Due to loan imbalances, the Confluence Board of Directors is currently examining the possibility of consolidating their two Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Confluence has two LEAs, one for Grand Center Arts Academy (GCAA) and one for Confluence Charter Schools (CCS).

All schools under Confluence are Charter schools, which differentiate from public schools in that they have to have a sponsor. Each LEA has their own sponsor; Saint Louis University sponsors GCAA, and CCS is currently sponsored by University of Missouri Columbia.

In 2009, Confluence began to discuss the idea for an arts school. At that time, Confluence was being sponsored by Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).

“The discussions with Missouri S&T about opening a performing arts school was really not something that Missouri S&T was interested in doing,” said Jeff Kuntze, CFO/COO of the Confluence resource office.

Because of this disagreement, Confluence began to look into alternatives to continue with the idea of opening GCAA. According to the board members, SLU became interested in opening an art school, and they decided to create an additional LEA in order to add SLU as a sponsor and continue with opening the school. Two years ago, the sponsor for the CCS LEA was switched to University of Missouri Columbia.

Due to GCAA being an expensive school to run both as an art school, middle school and high school, loaning funds between the two LEAs has happened several times starting in 2010.

“High schools typically run more expensive than our elementary schools, so the sixth through twelfth grade is not the most cost-effective,” said Kuntze. “There’s been about five or six million dollars that’s been loaned from the confluence schools to the Grand Center Schools.”

According to the Clifton Larson Allen (CLA) financial assessment and planning project final report, the total loans to GCAA from CCS is approximately 5.6 million dollars. A portion of that amount has gone towards renovating the school buildings, including the second floor, the basement, and the Sun Theatre.

“We know they have wonderful facilities here, we have the Sun Theater next door, so all of that has come with a cost,” said Kuntze. He also said that GCAA was loaned about 1.1 million dollars for the renovation of the basement.

The CLA report states that there is a “going concern about GCAA’s ability to continue” because of these loans and operating deficits.

In their report, CLA tried to come up with the different possibilities for LEA structure moving forward. The main purpose for this report was to look for a way to resolve the issue of the loans between the two LEAs. After examining all of the options, they decided that Consolidation, which entails combining the two LEAs, would be the most logical option, because it would resolve all debt between them and the going concern.

On December 14th and 16th of 2015, the Confluence board held meetings with parents, teachers and some students to discuss this possibility in the future. At the meeting were Kuntze; board members Jerry Noble, Human Resources; Lance Lecomb, Board Secretary; Jose Pineda; Craig H. Larson, Vice Chair and Treasurer; and Dr. Phillip Kennedy; and CLA representatives Ben Aase, Principal and Sarah Curfman, Manager.

“Obviously there is a lot of conversation and dialogue that needs to happen, and the board as a whole is actually committed to that. We want this to be open and respectful dialogue. We’re committed to having these meetings regularly going forward as well, particularly as we go through this planning process,” said LeComb.