#WeCantWait #SaveOurSchools #SOS #SaveSLPS The voters of St. Louis City, Missouri, hereby petition the State Auditor, Mr. Scott Fitzpatrick, to audit the finances, operations, and governance of the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, otherwise known as SLPS.

The State Auditor’s office is designed to “... Examine financial accountability, waste, opportunities for fraud, and whether government organizations and programs are achieving their purposes and operating economically and efficiently.”

Due to the following facts:

• 79% of children in SLPS CANNOT read on grade level.  84% of children in SLPS CANNOT do math on grade level.  The numbers are far worse when you remove the gifted and magnet schools from the statistics.  
• The SLPS budget went from a 17 million dollar budget last year to a 35 million dollar deficit this year. 
• SLPS failed to file their required financial audit last year and thus jeopardized 3.7 million dollars for the children of St. Louis which indicates potential fraud, creates waste, and indicates inefficiencies in operations.
• SLPS has engaged in a no-bid contract for 6 million dollars to former associates of now Superintendent, Dr. Keisha Scarlett which presents a potential conflict of interest and creates waste.
• SLPS has engaged in a no-bid contract for 4.3 million dollars for professional development and books with Scholastic which creates waste.
• SLPS has years of meeting minutes that are absent from their website and any other publication.
• The school District’s bus company terminated their contract and now the district has had to spend 14 million dollars more to transport less kids than before.
• The superintendent has been placed on a leave of absence while hiring practices are reviewed. 
  • When asked for the vote tally for her suspension, the board replied that it would need 20 business days to give the vote tally of a 7 person vote.
• SLPS has failed to fulfill a number of records requests.
• SLPS maintains a ban on selling or leasing properties to charter schools while it fails to lease or sell these same properties to other entities causing blight and waste (Price tag for SLPS upkeep is $1,8B, St. Louis Dispatch).
• The President Antoinette ‘Toni’ Cousins, and the Vice President, Matt Davis, knowingly failed to disclose the conflict of interest of having Ms. Cousins on the Real Estate Committee while simultaneously being in a professional position to gain from real estate contracts with the District.
• SLPS ended contributions to and the establishment of student educational accounts as part of the Mayor’s College Kids Savings Program.
• SLPS has failed to consistently use State and City resources to abide by the Read, Lead, Exceed initiative as mandated by State Senate Bill 54 Section 167.268

We ask that the State Auditor conduct an audit of SLPS’ finances, operations, and governance to assess whether they have been responsible fiduciaries of the public purse #WeCantWait #SaveOurSchools #SOS #SaveSLPS