Missouri Amendment 5 vote has some Kansas City-area parents worried about school funding

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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As Kansas City-area families fill carts with back-to-school supplies, some parents are looking beyond the price tags on backpacks and markers and asking what Amendment 5 could mean for the future of school funding in Missouri.

Missouri voters will decide on the proposal next week during the Aug. 4 primary election. It would shift how the state collects taxes.

Sales taxes are already a part of back-to-school shopping — and that has some parents thinking about the cost of education and how public schools are funded.

"I think about it a lot, we just got the first bond passed for KCPS in 60 years — it's pretty scary to think about tax money for school disappearing in a time when it feels like we are finally making progress and appropriately managing and funding school buildings and things like that," Brenna Farrar said.

The Missouri Budget Project said Missouri schools could lose $1.4 billion, an equivalent to more than 34,000 school staff salaries.

Sierra Killpatrick is a member of Parents for Missouri Public Schools. She said if Amendment 5 passes, schools face an 18% budget cut — with the deepest cuts hitting rural and small town schools.

John Batten/KSHB 41

"It was a huge concern for me, I have five kids, four that are in the public schools," Killpatrick said. "Getting a bunch of parents together to fight for public education, if anyone can do it, it's us."

"We have a child that's autistic, he has an IEP, those could be cut. We have a daughter that loves theater and color guard, that could be cut. Field trips, teachers," Killpatrick added.

The lawmaker who sponsored the bills , Rep. Bishop Davidson, said schools' budgets won't be impacted.

John Batten/KSHB 41

"It's a total myth. It's a revenue neutral plan at a state level, so it doesn't actually change whether or not schools get more or less money than what they would have gotten otherwise," Davidson said. "At a local level, it specifically prohibits any tax shifts from affecting or reducing local funding whatsoever. So, it's got clear constitutional protection in the language itself. Medium term and long term, I think anything that is a provision of the state, service of the state, is actually improved upon because of budget stability. Income tax revenues are very volatile; sales tax revenues, not so much, and that stability is what allows you to predictably provide goods and services."

School districts are also weighing in.

The Independence School District voted to formally oppose Amendment 5, saying the move could threaten school funding because Missouri's income tax provides a major source of revenue.

The Lee's Summit School District said the same thing but also urged voters to carefully consider its impacts.

KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis previously covered how a large Kansas City nonprofit is concerned that Amendment 5 would reduce funding for social services, nonprofits and community programs — funding for vulnerable people in the state.

That story focused on Newhouse, a domestic violence shelter, where the CEO said eliminating the income tax could make donor tax credits less valuable. Those tax credits are a fundraising tool, giving donors a reason to support shelters like Newhouse. Without them, opponents of Amendment 5 worry fewer dollars could make it to people who need help.

The governor's office said the amendment would make the state more economically competitive.

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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