On KCMO School District budget and the KC Star

So The Star covered Superintendent Covington's meeting yesterday and plans for the KCMO School District.

And it was pretty informative, to a point. Fortunately, they didn't really put a "spin" on it--they just covered it very matter-of-factly. Good for them.

But there's a couple of things here that needs to be further pointed out that they didn't report--some shortcomings.

First, I was just told that, if the District doesn't do this and cut these schools, the 285 teachers and the 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses these cutbacks involve, this same District would be
financially bankrupt by next year.

That's pretty big, obviously, and that just can't happen.

But it wasn't mentioned in the paper.

Further, secondly, should that happen, Jeff City would have to take over.

And no one wants that.

No one.

Third, the good news is that, supposedly there are lots of teachers who are in line for retirement so they'll be asked to do just that. From what I understand a lot of them abe bailing already.

Fourth, note the date the Superintendent gave for everyone to respond and vote. He wants this ready for a vote at the Board's next meeting--Feb. 24--ten days from now.

Wow. That's a bit of a whirlwind schedule.

But these people have done the research and tried their best to come up with a plan to address the big budget problems.

It looks as though it's going to sail through.

Finally, if anyone does come out against this, really, they'll have a huge challenge to come up with any other options. How else, exactly, do you cut 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses from the budget
without closing these approximately 20 schools and slashing employment roles?

If you're out there and have any better ideas, you'd better speak up quickly.

It seems as though Superintendent Covington is the right man, doing the right things--the things that need to happen--at just the right time.

Stay tuned.

The meetings this week should be interesting.