Missouri Amendment 5 opponents canvass Kansas City neighborhoods ahead of election

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. She also focuses on issues regarding scams. Share your story idea with Megan.

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Volunteers and voters in Kansas City are pushing back against Missouri Amendment 5, which would eliminate the state individual income tax while allowing expanded sales and use taxes.

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Benjamin Roesler, a volunteer with Parents for Missouri Public Schools, has spent the summer canvassing neighborhoods across the Kansas City metro, knocking on hundreds of doors to share the group's "vote no" campaign.

"Of course I want my kids to have good public education opportunities, but I live in the inner city," Roesler said. "I want all those kids to have good opportunities; they deserve it. Kids deserve a well-funded, high-quality public education; teachers deserve to be well paid."

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Parents for Missouri Public Schools believes if Amendment 5 were to pass, it would remove $1.4 billion slated for Missouri public schools. Rep. Bishop Davidson, the lawmaker sponsoring the bill, says schools would not be impacted.

At the polls, voters were eager to share their decisions. KSHB 41's Megan Abundis only ran into voters saying no on Monday.

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"I voted no for both of them," Sandra Thrower said of Amendments 4 and 5. "... Schools definitely need funding, money, teachers."

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"Our money really matters where it goes," Annie Deaver-Bohrn said. "... It's not fair that he could miss out on a good education just because of where we happen to live. Everyone should have access to a good education."

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"I there's several reasons why Amendment 5 is a problematic amendment for the state of Missouri. When you look at what state income tax goes toward, particularly when thinking about social services, schools, the good that those taxes do," Mary Jane Miller said. "... The important thing about state income taxes is that they do go toward good programs, and ideally they go toward things like the schools and the programs that these schools can offer. And these are things that benefit all of our children. I myself don't have any. I'm not begrudging having to put taxes toward things that benefit kids... They are our future."

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"I think education is already being cut drastically over the years, so I think it's important to keep that funding coming so kids have availability to the arts, special education and everything else they might have taken away," Tiff Sykes said.

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For Roesler, the motivation behind all those hours of canvassing is personal.

"To talk to your own neighbors and point at the school my son goes to and say I'm doing this for all the kids that go there," Roesler said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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