The KCMO School District

[beautyfromashes]

How will they achieve this within the confines of existing funding? What do you want them to cut? Rebuilding facilities, opening new ones to keep up with demand, feel like real actionable steps to better serving the community.

Most everything I said was a change in messaging and focus. That takes zero funds. As for reopening SWHS, they had a list of donors who graduated from that there that wanted to give money to reopen it and were rejected. The board thought they would lose too many kids from Lincoln and killed it for political reasons. Money isn’t the reason the district has suffered for so long.

[langosta]

How will they achieve this within the confines of existing funding? What do you want them to cut? Rebuilding facilities, opening new ones to keep up with demand, feel like real actionable steps to better serving the community.

Most everything I said was a change in messaging and focus. That takes zero funds. As for reopening SWHS, they had a list of donors who graduated from that there that wanted to give money to reopen it and were rejected. The board thought they would lose too many kids from Lincoln and killed it for political reasons. Money isn’t the reason the district has suffered for so long.

KCPS has engineering, comp sci, and nursing programs including a pre-nursing partnership with Truman Medical Centers. The proposed ballot measure would provide new and improved spaces for their career technical education (including the nursing program).

The measure reopens SW Highschool as a middle school which there is demand for. Brookside / Waldo have done a good job of building up their elementary schools and reopening SW as a middle school builds off of that success (bottom up approach) and provides an option that keeps families in the district longer. Im certain that in 10-15 years a southern HS will be possible.


Something else you havent mentioned is that the SW campus is small in comparison to modern high schools. This much has been identified by the community during KCPS’s recent master plan events.

https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/ ... istrustful.

While the building is huge, its grounds are on the small side.

The school would have to squeeze in enough parking, athletic fields and space for outdoor learning, Lange said. It would also have to figure out how to make traffic circulation work during pickup and drop-off times.

Aylward, one of the neighbors who would like to see the school reopen, said concerns with previous uses of the school included violence within the school, parents dropping off kids across busy streets and students leaving the school to wander the neighborhood.

Mike Zeller, a Brookside resident who was one of the leaders of the Uniting at Southwest movement, said he’d be excited to see Southwest reopen.

In a district where some families with children can move away, pay for private school or send children to free public charter schools, KCPS has to compete.

A school located in a neighborhood like Brookside, “where families with choices feel more comfortable,” might attract more families to the district and create a school with high socioeconomic diversity, Zeller said. He said that’s important for students.

[beautyfromashes]

I’ve haven’t heard that SW is on the plans for this bond issue. The district always dangles it as an option to get something they want but then pull it back. If it is indeed part of the official plan, that would be a positive move. Not trusting that to be the case.

[langosta]

I’ve haven’t heard that SW is on the plans for this bond issue. The district always dangles it as an option to get something they want but then pull it back. If it is indeed part of the official plan, that would be a positive move. Not trusting that to be the case.

Reopening SW as a middle school is in their capital plan, bond website page, all their press releases, 3rd party new articles, etc.

[im2kull]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical as well to go to the taxpayer wishing well and ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that included any kind of a incentive?

[beautyfromashes]

Reopening SW as a middle school is in their capital plan, bond website page, all their press releases, 3rd party new articles, etc.

Can you show me where making SW a middle school is a definite part of the bond issue? Not a “future plan” or “an option” or “we’re studying it”. All I see is, “we have a strong credit rating, we’ll spend the money wisely but don’t know where exactly it will be spent”.

[Chris Stritzel]

Reopening SW as a middle school is in their capital plan, bond website page, all their press releases, 3rd party new articles, etc.

Can you show me where making SW a middle school is a definite part of the bond issue? Not a “future plan” or “an option” or “we’re studying it”. All I see is, “we have a strong credit rating, we’ll spend the money wisely but don’t know where exactly it will be spent”.

The KCPS website makes it sound as though it's a go once funding is had.
https://www.kcpublicschools.org/about/r ... igh-school

[beautyfromashes]

The KCPS website makes it sound as though it's a go once funding is had.
https://www.kcpublicschools.org/about/r ... igh-school

It seems to me they make no assurances exactly where the money will be spent beyond broad planning phase items and they can spend it wherever they want.

