St. Louis mayor wants to stop school busing for racial desegregation - St. Louis, Missouri, mayor Freeman Bosley Jr

Jet, Oct 18, 1993

St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., says he's committed to ending school busing for racial desegregation.

"Even though I appreciate White kids and Black kids going to school together, it has not been good for the neighborhoods,' Bosley said.

If you don't have good neighborhood schools, people won't live there. If you live there and send your kids to school somewhere else, there's no sense of commitment," explained Bosley, who is the city's First Black mayor.

Mayor Bosley would like to use the federal money currently being used for school desegregation to upgrade the schools in all of the city's neighborhoods.

Under the 10-year-old desegregation program, about 14,500 Black students are sent from the city to predominantly White schools in St. Louis County.

Only a federal judge can lift the desegregation order under which the program operates.

Despite the desegregation program, many city schools are all-Black because there aren't enough White students. Of the city districts 106 schools, 47 have virtually all-black student bodies. About 42,000 students attend city public schools.