The Saint Louis Zoo is a great place for families to spend a summer day. Many people like that the zoo does not charge admission, but few visitors know how the zoo is funded. When told that a property tax in Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County pays for the zoo, some visitors were surprised. Residents of Chicago and Tennessee said the free admission is nice. However, two citizens of Saint Louis City think it is unfair that residents of surrounding counties can visit the zoo for free.

While the fairness of this tax is a worthy topic of debate, Haleigh Albers, an intern at the Show-Me Institute, said she is more concerned about the sustainability of this tax. The population of the tax district (Saint Louis City plus Saint Louis County) has been decreasing steadily over the past few decades, meaning that fewer and fewer taxpayers are supporting the zoo.

Not only is the population of the taxing district shrinking but — more importantly — the population also is getting smaller relative to the greater Saint Louis area. Haleigh writes:

At the time the Zoo-Museum District tax was levied on Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County, the residential taxpayers accounted for 62 percent of the population of the greater Saint Louis area. The majority of the typical Zoo-Museum District customers were contributing to its funding. Conversely, in 2010, Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County consisted of only 47 percent of the metro area. Therefore, less than half of the expected patrons were funding the District.

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Holding schools individually accountable for performance would change the fundamental structure of Missouri’s public school system. Instead of a special advisory board taking over an entire district, it could target individual schools that are struggling. In this way, state intervention under SB 125 could be more focused and efficient.

However, switching accreditation from districts to schools would benefit families in accredited districts as well, because it would illuminate their options. For example, there is a wide achievement gap between two elementary schools in the Raytown C-2 School District — Eastwood Hills and Blue Ridge Elementary Schools. If they had been evaluated individually and given letter grades under Missouri’s accreditation system, MSIP5, Eastwood would have received an “F” and Blue Ridge would have earned an “A.” Just a 10-minute drive separates these two schools.

Saint Louis Public Schools Board Member Katherine Wessling endorses a school accreditation system:

Given that most families would prefer to educate their children in the best possible environment that is closest to their home, the switch to accrediting schools rather than districts will give families better information and will also relieve concerns from neighboring districts that they will have to accept influxes of students with little warning or time to prepare.

Individual school evaluations and parent choice are the basis of education reforms in several other states. Ranked No. 1 in the country for school choice, Louisiana’s statewide Recovery School District (RSD) changed the fundamental structure of the New Orleans public school system. Every school in Louisiana is evaluated annually, and the RSD may take over schools with unacceptable performance scores. It can close schools, run them directly, or re-open them as charter schools. Additionally, Louisiana publishes these annual performance scores. This transparency facilitates school choice, particularly in New Orleans, where families can rank all their public and charter school choices in the city on one application. This targeted, market approach has doubled the percent of RSD students who pass the LEAP, Louisiana’s standardized test.

Evaluating public school systems by district obfuscates the reality of a school’s performance. Missouri ought to be asking how each individual school is doing. By holding each school accountable for its own accreditation, Missouri can more effectively meet the needs of every student.

The post Part 2: Highlighting Options Through School Accreditation appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Simply putting a SAB in charge is not a long-term solution. Failing schools are a result of systemic problems in the public school system. If new management does not change the fundamental structure, then districts are likely to lapse into their old ways once local boards regain control. In that case, SB 125 effectively shifts unnecessary power to the state, which could be bad news.

However, when a SAB takes over a district, it has the opportunity to make systemic changes. For example, the SAB in Saint Louis recently chose to diversify its portfolio of schools by forming a partnership with KIPP. Decisions like these that promote school choice are forward-thinking, lasting solutions. If the state uses its new authority to expand school choice, then SB 125 is good news.

Though there is hope that SB 125 could lead to better options for students, it overlooks an important issue. Too much time is spent focusing on district accreditation, when the spotlight ought to be on the individual school. More on this in my next post.

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Previously, KIPP and SLPS operated as separate districts, or Local Education Agencies (LEA), with separate funding, buildings, and evaluations. Under the new partnership, KIPP will get access to vacant SLPS buildings; in exchange, KIPP’s student achievement results will be counted as part of SLPS’s as if they are one district. Unfortunately, Missouri does not evaluate public schools individually; evaluations are conducted by district. Therefore, KIPP’s high achievement scores will likely inflate SLPS’s evaluation and buoy underperforming public schools. Nevertheless, the new partnership between SLPS and KIPP should be applauded because it marks a step forward in how Saint Louis operates its school system.

In the book The Urban School System of the Future: Applying the Principles and Lessons of Chartering, Andy Smarick writes:

The world increasingly, and accurately, thinks of a city’s K-12 education system as a collection of diverse schools, not a single, dominant administrative unit. This is the reason why the term “portfolio of schools” has become a staple of the education lexicon. It is also the reason why more and more leaders are drawing a distinction between a “school system” and a “system of schools.”

The portfolio model acknowledges that there is no one-best way to educate kids. The new partnership between KIPP and SLPS recognizes that charter schools and traditional public schools can cooperatively co-exist. When they do, everyone wins. I hope this new relationship between the district and charter schools will be the first of many. By adding quality charter operators to its portfolio of schools, Saint Louis can redesign its educational landscape and continue to improve the “system of schools.”

The post Saint Louis Public School District Adds Blue Chip To Portfolio appeared first on Show-Me Institute.