Historic KC school bond passed a year ago. When will I see changes to my school?

Just over a year ago, Kansas City Public Schools voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue that would allow the district to improve, repair or replace all of its existing schools.

The response was less enthusiastic when the school district first laid out the specific blueprint of changes that Hale Cook Elementary School in the Waldo neighborhood could expect to see.

“We heard very clearly from predominantly staff and families … that what we showed you in November was not good enough,” said Shannon Jaax, KCPS officer of bond planning and construction, at a public special use permit meeting for Hale Cook in February.

Some parents and staff were upset that there were no plans to fix the cramped, noisy cafeteria, which is so small that children have to eat in five lunch shifts. Others had questions about outdoor space, updates to existing classrooms and a planned addition to the building.

Ashley Sadowski, a Hale Cook parent and member of Parents for KC Kids, joined Hale Cook’s design advisory team made up of teachers, parents and neighbors.

She said the group expressed concerns, and KCPS listened. Its latest plans add cafeteria space and address noise concerns.

“Is it the ideal situation? No. But it does allow us to have more flexibility,” she said. “That was one way that I think parents felt like, ‘OK, we walked away with a little more than what we thought.’”

KCPS’ bond issue — passed April 8, 2025, with 85% of the vote — is its first in more than 50 years. The $424 million general obligation bond, plus another $50 million for charter schools, allows the district to borrow money and pay it back with tax revenue.

The vote came after KCPS laid out a plan to improve every school in the district, build two new elementary school campuses and reopen the former Southwest High School building as a middle school. KCPS also borrowed $100 million using a certificate of participation bond, which didn’t require voter approval.

As the district begins to put the plan into action, there are final details to be ironed out and more chances for public input.

Hale Cook is one of the first schools to go through that process. After her experience on the advisory team, Sadowski said getting involved is worthwhile.

“It’s a really great way for parents and staff to have agency in what kinds of projects happen and how they happen,” she said.

How bond funding gets used

The bond plan that KCPS presented to voters has an impact on every school — at least $5 million of spending each.

The district has 22 neighborhood schools, eight signature schools focused on specific programs such as college prep or language immersion and seven special schools including Head Start programs, a career and technical education center, a virtual school and two alternative schools.

Some schools will see bigger, more expensive projects.

Those include expanding Hale Cook, moving the district’s two alternative schools and large renovation projects at several high schools, including a career and technical education addition at Central.

Several schools will also change buildings. That includes George Washington Carver Dual Language School, Melcher Elementary School, African-Centered College Preparatory Academy (AC Prep) and both alternative schools: Success Academy at Knotts and Success Academy at Anderson.

Since the bond passed, the district has revised its plan for some of those moves. The two alternative schools will now move into the former Satchel Paige Elementary School rather than the Knotts location. The tentative plan now shows that AC Prep will move into the Knotts building instead of the Paige building.

Two entirely new elementary school buildings are planned: King Empowerment Campus and Woodland/Whittier Empowerment Campus.

The projects will be staggered so they don’t all happen at once.

A one-year anniversary update from KCPS said the district has already completed the first phase of renovations at the current King Elementary School — future home of Carver Dual Language School — and at the current Carver Dual Language School — future home of Melcher Elementary School. Those renovations include security, lighting and window upgrades.

A projected schedule estimates some projects will be complete this coming fall: Border Star Montessori and the first phases of projects at Central High School and Gladstone and Wendell Phillips Elementary Schools. The new King campus, funded by a certificate of participation bond, should be ready in January 2027.

Nine or 10 additional projects or phases of projects could then be completed each fall in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.

The projects predicted to be completed in fall 2027 include:

• Carver Dual Language moving to the former Kansas City Middle School of the Arts building (funded by a certification of participation bond).
• Both alternative schools moving to become Success Academies at Paige.
• Hale Cook’s addition and renovations. Students will attend school in the former Troost Elementary School building for the 2026-27 school year during construction.
• The second and final phases for renovations at Gladstone and Wendell Phillips elementary schools.
• Central High renovations phase 2. (Phase 3 and the career and technical education addition are scheduled for 2028 and 2029.)
• Phase 1 renovations at Garfield Elementary School, Hartman Elementary School and Paseo Academy.