[langosta]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical as well to go to the taxpayer wishing well and ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that included any kind of a incentive?

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/ ... 092524.pdf

Q: KCPS received additional revenues from the 2023 Jackson County reassessments. Is that funding facility improvements?

A: In FY24, KCPS received $40 million in additional revenue from higher property values associated with the Jackson County reassessments. Of that, $13.3 million was used to give teachers and staff raises. The remaining funds went toward improving school facilities, including upgrades to HVAC systems, security cameras, and structural repairs. The district spent $17.6 million in FY24, and the remaining will be used for more facility improvements in FY25.
In the FY25 budget, KCPS had a decrease in assessed valuation of $43.3 million (decreasing revenues by approximately $7 million). The budget was further reduced by $30 million due to the end of the federal ESSER program funding. Due to these budget reductions in FY25, a higher amount of the reassessment revenues was directed to operating needs, and KCPS set aside a lower amount, $13 million for building and facility improvements, than in FY24. $7 million of that will be used to cover the annual cost of a Certificate of Participation (COP) bond the district plans to pursue in 2025. While KCPS is able to fund some facility improvements each year with the additional reassessment revenues, the amount of funding is insufficient to address KCPS facility needs. For these reasons, KCPS is pursuing dedicated capital funding through a GO Bond in April 2025.

[langosta]

The KCPS website makes it sound as though it's a go once funding is had.
https://www.kcpublicschools.org/about/r ... igh-school

It seems to me they make no assurances exactly where the money will be spent beyond broad planning phase items and they can spend it wherever they want.

There is not going to be a legally bound contract pre-election. That is not something any district would do so its unfair to ask for it here. I think we've mostly refuted most of your hold-ups so if you just completely don't trust the district or don't want to vote yes then don't.

[beautyfromashes]

I think we've mostly refuted most of your hold-ups so if you just completely don't trust the district or don't want to vote yes then don't.

I’m not sure what you’ve refuted, but that’s fine. Yes, I don’t trust the district and there are valid reasons why. Most people don’t. Districts that don’t have to guarantee where money will go have the trust of their citizens. This district doesn’t and should take additional steps to state exactly where the money will go. But, they won’t. This bond will fail miserably.

[dnweava]

I think we've mostly refuted most of your hold-ups so if you just completely don't trust the district or don't want to vote yes then don't.

I’m not sure what you’ve refuted, but that’s fine. Yes, I don’t trust the district and there are valid reasons why. Most people don’t. Districts that don’t have to guarantee where money will go have the trust of their citizens. This district doesn’t and should take additional steps to state exactly where the money will go. But, they won’t. This bond will fail miserably.

Schools need to be funded at the State level. The inequality in school facilities across the state is absolutely insane.

KCSD kids get to deal with 100 year old falling apart buildings yet other kids around the state get brand new buildings, new indoor football practice field, new theaters, new basketball gyms that could complete with low major D1 schools, send their kids to away games on a coach bus.... But we are going to leave the urban core kids in outdated building because people like beauty don't want to give a district they don't trust a measly $200/year...

Truly embarrassing.

KCSD needs a bond to build new facilities. That's how MO has built the system.

[beautyfromashes]

But we are going to leave the urban core kids in outdated building because people like beauty don't want to give a district they don't trust a measly $200/year...

I give WAY more than $200/year and get no benefit because the district has been so bad that people would rather leave than have to pay for a school that's barely passing. (That they're so proud of that should be telling.) If it was a viable district that provided a quality education for all residents, there would be no problem raising the funds. It would be a bargain. KCPS is the single largest entity that has caused the hallowing out of the urban core, they fight any type of renewal that doesn't give them their full share and they have squandered money left and right for decades. Tell me I'm wrong.

[langosta]

But we are going to leave the urban core kids in outdated building because people like beauty don't want to give a district they don't trust a measly $200/year...

