KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Parents in the Platte County, Missouri, R-3 School District have formed a group called “Build South” to rally support against a ballot proposal heading to voters on April 6, 2021.
The ballot question asks voters to approve a no-tax-increase bond to generate about $73 million for the district to accomplish four goals: build a new middle school in the southern part of the district, tailor the existing two schools in the southern part of the district to better serve elementary students, begin phase one of rebuilding the district’s only high school in Platte City and make district-wide security upgrades.
“When I saw the ballot proposal back in December, I was incredulous because they are completely rebuilding the high school in Platte City and there is still no mention, no plans for a south high school,” explained Libby Pierce, who launched “Build South” with her husband to encourage the district to build a high school in the southern part of its boundaries.
The couple has two daughters in a Platte County elementary school and a younger son. They bought a home in the southern part of the district, which stretches south of Barry Road into Kansas City, Missouri, in 2014 partly because they were led to believe there would be a new high school in the neighborhood by the time their oldest reached high school.
The new high school would mean she’d be able to go to school in the neighborhood instead of spending up to an hour on the school bus or driving 14 miles north on the interstate to get to school.
“Our neighbors here moved, our neighbors right here have moved and our neighbors right there have all moved for the same reason: their kids were getting into the middle school age and they weren’t going to do the whole commute to Platte City,” Pierce said pointing to neighboring homes in the Fountain Hills community.
“We felt like something needed to be done, we needed to speak up for our end of the district,” Pierce said of launching “Build South.”
The website has had more than 1,500 visitors since it launched in January.
It accuses the district of misleading parents and changing benchmarks for criteria to build the second high school. It argues April’s ballot proposal will push back any hope of building a southern high school because it basically maxes out the district’s ability to ask for more bonds or loans.
Pierce fears a new high school would require a tax increase.
Superintendent of the district, Dr. Mike Reik, pointed out that, should voters approve April’s question, the district will regain the capacity for future loans by paying back the bond and having an expanding tax base.
He said he was the chief negotiator on a deal with developer MD Management to acquire land near North Platte Purchase Drive and Missouri Route 152 where the district will build the middle school if voters approve the plan. Plus, the site has space for a future high school.
He said he and the district have intentions of building the school when it becomes necessary.
Reik pointed out it would be irresponsible to pinpoint an exact date for when the district of 4,300 students should open a second high school. He said many factors go into that decision from student enrollment, to the size of the tax base, to funding annual operational expenses.
Many developers are building homes in the south end of the district and Kansas City approved a new soccer complex on acreage adjacent to the land where the district plans to build the new middle school.
“A project like this, this middle school adjacent to the soccer complex, and all of the ancillary development that will come with that, that is the type of kick start that is necessary for us to have more growth and development on the south end of the district that would justify a second high school,” Reik said March 3.
He said the proposal to rebuild the current Platte County High School does not mean it will never build a high school in the south.
Pierce said voting no in April will hold the district accountable.
“The district just got this plan wrong, they just got it wrong. We need to come up with a better plan. One that actually takes in the needs into consideration of the south end of the district,” she said.
The district is hosting a virtual information session about the ballot proposal on March 31 at 6:30 p.m. You can sign up on the district’s website.
