STATEWIDE BAILOUT OF KC SCHOOLS ON BALLOT

A little-noticed measure on the April 7 ballot is Constitutional Amendment 3. It is a statewide vote on whether to preserve the Kansas City School District's property tax rate near the current level of $4.96 for each $100 of assessed valuation.

The result can mean the difference between the district's remaining solvent or losing $75 to $80 million in local tax money and state matching funds -- taking it to the brink of bankruptcy.

Kansas City's tax rate was set by the federal court under the desegregation order in that district's long-running case. The levy issue has arisen because the Missouri Constitution limits the property tax rate a school board may impose on residents without voter approval. The court order is set to expire soon, following which the levy will fall back to the state-mandated minimum $2.75 unless voters preserve the court-imposed rate.

The Kansas City School Board, dominated by new, more responsible members, has recently been taking aggressive steps to cut excessive spending. The district budget is already scheduled to fall from $300 million to $260 million after state desegregation funds are withdrawn. If the district loses the $75 to $80 million in local property taxes and the basic state aid match, it won't be able to make its $200 million payroll. It could also not contract for buses, heat schools, hire custodians, buy supplies and textbooks and pay off the $32 million annual debt from a decade of court-ordered construction.

Passage of Amendment 3 is probably the least onerous of several bad choices. The Kansas City desegregation case is a world-class catastrophe, a textbook case of liberals' being given an unlimited budget and exceeding it with precious little to show for it. But failure to pass Amendment 3 would simply dump the problem off on Missouri taxpayers -- again -- if the state has to take over a bankrupt school district. One caveat: We will be tempted to repeal even this limited endorsement if voters in Kansas City reject the amendment themselves. Will they step up to the challenge?