Kansas City, Kansas, voters approve $180 million bond to rebuild public schools

A $180 million bond that will fund construction in the Kansas City, Kansas, school district, received voter approval by a margin of about 66% to 34%.

The vote marked the district’s second attempt to pass a bond this year, following one $420 million bond that would have related to more projects that failed in April.

Approving a bond gives a school district permission to borrow money and pay off the loan with property taxes. But the district said the bond voters just approved will not increase property taxes because the school board will reduce taxes in other areas.

It focuses on a short list of major projects:

Replacement of the central secondary school.
To replace the Argentinian high school.
Silver City and Noble Prentis elementary schools will be replaced by one new school.
Adding classrooms to the Sumner Academy of Arts and Science.

The district estimates each high school would cost about $66.4 million. The elementary school would cost about $35 million. And adding classrooms to Sumner would cost about $7 million.

KCKPS has chosen projects to improve schools that are in poor condition or need more space.

Central High School and Sumner Academy use free-standing modular classrooms for additional space. The Argentinian high school faces flooding, plumbing problems and other construction problems.

The addition to Sumner will connect to the main building, contain eight classrooms and additional toilets, and allow the school to stop using mobile classrooms.

Both new secondary schools It will be two stories and approximately 125,000 square feet in size, accommodating 900-950 students.

District records show Silver City Elementary School was built in 1971. Noble Prentis Elementary School has been in existence since 1911, but was last rebuilt around 1955.

A new three-storey primary school will replace both buildings and serve 500-550 students.

All new buildings will include enhanced security, high-tech classrooms and career and technical education facilities.

Research shows that there is a connection between certain improvements to the building – especially repairing infrastructure such as heating and air conditioning, roofs, plumbing and furnaces – and higher performance.

During previous bond discussions, Superintendent Anna Stubblefield said she was concerned that poor conditions in some buildings were distracting students from learning, such as when they were focused on warming up after walking to a detached classroom.

Some projects are also connected. The new Argentine high school would be built on the current Silver City site after Silver City students moved into a new school at the Noble Prentis site.

A $180 million bond would normally increase property taxes on a $100,000 home by about $29 per year and a $200,000 home by about $57 per year. The district says the median home value in Kansas City, Kansas, is $112,500.

But the school board is committed to reducing property taxes in other areas — capital expenditures and the library fund — to offset the increase.

That means the bond won’t necessarily increase the property tax rate, but taxpayers will have to pay off the bond even if a future administration decides to raise property taxes for other reasons.

The district’s chief of operations, Steve Lilly, said the district can afford to reduce taxes going into the capital fund because newer buildings are cheaper to maintain.

This story was originally published in The beacon.