Arbitrator will decide property dispute between two Missouri districts
Apr 30, 2008 12:37 PM
The job of settling a property dispute between the Kansas City and
Independence school districts in Missouri is back before state
arbitrators. The superintendent of each district says negotiations are at an
impasse. The dispute largely centers on the value of school buildings — and
their furnishings — that Independence has inherited as part of a
boundary-change vote in November.
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The Kansas City Star article.
EARLIER: An arbitration panel will determine the value of buildings that the
Independence (Mo.) School District will inherit this summer from the
neighboring Kansas City district. The districts are nearly $200 million
apart in their claims over costs associated with the transfer. Kansas City
officials argue that Independence should pay about $157 million--nearly four
times the compensation figure frequently cited before voters approved the
boundary change in November. Independence, meanwhile, says that even though it
will inherit those properties, it thinks it is owed roughly $41 million for the
switch--largely to cover costs for maintenance that the Kansas City district has
failed to perform.
Click here to read
The Kansas City Star article.
FROM JANUARY 2008: Seven buildings in west Independence, Mo., and Sugar Creek, Mo.,
are scheduled to switch in July from the Kansas City School District to
the Independence School District. The districts have fewer than 140
working days to sort out the futures of some 3,000 students and more than 200
staff positions before school starts in August. Amid the questions: how to
rearrange school boundaries, move students, restaff schools and negotiate the
transfer of the buildings. (Kansas City Star)
FROM NOVEMBER 2007: Families and property owners in west Independence, Mo., have won their
long-sought freedom from the Kansas City School District. Voters in each
district overwhelmingly approved measures to move seven schools from the Kansas
City district into the Independence district. The schools are within the city
limits of Independence and Sugar Creek. Many residents have blamed the
area’s economic decline in part on the reputation of its schools. They have
tried for more than three decades to redraw boundary lines. (Kansas City Star)
Voters in two Missouri districts will cast ballots on whether to turn
over control of seven schools in the Kansas City district to the
neighboring Independence district. To pass cleanly, it needs a simple
majority in both districts. If the question passes in one district, but fails in
the other, the outcome could be appealed to a three-person arbitration
panel. (Kansas City Star)
The Kansas City (Mo.) school board is trying to prevent a November election that could remove seven of its schools to the neighboring Independence School District. A judge has ordered that the boundary issue be on the ballot Nov. 6, and the Kansas City district has appealed the ruling. Five elementary schools, one high school and one middle school--all in the cities of Independence or Sugar Creek--would be affected. Proponents of the boundary change, who collected signatures to force an election, have argued that the move would improve their property values and provide a better education for students. (Kansas City Star)
