Platte County R-3 School District’s efforts to raise money for a new Northland Career Center (NCC) got a big boost last week to the fund raising efforts.
Brian Noller, currently the district’s director of strategic partnerships, announced at the district’s regular monthly meeting last Thursday, June 20, that he had secured a $250,000 pledge from Connections Bank. Noller was late to the meeting because he had just left a meeting with representatives from the bank. Noller said members of the bank’s board are excited about the partnership.
“They told me to go tell the board this,” an excited Noller told the R-3 school board.
Noller said the pledge will be $50,000 a year over the next five years. With the pledge, the district has raised close to $6 million for the center. The district recently established a 501c3 not-for-profit organization to help with the fund raising efforts. The establishment of a not-for-profit organization will make it easier for the district to receive donations for the project.
“The 501c3 is a huge win,” Noller said. “We had a lot of help from legislators.”
Noller said there are additional pledged funds that he cannot announce yet. He said an individual is ready to contribute $1 million and a large corporation is also looking at donating $1 million. Noller said there is also another $250,000 donation he has not been able to announce yet.
Noller, who is in charge of fund raising efforts, said the campaign for a new NCC began last July. Although close to $8 million in pledged funds is a big number there’s still a lot of work to do. The district needs to raise about $35 million for the project.
The total cost for a new NCC would be about $74 million. The other half of the funds would potentially come from the state of Missouri. Currently, there is a bill on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s desk that would pledge $34 million to the project. Noller said if the governor signs the bill it would essentially turn into a marketing tool for the district in the form of a dollar-for-dollar match.
“We got $250,000 this evening and that turns into $500,000 with the match,” Noller said.
The number worked into the state’s budget was $27 million but Noller said senators Tony Luetkemeyer and Lauren Arthur were able to get the number bumped up by $7 million.
“We had a lot of help from legislators,” Noller said.
Board Member Tyler Fadler asked if the district has pledged any funds and what the possibilities are of doing so. Superintendent Dr. Jay Harris said the district has not pledged any money at this time but could do so in the future through capital investments. He said they could also solicit pledges from the other school districts that send kids to NCC. Fadler said it makes him “sick” NCC has had to turn away students each year because they don’t have the space.
“I want to see this building get built sooner rather than later,” Fadler said.
There’s also a deadline attached to the state’s pledge of December 2026. Harris was asked if he thinks lawmakers would be open to extending the deadline.
“I think that’s an option,” Harris said. “This next year in fund raising is going to be a big year for us. I think it will tell us, ‘Our we closing the gap at the pace we need to close the gap? If not I think we come back to the table.”
Harris said if the district has made considerable strides it shouldn’t be a big issue. If they don’t it might be time to look at different options.
“If we’re within striking distance and we need a little more time I think they would be very open to giving us more time to do that. If we’re still quite a bit away I think we’ll have to come up with another plan,” Harris said.
Noller said KCMO has pledged $500,000 to the project but that number could increase. He also said this week the city of Riverside has also put up $250,000 and that Mayor Kathy Rose is encouraging other municipalities like Gladstone and North Kansas City to do the same. Fundraising efforts will not fall short from a lack of effort.
“We’re in a fundraising war room every Thursday dug in for four hours,” Noller said.