Wyandotte County voters reject tax increase for upgrades to Piper schools
A $32.5 million bond to finance capital improvements in Piper Unified School District failed among northwest Wyandotte County voters on Tuesday. The move would have pushed forward a two-phase plan for overhaul renovations in the growing rural school district.
An overwhelming 1,489 voters denied the measure expected to raise the school district’s mill rate, or the amount of taxable dollars per every $1,000 of properties’ assessed value, by $2.41. Piper USD’s proposed, roughly $69 per $1,000 property valuation rate would have accounted for 38% of district residents’ property tax bills and would have taken effect July 1.
The remaining percentage of Piper residents’ tax bills come from taxing districts including the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas; the Kansas City, Kansas Community College; Wyandotte County Public Library; and the state.
The bond issue was the second pitched to voters in Piper USD’s two-phase plan to renovate campuses and facilities to accommodate growth in the school community.
In the past 10 years, head-count enrollment climbed about 42%, or from 1,988 students in 2014-15 to 2,831 in the 2024-25 school year, according to the Kansas State Department of Education. All district campuses met capacity ahead of the 2024-25 year and the district froze outside enrollment due to space limitations.
Revenues from the 2025 bond, if approved, would have partially paid for second-round improvements valued at roughly $33 million. Projects would’ve included continued expansion of campuses, updated administrative offices, deferred maintenance across the district, safety improvements and athletic complex upgrades including construction for a multi-purpose fieldhouse and finishing off the district’s plans to separate and build stadiums for its track, soccer and football fields. The district also wanted to use the funds to acquire new land in anticipation of continued long term growth, which it expects in the decade ahead.
Piper USD in 2022 issued a $64 million bond that succeeded with roughly 62% voter approval as part of its first phase of renovations. The 2022 bond paid for expanding Piper High School at its new location, constructing drop off and pick up points among campuses and upgrading classrooms and tech. District administrators when they first presented the 2022 bond said the second would be soon forthcoming as part of its “FutureReady” branded initiative.
Jessica Dain, superintendent of Piper USD, said she takes pride in the fact that people want to bring their children into the school district. The district, as it monitors developments and families moving their students out to Piper, must supply space to avoid overcrowding and ensure effective safety measures, she said.
“We don’t want to take a Band-Aid approach,” she told the Star ahead of the election. “We really do have a long-range vision for ensuring that our facilities are ready for the next 10-to-20 years.”
Amid concerns for higher taxes, Dain said some residents participating in the district’s information sessions didn’t understand that the school district didn’t determine their entire property tax bill, and that they can appeal their home values – which have continued to rise over the past several years – through the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
“No one wants to see their property taxes go up,” Dain said. “And we are very cognizant of the fact that we have residents, just like any other school district, that are on fixed incomes. And so, when property taxes increase, that gets very difficult and we understand that.”
The district in public presentations said it believes renovations within the school system may increase property taxes in the long term. Dain hopes residents view the uptick as mutually beneficial, she said.
Local input
Rising property taxes, partially linked to higher property values, have long troubled home and business owners across Wyandotte County. Tim Lewis, who said he’s lived in Piper for 30 years, said the bond would permit what he called unnecessary purchases that would contribute to the tax burden. He added he’s recently struggled to keep up with his tax bills.
“Piper School didn’t need another sporting complex,” he wrote in an April 15 message. “They already had everything they need for sports. This is a waste of tax payers’ money and people (are) losing their homes over the Wyandotte County taxes.”
Other residents said they saw the bond, and higher taxes, as a bullet to bite for a more efficient school district in the long term.
Ray Ward, a district parent and 19-year resident of Piper, told The Star that despite some community members’ concerns over the district’s spending, he believed the local education system was financially working in the best interest of its students. Ward’s son attends Piper High School and his daughter graduated in recent years. His wife, Jocelyn, is an elementary teacher in the district.
As Ward and his family have watched their community continue to grow over the years, he said he’s understood frustration over rising property taxes that have affected homeowners and businesses across Wyandotte County. He admitted he wasn’t a fan of higher bills he received after the 2022 bond election. That said, he added, the district has to do something to keep up with local growth.
“You have to spend the money to house these kids,” he said.
Mayra Romero-Ferman, a substitute teacher and parent, said she moved to Piper from east Wyandotte County for the schools, land and sense of community. She has two sons, one in second grade and another in kindergarten, that she said she wants to invest in by supporting the district in the long run. Romero-Ferman said she, despite higher tax bills, supported the bond because she wants to see facilities improve and grow at a time when campuses are cramped.
“At the end of the day, it’s a great community,” she said of Piper. “I want to reflect that in the public education system.”
Voter turnout
During the week ahead of the election, residents in favor of the bond scattered signs reading “Vote Yes” and “Please Vote” among neighborhoods around the community, some of which abutted or included new residential developments or signs indicating they were incoming.
In the 2025 race, 2,351 of the district’s 10,878 voters cast a ballot. Turnout was comparable to the 2022 race when 21% percent of the 10,176 people registered in the school district’s boundaries voted on the item.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
