ST. LOUIS — The latest campaign urging tax-exempt Washington University to donate to local governments launched Tuesday.
The St. Louis Democratic Socialists of America first floated the “Green New Deal for Public Schools” at a town hall in February with 100 in attendance.
The campaign calls for the university to pay payments in lieu of taxes (known as PILOTs) of $15 million annually to St. Louis Public Schools and the School District of University City.
A growing list of supporters includes Local 420 of the American Federation of Teachers, the SLPS Parent Action Council and Megan Green, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Green, an adjunct professor, was among the faculty suspended after an April protest of the university’s relationship with Boeing amid the Israel-Hamas war.
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At $11.5 billion, Washington U. has one of the most lucrative endowments in higher education. The university is among the largest property owners in St. Louis, Clayton and University City, but does not pay taxes on most of its real estate. At least 1,400 students live in tax-exempt housing owned by the university.
“We work collaboratively with our surrounding municipalities on community investments and have dedicated significant resources to initiatives that are beneficial to the region. In addition, in fiscal year 2023, the university directly and indirectly contributed $8.8 billion to the St. Louis economy and supported more than 54,000 jobs,” university spokeswoman Julie Hail Flory said in a statement Monday.
Goals for the $15 million include affordable housing for families in St. Louis, universal preschool in University City, and more green spaces and health clinics plus the removal of environmental hazards in schools, according to a press release from the Democratic Socialists.
Luke Ehrenstrom, one of the campaign organizers, has said that community pressure has worked in other cities to elicit donations from large nonprofits. Universities including Brown, Harvard, Stanford and Yale donate millions in place of taxes to their host cities and local public schools.
“We hope our petition, which will be delivered to the administration on August 24 at our People’s Convocation, will be sufficient to persuade the University of their responsibilities,” reads the release. “If not, St. Louis DSA and our allies will continue to fight until our families have the resources that they need.”
One study showed that between 2015 and 2025, University City could expect to forgo an estimated $18.7 million to $21.6 million in property taxes from Washington U., of which nearly 80% would have gone to the school district.
Megan Green, President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and an adjunct faculty member at Washington University, discusses the "heavy handed, indiscriminate" police response that she witnessed at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the university's campus over the weekend in St. Louis, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Video by Vanessa Abbitt, vabbitt@post-dispatch.com