Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Denver School Board

The Denver school tax question says $44 million. The measure says something larger.
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

The Denver school tax question says $44 million. The measure says something larger.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The question Denver voters will mark this November asks whether to raise Denver Public Schools taxes "up to $44 million." That is the number on the ballot, the number in the district's public materials, and the figure repeated in news coverage of the measure. The $44 million is not a fixed cap on what the tax could raise in the years after. Read the board's resolution, adopted Aug. 13, along with the ballot question it certified, and the $44 million turns out to be an estimate for the first year.  What voters would also authorize is a permanent change to the ceiling on how much the district can collect through its operational overrides — a ceiling written as a share of the district's total program funding, not ...
Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A conservative election-law firm filed a federal lawsuit against the Denver Public Schools Board of Education on July 2, arguing the board deliberately drew its school district voting map along racial lines. The board's own words, the suit says, prove it. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit, on behalf of Denver residents Susan Moore and Valdamar Archuleta. It targets Map C, the redistricting plan DPS adopted in April 2024 following the 2020 census. The complaint does not just allege that race played a role. It argues race was the point. What DPS did After each federal census, Colorado law requires school districts to redraw thei...