I give WAY more than $200/year and get no benefit because the district has been so bad that people would rather leave than have to pay for a school that's barely passing. (That they're so proud of that should be telling.) If it was a viable district that provided a quality education for all residents, there would be no problem raising the funds. It would be a bargain. KCPS is the single largest entity that has caused the hallowing out of the urban core, they fight any type of renewal that doesn't give them their full share and they have squandered money left and right for decades. Tell me I'm wrong.

I believe that this measure gets us closer to a viable district. You've listed programs and changes you wish the district would make and they've either already introduced them in recent years and/or plan to further improve them with this bond measure. You do not trust the district and do not want to vote yes. That is ok! Nothing will change your mind.


You are not wrong but the KCPS of yesterday is not the same as today. I disagree with a lot of what they have done and continue to do but I think this is the right path. I also think that increasing funding with the ballot measure will take pressure off of their anti-development fluf.

[im2kull]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical to ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that ask for an incentive?

+1

[beautyfromashes]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical to ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that ask for an incentive?

+1

You’re +1ing your own post?!?

[langosta]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical as well to go to the taxpayer wishing well and ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that included any kind of a incentive?

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/ ... 092524.pdf

Q: KCPS received additional revenues from the 2023 Jackson County reassessments. Is that funding facility improvements?

A: In FY24, KCPS received $40 million in additional revenue from higher property values associated with the Jackson County reassessments. Of that, $13.3 million was used to give teachers and staff raises. The remaining funds went toward improving school facilities, including upgrades to HVAC systems, security cameras, and structural repairs. The district spent $17.6 million in FY24, and the remaining will be used for more facility improvements in FY25.
In the FY25 budget, KCPS had a decrease in assessed valuation of $43.3 million (decreasing revenues by approximately $7 million). The budget was further reduced by $30 million due to the end of the federal ESSER program funding. Due to these budget reductions in FY25, a higher amount of the reassessment revenues was directed to operating needs, and KCPS set aside a lower amount, $13 million for building and facility improvements, than in FY24. $7 million of that will be used to cover the annual cost of a Certificate of Participation (COP) bond the district plans to pursue in 2025. While KCPS is able to fund some facility improvements each year with the additional reassessment revenues, the amount of funding is insufficient to address KCPS facility needs. For these reasons, KCPS is pursuing dedicated capital funding through a GO Bond in April 2025.

If you are going to +1 you own post…

[im2kull]

Doesn't the school district already get massively more money year over year from their portion of the massively increased Jackson County property taxes??

Isn't it a bit hypocritical as well to go to the taxpayer wishing well and ask for more direct taxpayer funding, while KCPS literally rails AGAINST virtually all major construction projects that included any kind of a incentive?

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/ ... 092524.pdf

Q: KCPS received additional revenues from the 2023 Jackson County reassessments. Is that funding facility improvements?

A: In FY24, KCPS received $40 million in additional revenue from higher property values associated with the Jackson County reassessments. Of that, $13.3 million was used to give teachers and staff raises. The remaining funds went toward improving school facilities, including upgrades to HVAC systems, security cameras, and structural repairs. The district spent $17.6 million in FY24, and the remaining will be used for more facility improvements in FY25.
In the FY25 budget, KCPS had a decrease in assessed valuation of $43.3 million (decreasing revenues by approximately $7 million). The budget was further reduced by $30 million due to the end of the federal ESSER program funding. Due to these budget reductions in FY25, a higher amount of the reassessment revenues was directed to operating needs, and KCPS set aside a lower amount, $13 million for building and facility improvements, than in FY24. $7 million of that will be used to cover the annual cost of a Certificate of Participation (COP) bond the district plans to pursue in 2025. While KCPS is able to fund some facility improvements each year with the additional reassessment revenues, the amount of funding is insufficient to address KCPS facility needs. For these reasons, KCPS is pursuing dedicated capital funding through a GO Bond in April 2025.

If you are going to +1 you own post…

Thank you.

So it sounds like the school district is terrible at managing funds and somehow thinks an emergency on their part constitutes one on all of ours? They can fuck right off TBH. They have been flush with money and are extremely hypocritical asking for more now, especially after being critical of every developer wanting incentives. Absolute hypocrisy.

[langosta]

I am curious how this is mismanagement?