With the projected attendance in Platte County R-III School District to rise exponentially in the foreseeable future, the district plans to combat this with the “Zero Rate Change Bond Program”. The plan is currently pending voter approval on April 8 election day/ The school district, with the construction company Newkirk Novak, is ready to begin construction and updates with the finest detail.
“All areas of the school will be rebuilt or improved to support the learning environment and address facility issues that have come with an aging building.” states the district on their website. “Phase 2 involves the remaining construction of the classroom wings (50 total classroom spaces are part of this phase) as well as administrative areas, and includes the demolition of the existing high school.”
Though the most noticeable changes will occur at the high school building, the district as a whole will benefit from the plan including advancements to the new site, Platte Purchase Middle School, and older buildings including Barry Elementary School, Pathfinder Elementary, and Compass Elementary.
A question that arises to the general public would be the financial side of this bond, would it result in a tax increase? And just how big is the school district expanding numbers wise. And some of the results are surprising and they furthermore justify the future actions taken by the school district.
On one hand, they have the financial side of things, which is able to be done without a tax increase.
“Because of a combination of effective financial management and strong growth in our tax base” credits the district. “Because our tax base is increasing and is projected to continue, we do not have to increase our tax levy to finance these projects.”
The recent completion of “Phase 1” of the project, which included Platte Purchase Middle School, was completed on a plot of land that is also seeing an increase in construction of new houses the school district can pull taxes from. This in itself is a major thing that has occurred in this “master plan” from the school district however, what makes this even more major would be the rapid construction of houses in the surrounding Barry Road area.
And on the other hand they have how big the expansion of the district is going to entail.
Currently the attendance at Platte County School District is 4,349 students. Based on the inclusion and consideration of pulling a bigger pool of students from all of the housing and increased attendance that is going to be pulled from the construction of more houses in the area, the expected attendance for the school district is projected to exponentially rise by the calendar year.
Forty-three more students are projected to attend the district next school year. By 2028, the current capacity of 4,500 students the school district will be broken with 43 extra students projected to attend the district.
Statistically, the district is gaining a 1.5% increased attendance by each coming school year and the district plans to combat that long term by deconstructing the “southern” portion of the high school and moving fine art classes to the Paxton building off to the side of the high school.
By Dec. 2026, the district plans to complete construction of Phase 2 and will look to continue the deconstruction of the rest of the original portion of the building.
As previously mentioned, all buildings district-wide are planned to expand, or get some sort of advancement in some way, shape, or form.
With April 8, slowly creeping closer by the minute, those who wish to have a say in this manner may register to vote at the Board of Elections office, or in any building in the district. People can also vote by mail through the website posted on the school district, or simply by registering to vote.
