St. Louis Public Schools quietly replaces its longtime lawyer
St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) has quietly replaced its longtime lawyer. Kenneth Brostron of Lashly & Baer. Kenneth Brostron shepherded the district through desegregation, labor strife, political turmoil, and countless lawsuits. For his efforts, his firm, Lashly & Baer, was handsomely compensated. Over the last four years alone, SLPS has spent almost $11 million on legal services, which works out, on average, to roughly $75 a student per year. That per-student average is twice, or even 10 times, what legal fees cost taxpayers in school districts across the country. Mr. Brostron and his law firm have had a virtual monopoly in the district since the mid-1970s. "They were tough. They knew their stuff," says Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr., a former School Board member and St. Louis mayor. "They pretty much understood the system inside and out." As in many urban districts, the lawyers became the institutional memory in a district that chewed up board members and administrators every year, But that also caused controversy. "The most powerful person sitting at the table is legal counsel," says Robert Archibald, a former board member. "And that's probably not appropriate. No, not probably—that's not appropriate." Mr. Brostron says no one criticized him to his face. And he didn't even bill the district for every minute spent on the phone with leaders. "We probably deserved to be paid more," he says. But he knew the district's financial problems.
The Special Administrative Board overseeing the district has replaced Lashly & Baer with an in-house general counsel who will be paid a flat fee of $100,000 a year to dispense day-to-day legal advice. Even so, Mr. Brostron will be in state court this week representing the elected school board's challenge to the state intervention that ceded control of the district to the administrative board this summer. In December, even as the elected school board bickered over the prospect of state intervention, an advisory committee reviewed the district's checkbook. In three of the last four years, the district has blown its legal services budget by several thousand dollars. Last year, the district set aside $1.8 million for lawyers. It spent $2.8 million on legal fees. District officials say the overspending is partly because St. Louis administers its own special education program, unlike St. Louis County districts, which rely on the Special School District. While the fees Lashly & Baer charged were similar to those of other law firms that do similar work, the district did not regularly bid out the services or look for lower fees. "It would seem, a district of that size, with the issues they have to deal with, they'd hire in-house," says Kansas City School Board President David Smith. He says Kansas City legal bills peaked this past year at roughly $4 million, at least a million more than the year before, after the staff attorney left and the board had to use outside counsel exclusively. Now, he says, the district is trying to cut outside law firms entirely. They've hired an extra staff lawyer this year. Rick Sullivan, the district's chief executive officer, says Mr. Brostron's legal challenge of the appointed board, not money, sparked the decision to replace Lashly & Baer. The firm will continue to represent the district in existing cases and could be retained for future legal matters as well, he says. However, he hopes having a lawyer in-house will save the schools money. Lashly & Baer billing statements show that district leaders called the firm time and again for advice on meeting agendas, hiring practices, filing paperwork, board officer elections, and the effects of pending legislation. When board members wanted advice, they called the firm. When board business became contentious, members called Mr. Brostron. And if they just wanted to sideline board business for awhile, they could refer it to Lashly & Baer.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch By David Hunn & Steve Giegerich
[Editor’s Note: Background on the state intervention and coverage of the first day’s proceedings in the challenge are below, as is more information of school boards’ hiring of legal counsel.]
NSBA School Law pages on St. Louis
St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Steve Giegerich
NSBA School Law pages on hiring of school attorneys