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   JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Holding off on drastic action, Missouri's education commissioner has directed a new committee to study the status of St. Louis Public Schools and offer ideas for change later this year.

   "There's urgency to this. We can't keep it like it is," Education Commissioner Kent King said Thursday.

   King said the goal is not for the state to take control of the district, as some have called for, but that it has options if student performance doesn't improve.

   The St. Louis Public School Board forced the resignation of superintendent Creg Williams about two weeks ago, and many in the community were outraged.

   King said he's giving new superintendent Diana Bourisaw time to bring stability to the district. Classes in the district are expected to begin Aug. 28 as scheduled.

   During a meeting Thursday, King and state Board of Education members said their concern is that focus returns to what's best for students, not which adults are upset at others.

   "The thing that's absent in discussions is a concern about students," board member Tom Davis said. "This really isn't about the administration -- or ought not to be."

   John Martin, St. Louis Public Schools' interim deputy superintendent, attended the meeting and said he was pleased at the state's direction.

   Martin, a former superintendent of Jackson County's Grandview School District, said he would encourage the St. Louis board to work with the state committee and take its advice.

   "They should look at this as an opportunity to help improve the schools," he said.

   Gov. Matt Blunt also praised the course of action.

   "Their effort to evaluate the district and protect the best interest of the more than 37,000 Missouri children who rely upon the St. Louis public schools is a step in the right direction," he said in a written statement.

   The five-member panel appointed by King is led by William Danforth and Frankie Freeman, who also head a group monitoring the St. Louis district's response to the 1999 desegregation settlement.

   King asked the panel to study issues including student performance, district finances, the desegregation settlement, parents' concerns and potential changes in state law, and offer recommendations by November. He said he hoped the panel's work would "enable us to make decisions based on fact rather than on emotion."

   Under the city's 1999 desegregation settlement, the state could re-establish a "transitional" school district, with a three-member governing board. That board would have power to make changes in schools that aren't performing well and appoint a district leader, among other things. The transitional district last operated in 1998.

   King said he wouldn't rule out using that option if needed.

   Also, if any district's student test scores are too low, the state Board of Education can remove its accreditation. A district then has two years to make improvements or it risks being dissolved or taken over by the state.

   Last year, the state took control of the St. Louis area's Wellston district -- a first in Missouri history.

   St. Louis schools are currently provisionally accredited, and the state board expects to have new testing data in October to consider whether to remove the district's accreditation.

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   On the Net:

   Education Department: http://www.dese.mo.gov

   St. Louis Public Schools: http://www.slps.org

   (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)