St. Louis City Firefighters Sue Lindbergh Schools

St. Louis firefighters may have to live in the city, but they want their children going to school in the Lindbergh School District.

Five St. Louis Fire Department firefighters filed a lawsuit arguing for their right to send their children to schools in the Lindbergh School District as well as to Webster Groves and Kirkwood schools.

The Outstanding Schools Act, signed in 1993, allows parents in unaccredited school districts—such as St. Louis'—to transfer their children to nearby accredited schools at the expense of the failing school district. 

But these firefighters say all three school districts have denied their children.

“These men and women (firefighters) provide the highest level of service and selflessness,” Tim Belz, attorney for the firefighters told KMOX during a press conference. “They deserve our gratitude, but what they get are sleepless nights and financial strain trying to provide a quality education for their children. The Outstanding Schools Act is a crystal clear law, yet suburban districts refuse to comply.”

If the firefighters can't transfer their children to nearby public schools, they must choose between unaccredited public schools or schools that charge tuition. One firefighter told the St. Louis Beacon he pays more than $20,000 for his children to attend parochial schools.

"I should be able to send my child to an accredited district at no cost to me," Shawn Ryan, who's worked 19 years as a firefighter, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The Outstanding Schools Act is a law, but it's not being enforced."

In 2010 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a separate case, Turner vs. Clayton, that school districts are mandated to accept any student from an unaccredited district and have no say-so in the matter. Many school districts have voiced concerns that they will be flooded with students they do not have the resources to handle and that this ruling will only make things worse in the unaccredited districts; school boards have asked the state legislature to pass a legislative fix for the looming issue.