Report from Auditor Fitzpatrick finds ineffective leadership in the St. Louis Public Schools has eroded public trust and fostered a culture that lacks accountability

The ineffective leadership of the St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education has eroded public trust, damaged employee morale, and fostered a culture lacking in accountability according to a new report from Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The audit report, which is the second released by Fitzpatrick on St. Louis Public Schools, once again gives the district the lowest possible rating of "poor" while recommending the Board strengthen oversight and reinforce its commitment to integrity and ethical values.

"The bottom line is the Board of Education is not an effective governing body and it is time for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to strongly consider whether the current board structure is the appropriate governance model for the St. Louis Public School District. Since our first report, the district has been downgraded to provisionally accredited status and it's clear that if the Board remains in place it needs to take swift and dramatic action to turn things around for the kids who attend schools in the district," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "I realize the members of the Board are trying to move forward from Dr. Scarlett's administration, but as our report shows, they have a lot of work to do in order to rebuild trust with the public and provide students with an environment that prioritizes their educational needs."

The audit identifies how the Board and former Superintendent Dr. Keisha Scarlett did not demonstrate a commitment to integrity and ethical values or a "tone at the top" necessary to effectively lead the district. The report cites Dr. Scarlett's statement that she had "an appetite for litigation," which is indicative of a control environment in which management intends to challenge established procedures and employees could be coerced into following management directives out of fear of retaliation or loss of a job. The report also found significant issues with internal communications as employees were not allowed to speak directly with the Superintendent or the Board. District personnel indicated there was a communication bottleneck in which cabinet members could only relay messages to Dr. Scarlett through the former Deputy Superintendent. Dr. Scarlett then communicated with only the former Board President and former Board Vice-President, who, according to other Board members, sometimes shared only partial information with the remainder of the Board. The report also identified deficient internal control monitoring with the district at times operating without an active Whistleblower Hotline or an internal auditor.

The audit report also looks at the Board's travel paid for by the school district and finds Board members unnecessarily spent $75,000 in a 13-month period for 2 in-state conferences and 7 out-of-state conferences for Board members. The $75,000 spent includes more than $31,000 for conference registration fees, in excess of $19,000 for hotel expenses, and nearly $16,000 in airfare costs. Board members did not obtain approval to attend 5 out of 9 conferences as required by Board policy. The report recommends the Board review and evaluate Board travel and conference costs to ensure taxpayer money is used in the most beneficial way for students, such as for teacher training, classroom resources, and technology for students.

The audit closely examines the issues the district had with its transportation vendor during the 2023-2024 school year. The report finds the district failed to enforce contract requirements with the vendor through performance penalties for identified deficiencies. For example, the district did not enforce contract penalties for the vendor's failure to meet safety inspection requirements. The contract required the vendor's bus fleet to achieve at least a 90% first-time satisfactory pass but a 2024 inspection produced a satisfactory pass result of only 72% and the 2023 inspection results produced a pass rate of only 51%. The report points out that if the district had enforced the contract requirements, it could have added more pressure to the vendor to resolve the issues, had more time to plan for a transition to a new vendor, or made additional funds available to absorb the increased costs. Additionally, the district did not exercise its right to make a claim on the vendor's performance bond in response to the vendor's failure to meet key contractual obligations, which further contributed to avoidable operational disturbances and additional costs incurred by the district.

Another finding in the report documents how the district has not effectively managed its inventory of closed school buildings and has not sold property in compliance with state law, resulting in lost opportunities to maximize property value and increased costs associated with maintaining vacant facilities. The district sold 4 properties in violation of state law from June 2022 through June 2025. During this period, the district did not solicit open bids for properties sold and did not publicize the sales as required by state law when selling property without a real estate broker. The report also notes the district was holding 7 of its 22 closed buildings for future use despite decommissioning the buildings between 4 to 22 years ago and classifying 4 of the 7 in fair or poor condition. These buildings are currently incurring costs to maintain and would require significant investment to be recommissioned. The report recommends the Board of Education consider selling unused buildings, ensure actions are taken to maximize the available buyers and sale price of listed properties, and ensure future property sales are compliant with state law.

The audit also included a review of the decision made by the Board to terminate former Superintendent Dr. Millicent Borishade without cause. Dr. Borishade's contract states that in the event of termination without cause, the district is required to pay the salary and health care benefits which would have been paid to, or on behalf of, the Superintendent during the remaining term of the contract. As a result, the district is expected to pay out a total of $721,539 in severance compensation, in addition to health benefits through June 30, 2028.

Other findings in the report include district policies and procedures for Reading Success Plans and curriculum development that are not compliant with applicable state laws and Board policy, a failure by district schools to always perform safety drills in accordance with the district's guidance, a lack of consistent compliance by the Board with the Sunshine Law, a lack of established written agreements with some contractual parties, issues with the sale of district-issued general obligation bonds, insufficient procedures to limit access to attendance records and reviews of attendance changes, and a failure by the district to sufficiently communicate district procedures for handling receipts to schools resulting in inconsistent cash handling procedures for student activity accounts.

In response to additional concerns raised in 2026 in a lawsuit against the district by Dr. Borishade following her termination, auditors also applied limited audit procedures to certain events and information related to enrollment, graduation rates, comprehensive schools qualifications, timekeeping, and federal grant oversight for the period July 1, 2021, through December 31, 2025 and found no significant deficiencies in internal controls, policies, or procedures in those areas.

The complete audit report is available here. The first audit report issued on the St. Louis Public Schools is available here.

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