‘We’re going to step back’: Sly James delays pre-K tax plan after schools’ concerns

Mayor Sly James, heeding calls from school and community leaders, said Friday he would postpone plans to ask voters in November for a sales tax increase to fund expanded early childhood education.

In a brief announcement at Union Station, James cited “an increasingly acrimonious political environment” for his decision to aim instead for an April ballot question on pre-K funding.

“We’re going to step back,” he said. “We’re going to have time for everybody who has some issue to bring those issues forward and look for suggestions on how to make this project stronger.”

School leaders, who have raised concerns about governance, funding and equity issues in the mayor’s plan, immediately praised his decision to stand down.

“We appreciate the mayor’s willingness to delay, and we will work with urgency to come to a consensus on a solution to expand early childhood with fidelity across the greater Kansas City region,” Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell said in a statement.

Bedell and James became tangled in a day-long public spat Wednesday after the mayor told a City Council committee that KCPS supported the plan. Bedell accused James of misrepresenting his position.

James appeared to have little choice but to call a tactical retreat from the signature project of his final year in office: providing quality early childhood education for the thousands of families lacking the money or access.

The mayor and his supporters described months of prodigious behind-the-scenes preparation — traveling to other cities, conducting focus groups with parents and pre-K providers and conferring with local school officials — before rolling out the proposal.

But actual buy-in from key players was another matter. The effort still seemed closely held and rushed. A 63-page implementation plan wasn’t completed until a day before James’ first briefing before the City Council’s finance and governance committee Wednesday.

Nevertheless, until this week, James seemed ready to campaign over the heads of the local educational establishment and make his appeal directly to parents and other stakeholders.

But James faced an Aug. 23 deadline for City Council approval to place the measure on the November ballot. And there were signs that a majority of the council, which includes five candidates for mayor in 2019, agreed with local educators about the need for a broader public discussion.

“Pre-K is a very important issue in KCMO that should be led by educators and parents in a public engagement process,” Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Alissia Canady tweeted after the Friday announcement. “The mayor identified a potential funding mechanism but problem far from solved. Can’t just throw money at the issue — ready, aim, fire!”

Councilman Quinton Lucas, another 2019 mayoral contender, took to Twitter to praise James’ decision. “I credit the mayor for both the work toward pre-K but also recognizing the decision that needed to be made today.”

Only 35 percent of the city’s 4- and 5-year-olds are in high-quality pre-K, city officials estimate. James proposed a 3/8-cent sales tax increase to generate an estimated $30 million a year for expanded access to programs. Research shows such programs can improve the life prospects of children by better preparing them for kindergarten.

Studies have shown that children from good pre-K programs are more likely to be reading proficiently by the third grade, attend college and enter the workforce.

Under James’ plan, the money would be used to build the quality and capacity of the city’s pre-K programs and provide tuition discounts for eligible families. The discounts would be based on a sliding scale using household income, size and the quality of the program.

The governance set up is complicated. State law requires the city to establish a five-member tax board, with three members appointed by the mayor. One member would be named by the 15 school districts within the city and the other by four counties that are all or partly in the city. The board would review the pre-K plan and make recommendations to the council..

The council would contract with a nonprofit to oversee execution of the program. It would have a 17-member board comprising educators, parents, businesspeople and instructional experts.

One possibility is the Mid-America Regional Council, which has administered the region’s federal Head Start grant for 13 years.

But the mayor’s plan has had a bumpy ride. On Thursday, Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City, which represents all school systems who would potentially participate, called on the mayor to postpone plans to place the issue on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The group had said in a joint statement that while its members are strong advocates of expanded funding for early childhood education, concerns about governance, funding and equity make the mayor’s plan unacceptable in its current form.

“Early childhood is too important to our children and their families, and our organization’s school districts support getting it done right, not fast,” said executive director Gayden Carruth.

School leaders expressed particular reservations about taxpayer money going toward support of private and faith-based pre-K programs, calling it a form of vouchering.

The statement followed James’ Wednesday appearance before the City Council’s finance and governance committee, where he said that Bedell supported the sales tax proposal. A few hours later, Bedell said James had misrepresented his position and the school district’s board called on the mayor to leave the plan off of the fall ballot.

Tensions grew when James’ political consultant, Mark Nevins, charged that Bedell had not been truthful, and that Bedell told superintendents at a meeting last week that while the plan worked for his students, he would stand with them in opposition.

James said later that he and Bedell had spoken and were “friends,” although he added that he still had “a slightly different recollection” of their earlier conversation about the plan.

(An earlier version of this story incorrectly included charter schools among the reservations school leaders have about where taxpayer money might go. Charter schools are public.)

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 10:14 AM.