By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Feb. 3, 2010

Mayor Mark Funkhouser has introduced a new initiative to bring people back into Kansas City by improving school environments — thus improving communities.

The proposed initiative, called Schools First, would target the 50 square blocks surrounding every school building — public, charter, private or faith-based — with increased safety, better city services and improved infrastructure. Funkhouser introduced the initiative Sunday morning in an informal State of the City Address at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church.

To make Schools First happen, Funkhouser said, would require renewing the public safety sales tax, using one-third of it to increase officer presence and crossing guards around schools, and voters’ approving the issuing of $100 million in general obligation bonds to target infrastructure around the buildings.

“It’s just a start,” Funkhouser said. “We would sit down with individual school communities and neighborhoods and work out what projects we need to work on.”

As an example, Funkhouser highlighted Southeast Elementary School, in the Park Hill School District, which is relatively isolated from the surrounding neighborhoods and doesn’t have safe sidewalks for children to walk on to get to school. The mayor said Park Hill Superintendent Dennis Fisher suggested, “If you want to be helpful, help me build sidewalks.”

The Schools First initiative would also include asking the City Council to approve a resolution directing city staff to prioritize the 50-block areas for services such as codes enforcement, snow removal, graffiti abatement and more. Additionally, the program includes designating a city staff member whose function is to “tear down walls,” the mayor said, between the schools and city.

“There’s a reason why we don’t have a lot of civic dialogue here,” he said. “I think the public school superintendents were not thrilled with No Child Left Behind and everything. They feel besieged.”

Schools First is an effort to increase the population of Kansas City, Mo., by reversing the trend of the past four decades of the exodus into the suburbs. The school systems, Funkhouser said, are the most common reason he hears people have left Kansas City.

This consistent growth away from the urban core has resulted in the Kansas City metropolitan residents consuming twice as much land as is needed.

“This isn’t just a problem for Kansas City, Mo.,” Funkhouser said. “This is a metro-wide disaster unfolding in front of us.”

According to a list provided by the mayor’s office, City Council members Ed Ford, John Sharp and Beth Gottstein are initial supporters of Schools First; along with Dr. Fisher, of Park Hill; John Covington, superintendent of the Kansas City, Mo., School District; Police Chief Jim Corwin; the Local Investment Commission, Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; and other community leaders.

There will be a town hall meeting via telephone from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday concerning Schools First. All are invited to phone in to listen and ask questions. Call 1-(888) 886-6603, Ext. 13998#.