Nine charter schools have agreed to join Kansas City Public Schools when it plans to ask voters to approve a more than $400 million bond in April to improve classroom environments and fund long-standing maintenance needs.
The school district announced the participating charters at its final open house to teach community members about the upcoming bond and 10-year-capital plan.
District leaders said the charters decided how they’d split their portion of the bond money for building projects.
Here are the participating schools:
- Academie Lafayette
- Citizens of the World
- Crossroads Academy
- DeLaSalle High School
- Gordon Parks Elementary School
- Hogan Preparatory Academy
- Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy
- Kansas City International Academy
- Scuola Vita Nuova
The school board will take up the district’s agreement with the charters on November 20. Final recommendations for the bond plan will also be presented to the school board at that meeting.
District officials said they met with charter leaders in October 2023 to outline their bond plans and ask charter schools to participate. Charters then assessed their facilities to figure out their building needs.
KCPS announced in August that eight charters were interested in participating in the bond and identified more than $168 million in facility needs. Up to $50 million of the April bond’s funding would go to participating charter schools.
Kansas City Public Schools would receive $424 million from the bond. Shana Long, the school district’s chief legal officer, said both KCPS and the charters are set to receive bond money that would cover about 30% of their facility needs.
Long said students often move between KCPS and charter schools.
“We've all seen that back and forth,” Long said. “One of our board priorities is equity and having an equitable educational experience for all students. It was important for us to at least offer that and try to make it inclusive.”
Charters were only eligible to participate in the bond if they own their own buildings.
