Rick Sullivan It’s been about a year since the State Board of Education removed accreditation from troubled St. Louis Public Schools and instituted a Special Advisory Board to run the district’s financial and academic operations. And, Rick Sullivan, the CEO of the Special Board, has updated the State Board on progress that is being made.

In the classroom, Sullivan says benchmark test results indicate improvement at the high school level, but it’s unclear whether that will translate into higher MAP scores. As far as the money goes, Sullivan says there are still big problems with revenues decreasing. Sullivan says a $30-million budget gap is due, in part, to declining population in the city of St. Louis, which leads to declining enrollment in St. Louis schools. He says the declining enrollment results in declining revenues.

In a related development the State Board of Education has extended the life of the special board running the Wellston Public School District, which lost its accreditation three years ago.

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