ACE schools battle for more money from district

UPDATE | The Kansas City Missouri School Board said they will work with ACE to keep the school open; they have to renegotiate their contract.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - The Kansas City Missouri School District will continue contract talks with the Afrikan Centered Education Taskforce regarding funding for the district’s African-centered education program.

The ACE schools are contract school in the Kansas City Missouri School district. Unlike charters schools, they are still part of the district and receive their funding directly from the school district.

The district has offered $8,400 per student for the upcoming school year, but the contract school would be responsible for covering a variety of its own costs, such as transportation, maintenance, computer upgrades and security, additional fees that the district had paid for in the past.

“We are fine with the amount of money per student, it’s the additional costs that we can’t afford to take up,” said taskforce chairman Ajamu Webster.

The district will continue their contract talks with the African-centered education program at the school board meeting on Wednesday night.

The African Centered Taskforce is the only contractor currently operating schools in the district.