Mayor Sly James fumbled on pre-K plan with my-way-or-the-highway approach. Now what?

Kansas City Mayor Sly James made the right decision by delaying a public vote on a sales tax increase for early childhood education.

The issue now is expected to be on the ballot in April. The delay should give all sides an opportunity to address shortcomings in the proposal, which would have provided $300 million over 10 years to expand access to pre-kindergarten programs.

But the next six months will bring progress only if the mayor and the people around him fully understand why council members, school district officials, urban activists and others were so reluctant to embrace his tax.

Kansas Citians want early childhood education, and they want to help the mayor find a way to fund it. But James’ all-too-familiar go-it-alone strategy sabotaged the effort from the start, and will destroy it next year if the mayor doesn’t change his approach.

My-way-or-the-highway pronouncements do not help. Secrecy and behind-the-scenes maneuvering are counterproductive.

Using the petition process to go around the City Council, ostensibly to keep politics out of the discussion, had the opposite effect.

That approach must be abandoned. James isn’t the only one in Kansas City who cares about kids, no matter what he or anyone else may think.

So we ask the mayor now to begin a real discussion with stakeholders about the scope of a pre-K program that can win voters’ approval. Here’s what it might look like:

▪ A lower sales tax. Three-eighths of a cent per dollar, on top of other existing taxes and high water and sewer rates, is a nonstarter. All funding mechanisms should be explored.

▪ State participation. Educating children is partially a state responsibility, and lawmakers should be asked in 2019 to foot part of this bill. A matching fund for local efforts is a good idea.

▪ School district involvement. The districts will not accept a plan that provides voucher-like payments to individuals who opt for private pre-K programs. Public money must go for public education.

▪ Extra help for poorer districts and students. Kansas Citians will support higher taxes for pre-K education only if the help goes to places that need it the most.

▪ A simpler governance structure. The mayor’s plan was too unwieldy.

This isn’t a comprehensive outline. Business leaders and educators will want to weigh in, as will parents and taxpayers. There can be other good ideas that will help shape a pre-K program everyone can support.

But the mayor and his supporters must be willing to listen and incorporate other ideas into the final plan. He has some experience in this realm, having come around to the notion of hearing other proposals in the 2017 airport debate.

The airport passed with 75 percent of the vote. James’ flexibility and willingness to listen played a part in the victory.

Like all Kansas Citians, we’re rooting for Mayor James to end his time in office next year on the highest possible note. He’s already one of the most consequential mayors in modern Kansas City history, and there is still time to accomplish much.

But he can’t do it alone. When he and his office fully understand that, the path to a pre-K program — and a productive final year in office — will be clear.