Kansas City, Mo., school board to vote on closing half the beleaguered district’s schools

Kansas City school board to vote on closures

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Mo., school board is set to vote Wednesday night on a proposal to close half the schools in the district.

The Kansas City district is expected to overspend its $316 million budget by about $15 million this year.

With the district likely to be in the red by 2011 if nothing changes, Superintendent John Covington wants to shutter 29 of the 61 schools.

Covington also has proposed cutting about 700 of the district’s 3,000 jobs — including 285 teaching jobs — and selling the downtown central office.

Parents, students and community members have crowded public meetings, begging for schools to be removed from Covington’s list.

But Covington says the closings are necessary because the district’s buildings are only half full as enrollment plummeted.