Why St. Louis parents demanded accountability for their public schools

As a local, Black-led, community-based nonprofit, Coalition with STL Kids spent months talking to hundreds of parents about the troubling state of St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS).

We wrote and spoke to the Missouri state auditor’s office and pleaded for an audit of SLPS. We raised concerns about the district’s academic performance, financial management and treatment of parents who tried to make their voices heard, including during the tenure of former school board President Toni Cousins and Vice President Matt Davis.

Those concerns were not unfounded.

The auditor’s 2025 report documented serious financial problems, including $266,780 in purchases that improperly bypassed competitive bidding requirements, salary increases that exceeded approved pay schedules and approximately $3.5 million in employee attendance incentives that auditors concluded violated the Missouri Constitution.

A second audit, released this August, found additional failures of oversight. Board members spent approximately $75,000 on conference travel over 13 months that auditors considered unnecessary, sometimes without obtaining required approval.

Our organization also participated in a federal lawsuit alleging that school officials violated community members’ First Amendment rights by restricting public comment and removing critics from board meetings. The district settled the lawsuit earlier this year.

We asked for an audit because parents deserved answers about how their children’s schools were being managed and how taxpayer money was being spent. The findings confirmed that our concerns warranted attention.

We recognize that the auditor’s office cannot investigate every school district at once. Other districts and charter schools deserve the same scrutiny when serious problems arise. But our responsibility as a community organization is to advocate for the children and families of St. Louis.

Black communities have historically faced inequities in education, and we understand why additional state scrutiny can raise concerns. But accountability is also welcomed by many Black parents, particularly when they are the ones demanding it.

We also hope that accountability will come with increased support and resources to improve our schools.

The audits raise serious questions about district priorities, particularly when classrooms need more resources, students need academic intervention and teachers need additional support.

We believe the teachers union should be using these findings to press district leaders for more resources for teachers and students. Auditors documented hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases that improperly bypassed competitive bidding requirements, along with other questionable expenditures. Those findings should be part of a larger conversation about district spending priorities and whether enough money is reaching classrooms.

And the stakes are especially high in a district that the Missouri State Board of Education placed on provisional accreditation status earlier this year.

We understand that state intervention has sometimes been used to diminish the power of Black communities. That history deserves consideration whenever questions arise about local control of our schools.

But concerns about possible state intervention should not prevent an independent examination of how public money is spent and whether district leaders are fulfilling their responsibilities.

The audits largely examined practices from 2023 and 2024, and current district leaders have said they are working to address many of the problems identified. We welcome those efforts. What matters now is whether they produce lasting improvements.

We asked for accountability because we believe St. Louis Public Schools can and must do better.

The audits have provided information that parents, teachers and district leaders can use to demand improvements. The next step is making sure those findings lead to meaningful changes in how the district operates and how it serves students.

Missouri is developing an A–F grading system for public schools and charter schools statewide. We welcome accountability that applies fairly and consistently to every school, regardless of the community it serves.

Our goal has never been to punish our public schools. It is to make them better for the children who depend on them.

This article was originally published by Missouri Independent and is republished by MetroSTL under a Creative Commons license. The reporting is the outlet’s; please support them.