Aryn Peters - NKC Schools Board of Education

As we move into uncharted waters in public education, I invite you to stay informed and follow what the district is discussing and planning. Your feedback and voice matter!

As a Board, we collectively chose these words to guide us in our actions and decisions forthcoming. But these actions and decisions are made on behalf of YOU, our community that we serve.

FOCUS - TRANSPARENCY - FLEXIBILITY - TRUST - DIGNITY - UNBIASED

Our next board meeting is a big one! We will approve this year’s budget - that had to be quickly restructured and updated based on the hit we took last minute in state funding.

We will also outline our annual Balanced Scorecard, that will help us keep focus on serving our students, staff and community the best we can over the coming years.

You have a strong board. We are all in alignment on the most important thing … to ensure we are doing what’s best for our sustained growth and relentless work to ensure your kids are getting the best opportunities and education they can.

Next board meeting: Tuesday, June 23 @ 7pm

Live streamed on YouTube. 👀
Find the agenda on the district webpage. 🧐

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. But it’s time to get back to communicating and sharing the important things that are happening in our state.

If there was ever a time to be informed, it’s now. Public education is on the chopping block. 😢

Missouri already ranks in the bottom 10 of all states in most areas, including amount spent per student and we rank 49th to dead last in teacher pay.

I know we are better than that. Our kids deserve so much better.

It’s important that you learn and understand and make your own decision on what’s best for our state…and how this decision will directly impact our schools.

I’m sharing this information from a group of parents that are gathering to share information on Amendment 5, what it is and the affects it will have.

I’ll also share some additional stats and information as I receive it in the coming weeks.

We are entering uncharted waters in public education right now. Stay informed and be ready to vote in August!!

Let the celebrating BEGIN! 🥳 Today kicks off the Graduation Ceremonies for our high schools and alternative high school program!

Today - HSAP (High School Alternative Program 💙💜💚, Winnetonka ♥️💛 and Staley 💚🖤!

Tomorrow - Oak Park 💙🩵 and Northtown 💜💛!!

Congratulations to all our graduating Seniors! And the to all the people in their lives that helped get them to this moment!🥰

📚 Late last week the Missouri legislature passed a state budget that — for the first time in years — does not fully fund K-12 public education.

The state’s foundation formula, which determines how much funding each district is legally owed, was left $190 million short statewide.

Money that could have, should have, gone to classrooms, teachers, and kids.

What does that mean for our community?

A $190 million shortfall in fully funding our schools, in a time when everything else keeps getting more expensive — staff salaries (as they should to keep up with rising costs), transportation, curriculum materials, utilities…

Districts across Missouri, including ours, are now being asked to do more with less than what the law says we’re owed.

Here in our NKC Schools community, that equates to roughly $5-6 Million now and closer to $10-12 million per year moving forward with the current budget.

At the same time, the legislature increased the state’s private school voucher program by $10 million — bringing it to $60 million total — while leaving neighborhood public schools short.

School choice is one thing, taking money from taxpayers for private school funding while shorting public schools that are almost entirely funded through tax payer dollars is another. 🤨

And there are STILL more uncertainties to come. 😭

Missouri voters will soon decide whether to eliminate the state income tax, which funds roughly 65% of state general revenue. 💸

(Is it me, or is this math just not “mathing” 🤔 ⁉️ )

The impact on future school budgets could be significant. 📈

As your school board, we want you to understand why difficult budget decisions may be ahead — and that many of these decisions start in Jefferson City.

Who represents us in our legislature matters. And we’re going to start feeling the repercussions sooner rather than later I’m afraid.

We are committed to being transparent with you every step of the way.

Our kids, teachers and staff deserve stability and consistency.💙

A fun shot of your North Kansas City Schools Board of Education members. 😎✌️(missing Jane Rinehart! 🙃)

We celebrated all the great things our NKC Schools Education Foundation is able to do for our students…including scholarship opportunities, helping support unfunded lunch accounts for students of need and so much more for our students and community.

I share this to remind you, in a time where the Board will on alert for the changes and challenges heading our way, there is one thing you can rest assured of…

We are walking in lock step to ensure our kids, your kids, get the best support we can possibly offer. Our community is strong and we have an incredible foundation we are working from.

We will come out stronger as a community. Please stay involved, stay in the know. If you need help locating communication or have ideas for us to better communicate and educate our community, PLEASE share and help us be the best we can we can be for you.

