ST. LOUIS — A charter school network that has struggled academically for nearly two decades is seeking $35 million in bonds from the city’s financing arm.
The St. Louis Industrial Development Authority held a public hearing Thursday on issuing the tax-exempt bonds for a nonprofit associated with Confluence Academies to pay down and refinance debt used to buy and renovate its five school buildings.
The authority’s board, which issues low-interest financing to nonprofits and major development projects, is expected to vote Friday on the request from the Friends of Confluence Academy. Charter schools are publicly funded but operated by boards independent of the public school district.
“This is an important real estate deal, it’s not using any funds that would go to the St. Louis Public Schools system,†said Holston Black, president of Friends of Confluence, during the hearing. “That money is critical to our mission of not only being a great educational component in the community but really pushing the educational achievements of students in the city of St. Louis.â€
People are also reading…
In 2007, the city authority first issued a $23 million tax-exempt bond to help Confluence buy and renovate buildings for its Old North, Aspire and South City schools.
The authority facilitated an additional $16 million bond in 2019 to help with the purchase of the $12.6 million Beaux Arts Building for Grand Center Arts Academy and the refinancing of an $8.8 million purchase of a St. Louis Public Library building for a high school downtown. As part of the deal, financial documents show, the library agreed to loan $3.6 million to Confluence with a final payment of $555,777 due in June 2027.
Black pointed out that charter schools cannot obtain bond funding through local elections like public school districts.
Voters in St. Louis will decide in August on a $160 million no-tax increase bond issue for maintenance and improvements to 60 schools across St. Louis Public Schools. Voters last approved a bond issue for the district in 2010, for $155 million.
Confluence has been threatened with closure several times in its nearly 20-year history for failing to outperform SLPS — the intended purpose for charter schools. The schools’ sponsor, University of Missouri-Columbia, was sanctioned last year for poor oversight and must present quarterly performance updates on Confluence to the state board of education.
Last spring, 22% of Confluence students tested at a proficient level in English and 11% in math. In SLPS, 18% of students tested proficient in English and 10% in math last spring.
Confluence’s total enrollment has dropped from a high of 3,200 in 2013 to 2,500 last year. Nearly all of the students come from low-income Black or Hispanic families.
“This impacts our ability to perform higher than what we are performing because we accept all students,†said Leona Lucas, chair of the Confluence board, during the hearing.
Two St. Louis residents spoke in opposition to the latest bond proposal, arguing the city would be promoting the charter network over the public school district.
“These bond requests are an exploitative and predatory practice to use public financing for organizations that fundamentally exist to undercut and destroy SLPS,†said Josie Grillas of the 8th ward Democratic Committee.
Steph Kukuljan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
