Superintendent’s scathing letter to KC Council: Put up or shut up about Black lives
Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell called out city leaders Wednesday and what he views as racist policies, saying that if “Black Lives Matter to you, then so should the schools south of the river.”
Who can blame him?
To sit silent while Kansas City officials consider more tax breaks for a multinational corporation isn’t Bedell’s style. Pushing back against a system stacked against Kansas City schoolchildren is.
“This is systemic racism,” Bedell wrote to City Council members and other leaders in a scathing letter raising concerns about a looming vote that could divert valuable revenue from several taxing jurisdictions, including Kansas City Public Schools.
Bedell held nothing back in a call to action addressed to elected officials, business leaders and community stakeholders, framing this as a moral issue and writing that such decisions would “never be inflicted on the majority-white school districts in the Northland.”
For years, Kansas City Hall has handed out generous tax breaks to wealthy corporations — decisions that ultimately took resources away from Black, Hispanic and other minority students in Kansas City’s school district.
During the 2019-20 school year, 57% of KCPS students were African-American, and 28% were Hispanic. Only 9% of students were white.
It’s put up or shut up time for Kansas City Council members who say Black lives matter, Bedell wrote.
“Members of the City Council, as well as business leaders, have stood up in the recent weeks to say Black Lives Matter,” he wrote. “I commend them for doing so, but as the adage goes, actions speak louder than words.”
Bedell is not wrong. The city cannot continue to let big corporations call the shots simply by threatening to flee if they don’t get every tax break allowed by law.
In 2017, Kansas City Public Schools ranked 17th out of 5,600 school districts nationwide in abatement revenue losses, district officials said. KCPS is not even close to the 17th-largest school district in the country, so public schools in Kansas City are being asked to do without because of questionable decisions made at City Hall.
On Thursday, the City Council is expected to vote on a $2.4 million sweetheart parking deal for BlueScope Construction, a billion-dollar company toying with the idea of moving to Kansas to collect $20 million in tax incentives.
Another $14 million in tax breaks is on the line for BlueScope to stay in Kansas City.
The parking measure passed out of the City Council’s Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee last week by a 3-1 vote.
BlueScope, located in the West Bottoms, is nearing the end of a 20-year, 100% property tax exemption that diverted more than $7 million from Kansas City Public Schools, the Kansas City Public Library and other taxing jurisdictions.
That’s valuable revenue missing from budgets that are already stretched thin.
A 13-year, 75% property tax abatement for the Australian-based company is also in the works.
The deal is necessary to retain the jobs and the revenue collected through Kansas City’s earnings taxes, officials told The Star.
BlueScope has the option to remain in the West Bottoms. Keeping the firm in Kansas City shouldn’t come at the expense of schoolchildren.
A vacant building is more valuable to the district than a structure that siphons tax dollars, Kansas City Public Schools officials said.
Kansas City Councilwoman Katheryn Shields said it’s unfortunate that Bedell and the school district are against tax breaks.
Council members Heather Hall and Teresa Loar have been the most vocal supporters.
“I feel the KC school district has just become a no on any incentive program,” Shields said Wednesday morning. “They would rather lose money coming into the community rather than work out a compromise with the developers.”
Mayor Quinton Lucas said Wednesday he would likely vote no on the BlueScope incentives.
In his letter, Bedell wrote that “racism continues to fester in the culture, conversations and policies relating to business and economic development practices in our City.
“Frankly, I am exhausted with the development community pitting the City against the public.”
Third District Councilwoman Melissa Robinson wrote on Twitter that the way tax abatements are in Kansas City “is Jim Crow Law at his finest.”
By publicly taking a stand against what he feels are discriminatory practices, Bedell has put the business community and public officials on notice that the status quo is no longer acceptable.
And that is a hallmark of leadership. Robinson and Lucas have voiced their opposition — who else on the City Council will join them?
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 1:38 PM.
