KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Park Hill School District is seeking voter approval for two key propositions in the upcoming April election.
Proposition G proposes a 10-cent increase in the operating levy to offer more competitive salaries and benefits for teachers. Annie Watson a mom of four children in the district said having a background in education she understands the need.
“We want happy teachers and classrooms," said Watson. "Happy Teachers make for happy students, better buildings, safer buildings."
If approved, the adjusted operating tax levy of the District is estimated to increase from $4.8354 to $4.9354 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
The district says, if the approved, the adjusted tax levy would could cost owners of a $300,000 home about $230 per year.
“If both of these initiatives pass, we're looking at about $250 a year for our family. And so to put that in perspective, for my family's budget, $250 is about ten days worth of groceries," said Watson.
Now, Proposition O seeks $128 million in bonds to fund facility improvements, including the first phase of replacing Park Hill High School, stadium upgrades at Park Hill South, elementary school expansions, security updates, and land purchases.
“So we have a 10 year long range facilities plan is called Park Hill 2034, and over the next 10 years, we have several aging facility issues that we want to address," said Kelly Wachel Chief Communication Officer for Park Hill School District.
The district said they held polling in the fall prior to adding these two measures to the April ballot.
"When we did our polling, we know that over 70% of those who we polled supported teacher and staff salary increases, and almost 65% supported you know, aging facilities," said Wachel.
But not everyone is on board with the proposals. Platte County Commissioner Scott Fricker expressed his thoughts on the proposals with a statement.
"The Park Hill School District just can't seem to get enough money. Now they want TWO new taxes - one would fund new capital projects and the other is would fund salary increases for teachers. Just two years ago, they asked the voters to approve a "no new tax" bond measure for capital improvements. First of all, a "no new tax" bond measure is a new tax. When one tax expires, that tax goes to zero, so the new tax actually IS a new tax. Second, many of the projects that we thought were going to be included in the previous bond measure apparently still need to be done. Why didn't those projects get done with the last tax? Where did all that money go?
And the new tax to fund teacher salary increases is just a cash grab. The Park Hill School District is already in the top 3% for average teacher salaries in Missouri. But with those high salaries, they can barely squeak into the top third of school rankings according to the ShowMe Institute. More money for salaries will NOT lead to better student performance. In fact, a study of the ShowMe school database shows very little correlation between average teacher salaries and school rankings.
And finally, property values in the PHSD have exploded over the last 10-15+ years leading to massive increases in property tax revenues for the school district. With all this extra revenue, why does the district need anymore money at all.
My message to the Park Hill School District is simple - quit taking so much money from hard working families and figure out how to do more with less."
-Scott Fricker
While Annie said she supports the idea if it's in the best interest of her kids.
"My youngest is five, so we have many years left in the district," said Watson. "Obviously my family will benefit directly from having improvements to facilities. I also don't think it's like rocket science that when we pay teachers the wages that they are worth, which we all know that they are worth a lot more than what they are paid.”
The district said the last time they asked voters to approve a tax increase was in 2002.
You can read more about these two propositions and the district's 'GO PARK HILL' plan here.
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