Show-Me Pocket Change

St. Louis Public Schools have a number of problems in the classroom, and that’s been well documented. Indeed, that’s probably one reason why so many parents are switching their children to charter schools. And what would be a perfect place for a charter school to open? Well, in one of the closed St. Louis Public Schools.

Unfortunately, there’s one catch. Last year, school authorities banned selling one of the many shuttered city schools to charter schools or private schools. Even opponents of charter schools should be outraged about this one. The public schools are millions in the hole, and selling a closed school for $1 million or so would be a big financial help.

But the public school officials are so afraid of the competition that they are willing to give up millions. School board member and city schools CEO Rick Sullivan recently told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he’s simply doing what’s done in the business world: Companies often won’t sell to competitors.

But that’s not always the case. And in this case, the owner of the schools are city taxpayers who stand to benefit from the sale of any school building. In addition, those same taxpayers deserve more education choices than they have now.

There are efforts in the legislature to force the city schools to rescind the ban. Senate Bill 439, sponsored by Sen. Jim Lembke, would prohibit such restrictions. The ban makes no sense, so the bill makes perfect sense.