Ehlmann Supports Appointment of Special Administrative Board to Oversee Normandy School District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2013
Press Contact: Colene McEntee, Public Affairs Coordinator
(636) 949-1864, cmcentee@sccmo.org

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MO - In a letter sent today to Peter Herschend, President of the Missouri State School Board, and to members of the Missouri State Board of Education, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann calls for quick action to appoint a special administrative board to oversee the Normandy School District. On July 12, Governor Jay Nixon signed SB 125 that would allow the Missouri State Board of Education to appoint a special administrative board, rather than waiting two full academic years, to address the governance of the Normandy School District.

“When SB 380 passed the General Assembly 20 years ago, most who voted for it, and all of those, like myself, who did not, wanted to make sure that, if taxpayers were going to pay more and the school districts were going to get more revenue, schools would improve, or at least not deteriorate,” wrote Ehlmann.  “The bill allowed students at unaccredited school districts to transfer to any school in the same or adjoining county and required the unaccredited district to pay tuition. Just like the sequester on the federal level, this remedy was to be so severe that no school board would allow its school, or any school in the same or adjacent county, to become unaccredited.” 

Under the state constitution and the St. Charles County Charter, county government has no powers in the area of public education. However, Ehlmann is concerned that the authorities with such powers take appropriate and timely measures in the interests of Missouri’s schoolchildren. In his letter to Herschend, Ehlmann adds, “We both know that the only sure solution is to fix the Normandy School District, and I believe that can be achieved only by the appointment of a special administrative board.”

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