By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – At its monthly meeting Tuesday night (Tuesday), the St. Louis Public School Board approved nearly 100 agenda items -including a $25,000, no-bid contract to a local radio host with ties to several board members.
The board authorized a contract with a company called "Penetrating Urban Market Politics". The organization is controlled by Lizz Brown, a local activist and radio host who organized a five-day student sit-in at the mayor's office last March.
Brown is contracted to assist with a public service campaign about the negative impact of charter schools.
Board member Veronica O'Brien accused acting chairman Bill Purdy, who proposed the contract, of offering kick-backs.
"It stinks," O'Brien said Tuesday night. "Lizz Brown, nothing personal against her, but it's pretty clear that she's a personal friend and I wonder if this is back pay?"
But Purdy doesn't buy the kickback accusation: "I don't see it that way," he said. "A kick back for doing what? The lady has a radio show and I've been on it once, maybe twice in my whole life."
Another board member, Peter Downs has a weekly slot on Brown's show.
The contract is to assist the school district in creating a PR campaign informing the public about the "negative impact of charter schools".
Brown defended the move on her talk show on WGNU-AM this (Wed.) morning, saying she's a natural choice for the job because of how long she's been working against charter schools.
"This is something that is occurring that I've been invovled with since 1998," said Brown. "This is not anything new, but this is something that someone wants my expertise on, and that's is what they're going to get."
SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET
Another of the 100-plus items on the agenda Tuesday night was a budget for the district for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Board members approved a $332 million plan. For financial officer Enos Moss, each time he has approached the board with a tentative budget, variables change and he's forced to recalculate.
The latest estimates show the district loosing over 3,000 students, creating a budget gap of $6 million.
Reductions in staff and facilities consolidations made up part of the difference, the other part will be gained by reducing payments on state loans.
"The other alternative we could violate state law and deficit spend this year," said Moss. "That's always another option out there."
The budget did pass Tuesday night. Instead of the normal $7 million in loan payments, the district will pay half that.
Moss says he's hopeful the state will forgive the rest.