Shawnee Mission to vote on $264M bond plan, raising taxes, lowering teacher workload
The Shawnee Mission school district will ask residents to approve a $264 million bond issue and property tax increase to rebuild schools, fund renovation projects and hire additional teachers to address workload concerns.
The school board this week agreed to put the bond referendum to a public vote Jan. 26. The proposal would raise the district’s property tax rate, an annual increase of $8 per every $100,000 of assessed home value for the average homeowner.
If approved, the bonds would pay to rebuild five elementary schools, renovate middle and high schools, plus fund other updates and repairs. Superintendent Mike Fulton said it would also make it possible to reduce the workloads of middle and high school teachers.
Teacher workload was a major sticking point between the district and union this past year during long-stalled and contentious contract talks. Secondary teachers often instruct six classes every day, rather than the standard five in neighboring districts. Teachers say that leaves little time for grading, planning, talking to parents or advising students.
During the union negotiations, teachers packed school board meetings over several months, and told of their emotional and physical exhaustion after instructing between 150 and 180 students each day.
To reduce the workload, the district would need to hire more secondary teachers. Under the plan, the district would hire around 78 more full-time equivalent positions over the next few years.
Fulton said that would require shifting some funds into different budgets. Right now, the district uses its capital fund to pay for new facilities. But under this plan, all new facilities would be funded through bond money, he said.
The district would shift some salary expenses for custodians — which currently come from the district’s operating budget, where teacher salaries are drawn from — into that capital fund. That would free up money, Fulton said, in the operating budget to hire additional teachers.
The change is allowed under state law. But the plan requires additional funding from property taxes.
Fulton said Shawnee Mission’s mill levy rate would still be lower than neighboring districts. If approved, the district’s property tax rate would rise from its current 52.115 mills to 52.823 mills.
“This is really the only mechanism we have to address a big ticket item like secondary workload and sustain it over the long haul,” Fulton told the school board earlier this week. “But it’s important that we get a bond issue to pass now. And it’s important that future bond issues continue.”
This is the first bond referendum Shawnee Mission has put on the ballot since 2015, when voters approved a $233 million bond issue to help pay for the six new buildings.
This past January, Blue Valley school district voters approved a $186 million bond issue that will help fund security improvements, classroom additions and a new elementary school.
Here are the projects the new bond money would go toward in Shawnee Mission:
▪ Rebuild five elementary schools: Pawnee, Rushton, Diemer, Tomahawk and Westwood View.
▪ Tear down the old Carpenter Elementary building.
▪ Renovate restrooms and upgrade the Broadmoor Center, which houses the district’s early childhood education center.
▪ Update the Career and Technical Campus.
▪ Renovate, replace furniture and update restrooms at middle and high schools.
▪ Update some playgrounds to make them ADA accessible.
▪ Upgrade security and technology in buildings and classrooms.
