Charter schools, for good or for ill, will be a reality in St. Louis by the start of the fall semester. Four, maybe five, charter schools will be open if things go as planned, which they seldom have. After the Missouri General Assembly included charter schools in the school-desegregation settlement last year, the first charter school approved was the African-American Rite of Passage Institute. But after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the school's organizer, Lamar Beyah, was a felon and had served time in prison, the school's management consultant bailed out and the city school board sued to nullify the bill that had made charter schools possible. The school board lost the lawsuit, but the damage was done -- institute organizers said they had trouble raising money while the suit was pending. And on Friday, as expected, the University of Missouri-St. Louis revoked its sponsorship of the institute.
Despite the setbacks, Beyah pledges that the school will still open in September, saying he plans to appeal the university's decision and to apply separately for sponsorship from Harris-Stowe State College. Beyah draws inspiration from Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who has refused to answer questions about whether he used drugs in his youth, saying those questions are off-limits. "I'm sure everybody in the United States is aware now that George Bush told the media, don't question him anymore about his past activities," Beyah says. "I totally agree with him in that area. How many times do you pay for the same thing? It's been 16 years since I've committed any crime. It's been 16 years since I've been involved in any illegal activity."
On apparently less troubled ground is the St. Louis Charter School, which will be located near Kingshighway and Arsenal Street; the Thurgood Marshall Academy, 4300 Goodfellow Blvd.; the Ethel Hedgemen Lyle Academy; and a charter school at the Lift for Life Gym, 1415 Cass Ave. In all, more than 1,000 city students could be attending charter schools by September. A charter school must be open to all applicants and cannot charge tuition, because it draws its funds from the city school district on the basis of what the district spends per student. If more students apply than there are seats, a lottery is conducted. The state bill that set up charter schools allows them only in the city of St. Louis and Kansas City. A bill to modify last year's legislation appears to be going nowhere in Jefferson City.
"It's much worse than doing nothing," says state Sen. Peter D. Kinder (R-Cape Girardeau) of the bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Ted House (D-St. Charles). "It would impose a cap on charter schools. We don't want to impose a cap on throwing lifelines to drowning people," says Kinder, referring to students who want to have an alternative to some of the city's troubled schools. The bill is back on the informal calendar, but Kinder says many legislators "want to kill the bill."
The bill may well die, because opponents of charter schools, who include Sen. Mary Bland (D-Kansas City), and proponents, such as Kinder, dislike it for different reasons. During Bland's comments against the bill on the Senate floor, Kinder asked her whether she didn't have four grandchildren already signed up for charter schools in Kansas City. Turned out it was only three.
David Scott, a St. Louis lawyer behind St. Louis Charter School Inc., thinks the bill will be larded with so many proposals that it won't pass. "It probably will be the only education bill that will come out of the Senate this year, which means everyone will be tacking all of their education stuff onto it. That means it'll be an aircraft carrier at the end with everything you can put on it," Scott says. "I bet it doesn't get through."
IT MIGHT BE, IT COULD BE, IT IS -- A NEW STADIUM: Dress it up however they like, the stadium bill baked to specifications for owners of the St. Louis Cardinals involves more than just diverting state sales-tax dollars back to the team. House Bill 1357 would also allow a local "sports authority" to issue bonds to help finance the new stadium. If the state signs off on the diversion of sales-tax dollars, the city probably won't be far behind in agreeing to let its portion of the sales tax, and maybe all of its amusement tax, be siphoned off to pay for the new stadium. The likely sales pitch will be that the renovation of the nearby Cupples warehouses, yielding more residential development than originally announced, will serve as additional justification for the new, albeit retro, stadium. Of course, unlike the Los Angeles Rams back in 1994, the Cardinals are already here and have stated publicly that they have no plans to move from the St. Louis area, so the idea of getting a new venue entirely financed by tax dollars is a stretch. Chances are, the local baseball cartel will put some money in the pot. But most of the money on the table will come from the sale of bonds and the diversion of tax dollars that would have otherwise been paid to the city and the state. Details about who will guarantee the bonds should something go awry and just how many governmental bodies other than the Legislature must sprinkle holy water on this deal to make it legal are unclear at this time. Could there be a referendum? There never was one on what turned out to be the Trans World Dome. The session ends in May. Keep alert for sleight-of-hand.
THE ANAGRAM CANDIDATE MAY FACE ANOTHER HURDLE: For weeks, the talk has been that Betty Van Uum, the first woman elected to the St. Louis County Council and now an assistant to the chancellor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, may enter the race to succeed U.S. Rep. William L. Clay (D-1st). Van Uum hasn't returned phone calls on the subject, but word is she's seeking commitments from 100 people to each give $1,000 -- or is it 1,000 people, each giving $100? Whichever it is, getting that much dinero might help her make up her mind before the March 28 filing deadline.
Two of the candidates already running for the 1st District congressional seat are state Sen. Lacy Clay, the congressman's son and apparent favorite, and St. Louis County Councilman Charlie Dooley. Clay says he isn't sure what effect she'd have on the race: "She would be a wild card. I don't know how it would impact the race. I think her strategy would be to take female votes from both of us (Clay and Dooley), but I run pretty well among females, so I don't know how much detriment that would be to me."
As for the anagram, if Lacy Clay wins the primary and general elections, he could very well be the first congressman whose first and last names are anagrams of each other. Just think of the ramifications.
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM: In the ongoing, endless and often thankless task of caring for society's neglected children, foster parents seldom get any help. It doesn't have to be that way. At 1 p.m. Sunday, March 19, the Foster Care Coalition will hold a bowl-a-thon at Strike 'N Spare Lanes, 1309 N. Lindbergh Blvd. at Schuetz Road. Bring your Brooklyn hook and your social conscience. For 20 bucks, bowlers get three games and lunch. For more info, call 340-7722.... The chances of this happening were so slim that Las Vegas never made odds on it: Chris Heinrich, center for the St. Louis University Billikens, made it into a ESPN SportsCenter highlight. Of course, it was after the defeat of No. 1-ranked University of Cincinnati, an event made possible by the collision of tournament MVP Justin Love and Cincy's Kenyon Martin. Martin broke his leg, and SLU went on to win four games in four days. Tonya Harding couldn't have done any better. Let's hope this performance by SLU removes any doubts about Coach Lorenzo Romar.
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