just too many streets, vacant properties, and ancient water mains for our tax base to handle.
Smoother streets won’t persuade people to move back. Reliable trash pick up, faster 911 response times, and well maintained downtown properties won’t either. These are the bare minimum people expect their government to provide, not amenities that attract new residents.
So what will bring people back? Schools. Thriving, world-class schools.
Like the mayoral race, the school board race was bogged down in the details. The Opportunity Trust, charter schools, and privatization sucked all the air out of the room, crowded out any meaningful discussion about district current affairs. Can we adequately judge a candidate’s ability to govern on these three issues alone? I don’t think so.
I’m happy about the results of the school board election and I’m confident we chose the right candidates. However, I wish we’d had more of an opportunity to hear their visions for the district and its leadership. We can try to convince ourselves that everything is fine at SLPS, promote the positives by bragging about all the lovely things happening in our kids’ classrooms and schools, but the truth is there will be fewer and fewer of those beautiful moments if we don’t get serious about addressing the systemic issues that have plagued our public education system for decades.
The city will not grow its population without a robust system of public schools and the public school system will not reach its potential without support from the city. It is a damning indictment on the way our city and school district leaders approach their work if the mayor and three school board members can be elected on the same ballot without any overlap in proposed policy solutions, big picture strategic thinking, or concrete plans to work together. For decades now, attempts at collaborative planning have struggled to move forward, producing nothing more than a report, if they produce anything at all.
The mayor has no statutory stake in the school system, no decision-making powers or financial authority so it’s easy to avoid responsibility for educational outcomes. City plans usually only make fleeting reference to education by naming schools that fall in the proposed development footprint or suggesting reuses for vacant buildings. In the few instances where the mayor has taken an active role in education policy, it’s always been in the name of so-called reform, innovation, or choice.
It is so obvious to me that the solution is more collaboration across government boundaries, but that does not seem to be the case for Mayor-elect Spencer. Late last week she announced her transition plan on her new CHANGEforSTL website. But, despite its name, it looks like anything but change is coming.
With the help of consultants, she assembled six Transition Advisory Committees to “solicit feedback from St. Louisans and offer robust ideas and recommendations for Mayor-elect Spencer’s administration’s top priorities.” I’m sure you can guess what final product will be. That’s right, a report. Due in July.
The list of committee members reads like a grocery list she felt compelled to check off. Real estate developers. Non-profits. Fancy academics. Lawyers. Business executives. It’s a who’s who of all the other reports that line the shelves in the St. Louis Room at Central Library. But despite Inclusive Education (“Ensuring every child has access to quality education and pathways to success.”) being one of the committees, there are no PK-12 public educators or policy makers on the list. No one from SLPS or charters or DESE. This calls into question how dedicated she actually is to public education and signals that the concern some had over the potential influence of her big campaign donors may have been for good reason.
If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten.
Schools are an afterthought to city policymakers and elected officials. If the goal is to improve the City by improving education, then educators and education policy experts must be included in every room where decisions are being made, especially decisions about administrative priorities for the next four years.
More than 100 public schools have closed since 1991. Two charter schools (Momentum, Confluence) are closing after this school year. By the end of the 2025, SLPS will decide which schools they’ll close next year. All of this in addition to the more than 1.5 million square feet of schools that are already vacant in St. Louis. That’s more than the Railway Exchange building, the AT&T tower, the Wainwright Building, or the Millennium Hotel which attract so much of our leaders collective attention, time, and money.
If the philanthropic and business elite knew how to fix our city’s problems they’d have done it by now. In not finding solutions, however, they maintain their power and ensure it’s their name listed at the back of a report bemoaning the condition of St. Louis and pining for solutions.
Mayor-elect Spencer is asking for our ideas on her transition plan, the committees, and policy agenda for the next four years. What do you say we tell her how important public education is to us? St. Louis can’t be a great city without great public schools. Let our new mayor know what you think! I already have.