Parents urge SLPS Real Estate Committee to put schools at center of city tax-incentive decisions

St. Louis Public Schools officials and parent advocates on the district’s Real Estate Committee heard a presentation Friday from the Parent Action Council’s Housing and Incentives Committee urging the district to assert greater oversight of city tax-incentive decisions that reduce school property tax revenue.

Molly Metzger, a parent at Mann Elementary School and co-chair of the Parent Action Council’s Housing and Incentives Committee, told the committee “we have 20% of our kids unhoused or insecurely housed in all kinds of conditions” and argued that tax abatements and tax increment financing (TIF) decisions divert revenue the district depends on.

The presentation, delivered by Metzger and Sean Reagan Bogan, a parent and co-chair of the committee, cited St. Louis Public Schools’ Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) data showing the district forewent about $168 million in property taxes between 2017 and 2022 and an additional roughly $34.1 million in 2023, which the presenters summarized as “exceed[ing] $200,000,000.” They said the city assessor does not always update market values for abated properties and suggested the true revenue loss could be higher.

Why it matters: District officials rely on property taxes for a majority of local…