Kansas City, Mo. ? Trustees of the University of Missouri-Kansas City say they should have more local control over the school – and that the University of Missouri system’s management structure hurts the university’s chances to raise money and improve academically.

With Gov. Matt Blunt looking for ways to make state government more efficient, the trustees have a chance to make their case in Jefferson City.

The Board of Trustees, a private group of civic, business and philanthropic leaders, has no decision-making authority. That rests with the Board of Curators that governs the university system and its campuses here and in Columbia, St. Louis and Rolla.

“It’s my understanding that there’s been a power struggle for years,” said Angela Bennett, a curator who graduated from Missouri-Kansas City. “There has been some misunderstanding as to the trustee responsibilities versus the Board of Curators’ responsibilities.”

Trustees, whose primary job is raising money, believe they – and the community served by the university – should have more say in how it is spent.

“I think there’s a distressing lack of accountability on the part of the management of the University of Missouri system as it relates to UMKC and the community that UMKC is designed to serve,” trustee Hugh Zimmer said. “If you really talk to the people that would love to build this university and love to help finance it, you’ll find that the lack of what some people might call responsible leadership is affecting the university and causing things that are important to all of us to stall.”

Zimmer, whose Zimmer Cos. is redeveloping the former federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, tried to get the university to move its law school there from the main campus near the Country Club Plaza.

He offered $10 million to finish the space, and university officials said donations generated by the move could increase the law school’s budget by $750,000 annually for 10 years.

The proposed relocation was rejected by professors.