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ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Board of Education needs to close schools to get out of a budget deficit in the next few years, school district leaders say.

“If we’re going to get back to balanced budgeting, that means some belt-tightening. Some hard decisions are going to have to be made,� said Angie Banks, chief financial officer for St. Louis Public Schools. “We need to right-size the district ... and we need to do it sooner rather than later, because the numbers just don’t work.�

Banks’ comments came Tuesday night during the first school board meeting without Superintendent Keisha Scarlett, who was placed on leave last month over questions around hiring and spending. The school closure discussion follows other pressing issues for the district, including a state performance audit and transportation crisis.

The SLPS general operating budget will drop from a $17 million surplus to an estimated $35 million deficit in the next year, mainly due to staff raises and extra transportation costs. The reserves of $197 million will cover deficit spending for a few years as the district looks to cut expenses, Banks said.

Last year, SLPS had 16,542 students in kindergarten through 12th grade spread across 62 schools. The Hazelwood School District, by contrast, has 28 schools for its 16,000 students.

A recent facilities study suggested SLPS needs to close 20 schools, Banks said.

“We don’t have enough staff to put enough staff in all the schools to do what needs to be done to support our students,� Banks said.

The same study showed that without any school closures, the cost of upkeep for the district’s buildings will reach an estimated $1.8 billion by 2044. The last school closures came in 2021 with Clay, Dunbar, Farragut and Ford elementary schools; Fanning Middle School; and Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC and Northwest high schools.

The state audit launched Tuesday will delve into the district’s finances along with other operations issues such as the collapse of contract talks last March with Missouri Central bus company.

More than 6,200 students will now ride in cabs, vans, sedans and SUVs from various transportation companies when school starts Monday. The SLPS Foundation bought 1,350 booster seats for younger students. Parents are asked to install the seats when the child is picked up at home each morning, and school staff will store them on arrival, said operations chief Square Watson during the board meeting.

Another 1,400 to 1,600 high school students will ride Metro buses. Metro Transit asked SLPS to provide additional security for the bus stops, but the agreement has not been approved as of Wednesday.

A Metro Transit news release sent late Tuesday after the SLPS board meeting says the system “stands ready to help the teenagers plan their trips to school so navigating public transportation next week is as easy as possible.�

The public transit system’s capacity is limited, and the school district must cover the costs of any additional buses and drivers needed for the students, the release states.

Metro passes are expected to cost the district at least $735,000 as part of a $40 million transportation package across 19 transportation vendors. The Missouri Central contract with SLPS last year was for $26 million.

School board President Antionette “Toni� Cousins opened the meeting with a defiant 15-minute speech in response to calls for her resignation, including from board member Emily Hubbard.

“Instead of working in siloes, we have to come together and work together. We can’t continue to fight, attack and use things for personal gain. That doesn’t take this city or this district to any other different level but low,� Cousins said. “To be clear, I will not step down from this position or from this board.