ST. LOUIS — Four Democratic city politicians asked state Attorney General Jay Nixon on Wednesday to make the abolishment of the Special Administrative Board overseeing the St. Louis Public Schools part of his gubernatorial campaign platform.

"We ask him to him to remove the injustice forced on our children and community by promising to dissolve the SAB when he is elected," said Rep. Robin Wright-Jones, D-St. Louis.

She called the appointed administrative board — which replaced the elected board 13 months ago — "thieves of democracy." Wright-Jones and state Rep. Rodney Hubbard, D-St. Louis, are squaring off in the Aug. 5 primary for the 5th District Senate district seat being vacated by Maida Coleman, D-St. Louis.

Wright-Jones said she had had an "informal conversation" with Nixon about overturning the statutes that put the administrative board in place.

Nixon's campaign spokesman Oren Shur said: "Jay Nixon respects the work the appointed board is doing, but he believes that in order to have full public support, the school board should be elected by the public and be accountable to the public. At the appropriate time, we should move towards an orderly transition process that will ultimately lead back to local control."

An alternative to Wright-Jones' proposal, said Chad Beffa, would be a Nixon campaign promise to replace the district's chief executive officer, Rick Sullivan, with one of the parents now on the elected board.

Beffa, a Democrat, is seeking nomination as his party's candidate for the 67th District House seat.

Beffa, Wright-Jones and two other Democratic candidates, Nicholas Clement and Cara Jensen, spoke at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at Wright-Jones' campaign headquarters in south St. Louis.

Clement, a candidate for committeeman in the 13th Ward, and Jensen, a candidate for committeewoman in the 8th Ward, criticized recommendations that would balance the district's $320 million budget by slashing the jobs of social workers, librarians, school psychiatrists and others from the payroll.

The cuts are among several proposals under consideration as the administrative board seeks ways to pare a $30 million deficit from the district's financial plan.

Asked whether she had any alternatives to the cuts before the administrative board, Wright-Jones said she would "look for other ways" but could not provide specifics.

Clement, however, questioned the board's continuing support of the $5 million Kaplan curriculum program.

In June, Wright-Jones, Beffa and Clement received a public endorsement from former St. Louis schools Superintendent Diana Bourisaw.

The board, said Sullivan, responded with a letter asking Bourisaw to refrain from "comment on political issues while representing herself" as the leader of the city schools.

Sullivan, and others connected to the district, said Wednesday that Bourisaw was both aware of and supported the proposed cuts that Wright-Jones now says are the "final nail" in the district's coffin.

"The earlier presentations of the proposed budget were prepared by the administration headed by Dr. Bourisaw," Sullivan said. "We believed it was important for the board and community to know what the proposed cuts were."

Beffa disputed that claim.

"I know for a fact that the budget was changed after Diana Bourisaw had her hands on it," Beffa said.

Bourisaw, whose resignation took effect Tuesday, declined to comment.