KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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In April, voters passed an $18.4 million no-tax-increase bond for the Pleasant Hill R-III School District.
As part of KSHB 41's Let's Talk series, residents and school district officials expressed excitement for the community's support.
"We’re like everybody else; we have needs," said Superintendent Wayne Burke. "The fact that the voters supported us and provided that for us is pretty miraculous."
The voter-backed bond measure will help the district become more modern and dynamic while prioritizing safety.
Bond monies will be spread over a variety of areas, including safety and security, district-wide improvements, career and technical education, activities, grade transitions and building uses.
Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Brennaman said the district is experiencing declining enrollment.
"The national birthrate is down. It's declining, and it has been for several years now," Brennaman said.
According to an NBC News report, 87% of children were enrolled in public school in 2022 compared to 90.7% in 2012.
From 2012 to 2022, Missouri and Kansas were shy of a 4% decline in school enrollment.
"The good and the bad of COVID with education opened some other opportunities for education for parents," Brennaman said. "We see more students doing an online or a virtual learning platform or even a homeschool than maybe we have in the years past."
Brennaman went on to add that as part of the bond initiative, the district will consolidate multiple buildings.
The goal is to eliminate student and teacher transitions.
"It allows for our teachers to hold onto our students longer, develop those good relationships and get to see their progress over multiple years," Brennaman said.
Additionally, there will be major additions coming to district athletic facilities: new locker rooms, restrooms, a weight room, expanded football seating, a press box and improved lighting.
Career and technical education programs, like agriculture and culinary arts, will feel the impact.
"While student enrollment is declining, program participation is at an all-time high," said John Edenburn, school board president. "That just proves the buy-in is there by the kids, their parents and the community."
Pleasant Hill R-III School District isn't capable of offering all programs, according to Edenburn and Burke.
Extra monies collected from the bond measure will bolster relationships in the Raymore-Peculiar and Harrisonville school districts, which offer more programs.
"The board is giving our kids opportunities that we’ve not had in recent years," Edenburn said. "With the bond issues, bond monies, it’s going to allow us to do even more."
Pleasant Hill has implemented new initiatives to go along with the bond, like "Portrait of a Learner," a list of traits students should encapsulate to succeed after high school.
"We’re trying to be cutting edge; we’re trying to be on the forefront. Our kids deserve that," Burke said. "We want them to have the same opportunities that everyone else has. We have a fiduciary responsibility to our community to make sure that money is spent correctly, and that’s our plan, is to do just that... I can't thank our voters enough."
The bond projects are in the early phases, and much of the planning will take place this summer as the money begins to be collected.
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