This week is the last week of sessions in the Legislature. I’ll share final updates as they come. In the meantime…

Have an amazing week. 🤩

If you live in the community that serves North Kansas City Schools, I encourage you to sign up for the newsletter “In the Know”.

The school district started this newsletter designed to keep our community informed about state, local, and federal actions that could affect North Kansas City Schools.

Make sure you stay IN THE KNOW!! 🧐

Subscribe here 👇
https://us.list-manage.com/gONVLNl0eBn?e=950de6704f&c2id=2a035ee1256064e195604ad54504c46b

Follow my page too, as I will share more as I learn more! 🙏✌️

In The Know - North Kansas City School District In The Know - North Kansas City School District

Let’s talk and the voucher program currently moving through the MO Legislature. 👀

As we’ve discussed, Missouri's public schools are receiving approximately $190 million less than the state's own formula requires — while the MOScholars private school voucher program has been allocated $60 million in the House budget, up from $50 million last year. 🤔 (of YOUR tax dollars, PUBLIC money for PRIVATE schools)

I am not opposed to having a conversation about educational options. However…⬇️

…when we are failing to meet our legal obligation to fund public schools — which educate the vast majority of Missouri's children — while at the same time expanding programs that divert public dollars to private institutions, our community deserves to understand WHY.

The 90%+ of Missouri children who attend public schools deserve a legislature that treats fully funding those schools as a 💯 non-negotiable 1️⃣st priority.

And for the record, I am still doing research on this, but there ARE states with a voucher program that works, but they are also the states that rank HIGH in education and allocate the highest percentage of dollars to education in their states. We can have it all…if we have people that know what they’re doing.

But we, for some reason, are trying to mimic Florida and Arizona. 😖 Why?? Their public schools are some of the worst in the nation. When you are trying to do something new, do YOU search for who’s doing it in the worst and least successful way possible and say “Hey! That’s who I’d like to learn from! I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll fail faster than they did!” I sure hope not. So what are the legislators “in charge” thinking? 🤯😠

I’ve included another article that touches more on the voucher debate.

‘A complete joke’: Higher education funding overhaul finds few takers in Missouri Senate • Missouri Independent A plan to overhaul higher education funding squeaked through the Missouri House as it approved a state operating budget for the coming fiscal year.

More on Missouri’s school funding crisis — 9️⃣ days away from the deadline to approve the budget. 👀

A few days ago I shared that the Missouri Senate voted down a $190 million amendment to fully fund our schools. 😑

The Senate did pass a budget that attempted a partial fix — using $118 million from Capitol renovation funds to partially cover the gap.

BUT…House rejected that Senate budget last week. 🫣

We are now in a conference committee — a small group of House and Senate members negotiating a final compromise. 😵‍💫

My main concern? 🤨

They will not come up with a SOLUTION. They will come up with a BAND AID.

A band aid that won’t help us fix the problem.

The problem that is not only NOT meeting budget REQUIREMENTS…but will continue to keep Missouri at the bottom of the barrel in education. 😢

Missouri ALREADY ranks near the bottom in education spending, teacher pay (we come in DEAD LAST in this category), safety, and attendance. 😣

These are not separate problems. 🙅🏻‍♀️

Cutting the budget further risks accelerating every one of these trends simultaneously.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ‼️

We are at the mercy of lawmakers that are making these decisions for us. For YOU. For your CHILDREN and their FUTURE.

Choose WISELY. Listen and pay attention to your elected officials. Are they doing what’s right for YOU, or what’s right for THEM? 🥺

Why do they not want to fully fund education??? We’ve been in this trajectory for a while…and now, and now it’s coming to a head. Maybe I should take my financial education workshops to Jeff City! 🤔

Our children’s classrooms cannot be an afterthought in a conference committee negotiation. 🤯🤯🤯

Parents, educators, and community members — now is the time to make your voice heard directly with your legislators.

The irony? The districts that this will affect the most in the most negative way, are the ones represented by legislators that are withholding money from education and not fully funding the Foundation Formula.

Share. Get angry and fight for your kids. Make sure those you are putting in office in November will fight for your kids.

https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2026-04-23/missouri-senate-passes-budget-that-reverses-higher-ed-funding-changes-and-child-care-cuts

Find your legislators: senate.mo.gov | house.mo.gov

Missouri governor reluctant to divert money from Capitol renovation to public schools • Missouri Independent A Missouri Senate decision to use money set aside for Capitol renovations to shore up school funding isn’t popular with Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Sharing to add to your calendar! I know we always seem to have something we need to get rid of! This opportunity makes it easy! ✌️