Missouri House advances bill to remove deed restrictions that bar charter schools from buying or leasing unused public school buildings

Representative (Saint Louis), the bill sponsor, told the House that the measure would "permanently remove and prevent deed restrictions on public school buildings that prohibit their sale, transfer, or lease to charter schools for educational purposes." He said he had toured charter facilities and found vacant public-school buildings in St. Louis and Kansas City that could be reused instead of letting them sit unused and costly to maintain.

The bill targets deed language — including so-called 99-year deed restrictions — that sponsors said have been written into titles to keep some properties from being sold or…