EDITOR:
As promised, here is who has donated so far to the Quality Platte County R-3 schools PAC (political action committee).
Money was left over from the last election and the majority of that came from district vendors. This time around, so far Incite Design studios donated $4,000 in October of 2024, and Newkirk Novak Construction $5,000 on Dec 30.
That first donation is odd as the district did not even decide to put this tax increase on the ballot until the December board meeting.
I went back and looked and with the election still undecided, the district has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with these two companies. Two million dollars billed to date to Incite and a contract with Newkirk for $1.8 million. Much of it for the “phase II” project you are voting on April 8.
Watch the Facebook page at PlattecountyR3facts.com for more updates on who made last minute donations.
Just as the district does, I fully expect this tax to pass just like all the others have. The district uses our school tax dollars to send out flyers showing only the pros of passing another bond increase, never telling you a NO vote could mean a tax decrease.
The R3 PACs have used vendor money to send out flyers showing the same information and have called anyone who has opposed the tax increases liars or telling you that everyone else is giving you “misinformation” while not giving any details about what that ‘misinformation’ is.
To oppose a Platte County R-3 tax increase ballot issue and the district’s “ministry of propaganda,” along with their vendors’ money, you would need about $30,000 per election to have any kind of real chance at fighting these tax increases. The district knows it, which is why the new projects are already full steam ahead.
We were told by the previous administration a new high school could be built in the south if there were at least 850 new high school students, as this was what was needed to build a new school and have the amount of activities needed. From the most recent Treasures FAQ, that number is now 1200 to 1400 and the district says that could happen by 2035 just 10 years from now. You are being told because the district does not want the voters in the south to vote against everything being spent on the north high school, tying up bond funds for 20 years before money would be available to build another high school without a massive tax increase.
I looked at the December 2022 enrollment study done by the district and it only goes to 2033, and even then we would still be about 1000 high school students short of this new standard.
So no new high school south for 20 years plus, if you use the enrollment studies presented to the school board and paid for by you.
Since the late 2000s, you have approved taxes for over 1350 new classroom seats at our current and new schools about 600 more than current enrollment, but once again you are voting for more. Where are these classrooms and seats going?
I would vote yes on most any tax increase for the district as I did before 2012 if they would address the academic issues in the district instead of their “ministry of propaganda” constantly telling you how well they are doing, when they clearly are not.
If you have a strong stomach just read the administration’s presentations to the school board on academics. Much like everything mailed to parents, it is always made to look like things are fine when the presentations show we have been in an academic decline since 2012 in most subjects, with the gap between our scores and the state scores getting smaller while we have more and more administrators and staff.
I will put my money where my mouth is. Look in next week’s newspaper at the actual information given to us by the district in the Annual Reports and see if you think the district is being operated as well as the most recent letters to the editor say.
--Kirby Holden
Rural Platte County
