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Tag: Denver Public Schools

New 3-year deal between teachers union and DPS sparks debate on costs and accountability
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Fox31, Approved, Local

New 3-year deal between teachers union and DPS sparks debate on costs and accountability

By Abraham Jewett | Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Classroom Teachers Association announced Thursday that it has voted to ratify a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with Denver Public Schools. The vote to ratify comes around two months after the DCTA reached a tentative agreement with DPS in June, following several months of negotiations. The DCTA said more than 81% of its members voted in favor of the new collective bargaining agreement, which will be valid through 2028. “As a democratic, member-led organization, every vote cast reflects our shared commitment to creating better working and learning conditions for Denver’s educators and students,” said Michelle Horwitz, bilingual speech-language pathologist and co-chair of the DCTA Bargaining Team, in ...
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Denver Public Schools Faces Federal Sanctions Over Inclusive Restroom Policy
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Local, Approved, DENVER7

Denver Public Schools Faces Federal Sanctions Over Inclusive Restroom Policy

By: Óscar Contreras | Denver7 The Department of Education found Denver Public Schools violated Title IX by converting a girl’s restroom into an all-gender facility earlier this year. DENVER — Trump’s Department of Education ordered Denver Public Schools to revert all-gender restrooms to single-sex facilities or risk “enforcement action” after finding it discriminated against girls by creating all-gender bathrooms at East High School earlier this year. The investigation, launched by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in January of this year, also took issue with a district-wide policy that allows students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. By converting a girl’s restroom to a gender-neutral facility and allowing students to use bathro...
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Denver Public Schools under fire: Legal twist could force transparency in school debt strategy
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

Denver Public Schools under fire: Legal twist could force transparency in school debt strategy

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette After arguing in court filings that its lease-financing structure is legal because a nonprofit organization — not the district — incurred the debt without voter approval, Denver Public Schools now contends the same corporation is a “public entity” entitled to governmental immunity from lawsuits. The contradiction is more than semantics. If the Denver School Facilities Leasing Corporation (DSFLC) is deemed a public entity, it would be subject to Colorado’s open records and public meetings laws, an attorney and a watch dog group said. DPS has denied a public information request for documents in the corporation’s possession, suggesting district officials, despite their legal arguments, recognize DSFLC as a private organization. Scott Pribb...
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A crisis of cradle and classroom: How Colorado’s baby bust is closing schools
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A crisis of cradle and classroom: How Colorado’s baby bust is closing schools

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s classrooms are getting quieter – not because kids are learning, but because there are fewer of them. Across the state, dropping birth rates and shrinking enrollment are forcing schools to close, merge – or sit half-empty. And the trend isn’t slowing down. In May, the Common Sense Institute released a report warning that Colorado’s birth rate has been declining since 2005 and has fallen faster than the national average since 2011. The report projects the state will lose more than 15,000 children under age 18 by 2030 – roughly the equivalent of the entire Thompson R2-J school district. Denver Public Schools is already deep into closures. According to CSI’s analysis, DPS has approved the closure of seven schools and partial restructur...
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Denver Schools say lease-financing is lawful, critics say it skirts voter oversight
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver Schools say lease-financing is lawful, critics say it skirts voter oversight

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette In a motion to dismiss filed Friday in response to a lawsuit, Denver Public Schools (DPS) defended its use of lease-purchase agreements — a financing method critics say sidesteps required voter approval for public debt that could leave students without access to their schools if the district defaults. “This allegedly unlawful ‘scheme’ is actually a common and completely legal method of financing projects for public entities in a manner that is authorized by statute and has been repeatedly ratified by Colorado courts,” DPS officials said in their filing. As previously reported by The Denver Gazette, DPS has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt through a controversial financing tactic that sidesteps the state’s con...
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Denver Public Schools leased schools through shell corporation, hiding almost $1B in off-book financing
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver Public Schools leased schools through shell corporation, hiding almost $1B in off-book financing

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools transferred ownership of at least 31 schools to a shell corporation, then leased them back for hundreds of millions of dollars Denver Public Schools has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt without voter approval — money that could otherwise be used to lower class sizes, increase teacher pay or expand student support services, an investigation by The Denver Gazette has found. The spending comes as contract negotiations between the district and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) have stalled, with union leaders pointing to the district's failure to fully fund last year’s cost-of-living adjustment. Educators have repeatedly called for smaller class sizes, better compensation a...
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DPS Superintendent Marrero delayed closure list before bond vote—used September data anyway
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

DPS Superintendent Marrero delayed closure list before bond vote—used September data anyway

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Last year, when the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education established guardrails for campus closures, Superintendent Alex Marrero requested a one-time extension before releasing his closure list, citing the need for the October Count enrollment data for his team to complete the analysis. “I don’t believe that we’re going to have an accurate count no earlier than October,” Marrero told the board during the Aug. 15 meeting, in which he requested additional time. District documents suggested otherwise — specifically, that the district obtained enrollment numbers in September. In public documents, the September data was cited as justification for the closure list. Some have suggested the reason for the delayed release was to avoid ant...
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Denver school district asks judge to dismiss lawsuit challenging school closures
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver school district asks judge to dismiss lawsuit challenging school closures

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools has asked a district court judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parent group Mamas de DPS, which is seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the closures of seven schools at the end of the academic year. The district's attorneys have argued the parent group lacks standing. Mamas de DPS filed the lawsuit in Denver District Court in December. If the group prevails on its temporary restraining order, it would bar the district from shuttering any campuses while the lawsuit makes its way through the legal system. The district argument rests on whether, as taxpayers, the parents were directly and clearly harmed - thus having a standing to bring the case. READ FULL ARTICLE AT DENVERGAZETTE.COM
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Superintendent’s cuts result in $5M in annual savings from 38 central office positions
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Superintendent’s cuts result in $5M in annual savings from 38 central office positions

By Nicole C. Brambila | Colorado Politics, via The Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero laid off dozens of employees in the central office to save the district roughly $5 million annually. The 38 eliminated positions will be effective July 1, according to a memo sent to staff on Friday. “We are facing great uncertainty compounded by significant concerns for our future funding from both the state and national levels,” Marrero wrote. “This all comes on top of a period of declining birth rates and lower enrollment across our city and the nation. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Denver school district sues to prevent federal agents from arresting immigrants
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver school district sues to prevent federal agents from arresting immigrants

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prevent federal agents from arresting unauthorized immigrants at schools. If approved, the order filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday would pause implementation while the case proceeds through the legal system. Bill Good, a Denver Public Schools spokesperson, said that he believes the lawsuit is the first in the country filed by a school district. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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