Other highlights in the tentative schedule include:

• AC Prep and Melcher moving into different, newly renovated buildings in fall 2028.
• Renovations at East High School, complete in fall 2028.
• The new south middle school opening in the former Southwest High School building in fall 2029.
• The new Woodland/Whittier Empowerment campus opening in fall 2029.
• Renovations at Lincoln College Preparatory High School complete in fall 2029.

Public input

Each project goes through several stages that allow for public input or updates, said Francisco Litardo, KCPS director of strategic engagement.

He said the district has been meeting with school leaders about what each building needs and is working with architects and designers to come up with specific plans.

As initial plans are formed, the district holds information sessions with teachers and administrators. It also holds public meetings for parents, neighbors and partner organizations.

“We want to make sure that not only the people that work day in and day out at those spaces are feeding information to us, but the neighbors also are aware of what’s about to happen and how they can provide background or things that they feel are needs,” Litardo said.

As plans are refined, Litardo said, the district returns to the community for additional feedback and information.

KCPS also holds certain meetings required by the city, such as having a special use permit meeting at a site other than the school, open to neighbors and others who might have an interest in the project.

For example, at the Hale Cook permit meeting, members of the public asked about the accessibility of the gym, how the new addition will function as a storm shelter and whether the new classrooms add enough room for expansion.

KCPS addressed some concerns on the spot, such as explaining that the school will have more space after sixth graders move into middle schools. In other cases, officials offered to follow up and seek more information about solar panels or changing traffic flow near the school.

With a limited budget, the bond projects are “not an opportunity for us to get everything done under the sun,” Litardo said. “Sometimes some of those things aren’t possible because of budgets or timelines, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good idea.”

For schools with bigger projects, Litardo said, the district also establishes a design advisory team like the one Sadowski joined. Those teams include about 10 to 15 people such as parents, teachers, students, neighbors and community partners.

The teams meet at least three times to review drafts of the plan.

Litardo said they’re “empowered to come in and very energetically tell us: ‘This is what’s working for us as you present it to us. This is what’s not working for us.’”

Sadowski said the group at Hale Cook includes the manager of the orchard on the school’s grounds, PTA members, teachers from various levels and a neighborhood leader from the homes association. She is an architect by trade.

Soliciting community input is important, but makes the process more complex, Litardo said.

“We stopped to ask, and we have to listen,” he said. “That’s a significant commitment by the district, and it’s been rewarding to see that level of dedication to engagement.”

How to get involved

KCPS lists upcoming public meetings related to bond projects on its website.

Meetings scheduled for April include a “bond project meeting” for East High School and preconstruction updates for Wendell Phillips, Border Star Montessori and Gladstone.

There’s also a general Bond Oversight Committee meeting scheduled for April 29 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Under the heading “Previous Bond Engagement,” the website says KCPS also held meetings in December, January or February for Central High, Hale Cook, Success Academies at Paige, Gladstone, Border Star and Wendell Phillips. Links to informational slides and in some cases surveys are attached.

You can apply online to be part of a design advisory team. Deadlines to apply for some specific schools have passed.

Schools with design advisory teams are:

• AC Prep
• Carver Dual Language
• Central High
• East High
• Hale Cook Elementary
• Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
• Melcher Elementary
• Southeast High
• South Middle
• Success Academies co-location (Knotts and Anderson)
• Whittier/Woodland Empowerment Campus

You can also sign up for bond updates on the KCPS website.

Maria Benevento is The Beacon’s education reporter. She joined The Beacon as a Report for America corps member. In addition to her work at The Beacon, she’s reported for the National Catholic Reporter, Columbia Missourian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her education reporting began in 2017, and she became a full-time Kansas City education reporter with The Beacon in mid-2021. She graduated from Creighton University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in theology and American studies. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master’s degree in journalism. She’s lived in Missouri most of her life and first moved to Kansas City in 2017.