No Tax Increase Bond Should Be Called No Tax Decrease

How many times have we heard that there needs to be budget cuts?  Lee's Summit R-7 wants to raise your taxes.  If you don't vote yes on this, they might be able to decrease your taxes and then raise them for the purpose of education and not to compete with Johnson County (as one board member said).

Here is what they propose to do with your money. 

A remodeling project at Pleasant Lea Middle School to improve spaces for the school's teacher planning center and student guidance area.

Technology improvements to address instructional and operational technology needs, laptop and desktop replacement, network infrastructure, security and storage, and emerging technology initiatives in the areas of student instruction.

Resurfacing of all three R-7 middleschool tracks to serve physical-education classes, athletic teams and community walkers and runners.

Construction of two unlighted, multi-use women's softball fields at Lee's Summit North High School that would serve physical-education classes and athletic teams, eliminating team travel to Legacy Park for practices and home games.

A Lee's Summit High School multi-use physical-education/activity/athletic project that would remodel the school's existing spaces for wrestling, athletic training, mechanical and robotics team activities while constructing an approximately 7,700-square-foot new building.  The new building would serve men's and women's programs and include restrooms, a weight training/strength-conditioning area, locker rooms, offices and storage areas.

Remodeling of the area currently used by Lee's Summit High School wrestlers to create a district-wide robotics center.  This project would be made possible by the addition planned for the LSHS physical-education/activity/athletic facility listed above.  The high schools' robotics teams would use the remodeled space, allowing them to share materials, tools, and shop facilities.

Renovation of existing tennis courts at all three high schools that would upgrade court surfaces and serve physical-education classes, athletic teams and community members.

Replacement of the existing grass turf at all three high schools' stadiums with multi-use, all-weather artificial turf to serve physical-education classes, high-school and middle-school football and soccer teams and high school marching bands, drumlines, cheerleaders, flag and dance teams.  Community organizations would also have the opportunity to use the artificial turf fields.  The project would eliminate the need for rescheduling and relocation of R-7 stadium events due to weather-related challenges while providing safe and dry fields for physical-education and extra-curricular activities.  It would also offer a partial operation and maintenance cost savings payback over the life of the turf while bringing the district's stadiums at the majority of metro-area high schools.

This will all come at a cost of $16 million.

Lee's Summit has already spent $12 million on an aquatic center that is not used for recreational therapy as called for by IDEA.  It is for the district's 300 swimmers. 

We spent $8.6 million on a state of the art administration building.  It has everything that any major corporation would want to look successful.

We bought laptops for all of the school board members.  We bought Blackberrys for school personnel.

Lee's Summit has bragged about the fact that they spend the least per student of any district in the area.

And I thought that our taxes were going for education.  Silly me!!

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