Kansas City Public Schools is determined to do its part, Superintendent Mark Bedell said Friday, to “re-imagine and rebuild” a district ready to emerge from Covid that will serve “every student however they show up.”

But Jefferson City needs to help.

District cabinet members and board members laid out the needs in a virtual presentation of the district’s legislative priorities.

As Bedell said: “We have political road bumps we are going to have to get over.”

Some stark numbers in the presentation set an urgent tone:

• Only Oklahoma has a lower average starting pay for teachers than Missouri. And Missouri is 43rd nationwide in average teacher pay.

• Out of 5,600 school districts nationwide, Kansas City Public Schools has the 17th highest total in the nation of abated property tax revenue — a loss of $38 million for KCPS in 2020.

• KCPS and other public school districts are held to accreditation standards by the state and to a degree of transparency in operations not required of the 20 KC-area and 16 St. Louis-area public charter schools.

But the district was encouraged, board President Pattie Mansur said, by the faces gathered in the Zoom call.

“There is a lot of power right here,” Mansur said, surveying the audience of community leaders. “I hope we can marshal that power as we go into Legislature time.”

Teacher pay

The district has squeezed its budget to boost its starting pay for teachers to $40,500 a year, said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer. But many good teacher candidates, for example, have opted instead to go to the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools which pays closer to $45,000 in starting pay.

“We’re not locally competitive,” Quinley said. KCPS and other Missouri districts “are going to have to have additional state support.”

Equitable treatment

KCPS and other school districts are held accountable to an accreditation designation (KCPS is provisionally accredited). Charter schools are analyzed in the state annual performance reports, but are not subject to an accreditation designation, KCPS board member Jennifer Wolfsie said.

And while many charter schools provide extensive public information, they are not required to the same degree as school districts to provide information including revenues and expenses, contributions, contracts, personnel records and debt service, she said.

The district wants “full equitable treatment in public education accountability, flexibility and resource distribution,” Wolfsie said.

Hancock Amendment

The Hancock Amendment, which returns tax dollars to Missouri tax payers when there are sudden increases in property valuations, does not apply to Kansas City Public Schools because its levy is dictated by the Missouri Constitution.

Many legislative efforts over the years have attempted to bring KCPS under the Hancock Amendment. KCPS is not against coming under the Hancock Amendment, Quinley said, but any legislation to make the transition must protect the district from losing any of its current revenue.

Tax incentive reform

When appropriately applied, tax incentives like tax increment financing plans benefit the community and school districts when blighted properties that otherwise would remain fallow get developed into tax paying properties.

But the problem, said Shannon Jaax, the district’s director of planning and real estate, is that Kansas City is “over-incentivizing projects.”

The district wants to correct the imbalance that ranks KCPS as 17th out of 5,600 districts nationwide in highest tax abatements, Jaax said, and just as importantly redirect the tax incentives and other support to Kansas City’s East Side.

The East Side, which takes up a significant proportion of the KCPS boundary, has higher needs for tax incentives than other parts of the city to bring in developers, but remains mostly neglected.

“We need targeted efforts to promote East Side development,” Jaax said. “We want to make a full set of tools (available), more than just incentives . . . We need to be proactive and targeted (to create) equitable inclusion in economic development.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer

Below are the district’s complete published legislative priorities for 2021:

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

Support legislation that provides adequate funding for the social and emotional needs of underserved communities, particularly those most impacted by living in neighborhoods with increasing rates of COVID-19, violent crime and the digital divide.

• Advocate for adequate funding for treatment, facilities and preventative mental health services, particularly in underserved communities.

• Advocate for adequate funding for social and emotional services for K-12 public schools in underserved communities.

• Advocate for expansion and funding of telehealth services for K-12 public school students and staff.

TEACHER COMPENSATION

Support legislation and funding designed to provide for compensation for Missouri public school teachers that is competitive, livable and differentiated.

• Advocate for more competitive wages for Missouri’s public school teachers and for funding increases to be included in the FY 2021-2022 state budget as a part of the foundation formula to ensure continued funding.

• Advocate for a differentiated pay scale for teachers serving in state recognized hard-to-fill subject areas.

• Advocate for a differentiated pay schedule for teachers who are hired into schools the state has classified as “Comprehensive” (bottom five percent of all schools in the state as determined by assessment, attendance and graduation rates) or “Targeted” (bottom five percent of schools in the state based on student subgroup performance).

• Advocate for additional financial resources to support teachers as they pivot to new learning environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EQUITABLE TREATMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CHARTER COUNTIES

Support legislation and the enforcement of statutes to provide full equitable treatment in public education accountability, flexibility and resource-distribution in Charter Counties.

• Advocate for DESE to assign accreditation ratings to all public schools, including charter schools, using the same system of measures and accountabilities.

• Advocate for equity by providing the same operational requirements, flexibilities and guidelines for both charter and traditional public schools in Charter Counties.

• Advocate for the annual reporting of financial information via public school district and charter school websites. These websites should provide a comprehensive picture of revenues and expenses, including contributions, contracts, personnel, salary schedules and all debt services connected to the operation of the school.

• Advocate for local governance of all public schools and public access to school board meetings and their minutes.

• Advocate for sharing of publicly funded resources as equity in oversight and operations are achieved.

HANCOCK AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS FOR PROPERTY OWNERS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS (KCPS AND CHARTERS)

Support legislation that moves the Kansas City Public Schools system under the Hancock Amendment to assure protections for property owners and public schools from sudden and significant changes in assessed valuation.

• Advocate for the protections Hancock provides to every other public school and taxing jurisdiction in Missouri.

• Advocate for modifications that assure current protections under Article X, Section 11g are not vacated in a manner that cause harm and loss to current local revenues for students in public schools in Kansas City.

• Advocate for assurances from the State Auditor’s office that provide appropriate tax rate ceiling limits in the annual property tax levy calculation.

• Advocate for protections of the critical components of Article X, Section 11g agreed to as a part of the settlement of the Desegregation Agreement for Kansas City.