The St. Louis School Board may reconsider its contract to bash the charter schools:

School Board member David Jackson said Wednesday that he would seek to place the contract on the agenda for the board’s June 12 meeting and will change his vote.

"I don’t want to pay $25,000 to dog another entity," said Jackson, one of four board members who supported the contract. He now prefers the money be spent to promote the city schools rather than denounce charter schools.

And here’s the Board Vice President explaining why he favored the contract:

"This is an emergency," Purdy said. "We had to reach out to the parents making the decisions about where to send their children now. By August it will be too late."

The School Board seems to have gotten the message that parents will go elsewhere if they have the choice. What the district doesn’t realize is that advertising alone won’t keep students in the district. Parents aren’t flocking to charter schools because of a few commercials.   

If the St. Louis Public Schools want to retain students, they should improve their product. Public schools in the suburbs don’t have to advertise; everyone knows which ones are the best from word of mouth.