A Missouri millionaire and a local attorney have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to force St. Louis Public School leaders to sell closed city school buildings to charter schools.

Millionaire Rex Sinquefield and attorney W. Bevis Schock, both school reform advocates, want the district to lift deed restrictions which bar the sale of the moth-balled buildings to any school group.

The restrictions prohibit buyers from reopening the buildings as schools for 100 years.

This is just the most recent effort to force the district to sell the schools to charters. Legislators and advocacy groups have already made the case.

Sinquefield’s public relations’ agency, Slay & Associates, put out this release this morning:

“These deed restrictions do nothing to help the poor and underserved children of the City of Saint Louis,” Sinquefield said. “In addition to denying young people an important educational opportunity, they contribute to the economic instability of our neighborhoods and create a dangerous situation for families. Clearly, this decision by the SAB is short-sighted, and they should completely rescind this egregious disregard for Saint Louis children and the taxpayers who paid for these structures.”

The deed restriction policy is seen by charter public school advocates, and many others, as a direct attempt to prevent charter public school expansion in Saint Louis. Three new charter public schools are scheduled to open in Saint Louis in the fall of 2009 and many other founding teams have begun the process for opening a charter public school. Many charter school founders cite finding a building as one of the most difficult parts of opening a school.

The deed restriction policy is in place despite the fact that the district is facing a $35 million shortfall in the coming budget year.

“The City of St. Louis has consistently maintained that they do not have enough money to educate their children,” said Josh Schindler, attorney for the plaintiffs. “Yet when they have an opportunity to sell closed, vacant buildings, the proceeds of which will benefit children attending SLPS schools, they arbitrarily and capriciously put restrictions on the deeds locking out the greatest potential buyer for these buildings. In addition, the cost to maintain these vacant buildings adds an unnecessary extra burden on taxpayers.”

The deed restriction policy was adopted by the SAB in December 2007 when the district began to close schools to reflect the city’s declining population. The district’s enrollment has shrunk from 45,000 students 10 years ago to less than 27,000 today.