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Jeffco Schools Chief Counsel to Retire During High-Stakes Title IX Fight With Feds
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Jeffco Schools Chief Counsel to Retire During High-Stakes Title IX Fight With Feds

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette As Jeffco Public Schools continues to fight a legal battle with the federal government, it will soon be without its top attorney. Julie Tolleson, chief legal counsel for the district, will retire at the end of the current school year, according to a letter sent to district staff Tuesday by interim Superintendent Rob Stein. Tolleson has been known among Jeffco staff as a “common sense” attorney who used her legal expertise to uphold student rights, Stein wrote in the letter. He also praised Tolleson for avoiding “unnecessary controversy” during her tenure. “Julie’s legal acumen will be hard to replace,” Stein wrote. “Her wisdom and perspective will be missed.” Tolleson has been with Jeffco since 2022. Her tenure ha...
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Left-Wing Anti-ICE Activists Mobilize Colorado Students for Statewide School Walkout Sept. 4th
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The Post Millennial, Approved, State

Left-Wing Anti-ICE Activists Mobilize Colorado Students for Statewide School Walkout Sept. 4th

By Katie Daviscourt | The Post Millennial The Youth Coalition, a Denver-based left-wing student activist organization, appears to be the lead organizer of the walkout. Students from more than 160 Colorado public schools will be participating in a "walkout" to protest US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The action, scheduled for September 4, is being promoted as a statewide "Walkout for ICE Out" day. The walkout has been promoted by left-wing activist organization 50501, which was a key group that was behind the "No Kings" protests around the nation.  Participating students will leave class at 12 pm, according to organizers. A central rally is planned at La Alma Park in Denver, where students from area schools will gather to demand an end to immigration enfo...
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Castle Rock Council Approves New School Land Rules Despite District Concerns
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Castle Rock Council Approves New School Land Rules Despite District Concerns

By Olivia Young | CBS Colorado Douglas County School District is grappling with a change in law in one of its most populous communities. The Castle Rock Town Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night changing the way land and funds dedicated to schools are allocated. Historically, developers have dedicated land or funding for future public schools. The town holds these assets until the district is ready to build a school, but now the district will need to meet certain conditions and timelines, or the land may be used for other purposes. There are currently 13 sites in Castle Rock planned for schools. The ordinance cites "changing demographic trends, school enrollment patterns, and long-range capital planning" as reasons many of them may not be developed into schools fo...
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Colorado Schools Face New Reality as Student Enrollment Keeps Falling
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Schools Face New Reality as Student Enrollment Keeps Falling

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Colorado public schools went from adding roughly 3,500 students a year before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to losing nearly 4,000 students a year afterward. As more than 870,000 Colorado students return to the classroom for another school year, they are part of a shrinking population since enrollment peaked in 2019. Colorado has 40,000 fewer students today than it did at its apex. The Denver Gazette compared districts’ average annual enrollment gains or losses in the five years before and after the pandemic to identify where enrollment trends changed the most. The forces that long fueled Colorado’s enrollment boom — births and migration — have lost momentum. Nationally, enrollment peaked in 2019 with 50.7 millio...
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A four-year-old is worth more than a fifth grader to Colorado schools
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Uncategorized

A four-year-old is worth more than a fifth grader to Colorado schools

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The incentive structure hiding in Colorado’s UPK I recently shared a video that went into (among other important things to know about school finance) how Colorado’s public school enrollment is dropping. That video is linked below if you missed it before; it’s great and cheap education on school enrollment and funding. Not too long after I put up the newsletter with that video, I had a reader send me something I thought interesting enough to share. There is a marked disparity between how much money someone gets from our Universal Pre K program for a child vs. how much they get for educating a child in K - 12. The second link below is to the state’s UPK rate sheet. It lists the 2026-27 rate the UPK progra...
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Colorado teacher home loan program puts school fund money at risk in foreclosures
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado teacher home loan program puts school fund money at risk in foreclosures

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wrote earlier in the week about Impact Development and taxpayer-subsidized mortgages. That newsletter is linked first below if you’re interested.I have an update of sorts to share. It’s not so much the program I outlined earlier, more a related program run out of Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA).The program is called the Schools to Home Program. The CHFA website for this program is linked second below. I’ll run through the details and a quick example here, but as I do, I do not want you to lose track of something.Hidden in all of the graphics and words are the following: public money is given out on loan to the people who are in the program, and they get generous terms on their loans that others woul...
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Missed Insurance Deadline Could Leave Jeffco Taxpayers Paying $15 Million Sex Abuse Settlement
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Missed Insurance Deadline Could Leave Jeffco Taxpayers Paying $15 Million Sex Abuse Settlement

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette Taxpayers may end up on the hook for a child sexual assault settlement, possibly worth up to $15 million, after Jeffco Public Schools failed to notify its insurance company in a timely manner about the case. The incident stems from the Imagine Kay Ewer case. Ewer, a former paraprofessional in the district, groomed and sexually abused a special needs student for several months in 2023. Ewer pleaded guilty in 2024 to criminal charges for providing drugs and alcohol, and engaging in several sexual acts with the then-16-year-old disabled student.  Ewer received a four-year prison sentence followed by 10-years-to-life probation last year. According to documents obtained by The Denver Gazette, Jeffco and its legal couns...
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Colorado Schools Receive $24 Million to Expand Free Meals Program
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Schools Receive $24 Million to Expand Free Meals Program

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The Colorado Department of Education is providing Colorado schools with nearly $24 million in grant funding to implement a free lunch program. Approved by voters in 2022, the Healthy School Meals for All provides free breakfast and lunch to all public school students in the state, as well as wage increases for cafeteria staff. The program is funded through a tax increase on households making more than $300,000 a year. Because initial estimates fell short of the actual costs, the program ran into fiscal challenges right from the start and had never been deployed in its entirety. A pair of ballot measures approved by voters last year allows the state to keep additional revenue and interest from income tax deductions to help pay f...
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New Report Finds Colorado Children Face Growing Financial and Education Challenges
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

New Report Finds Colorado Children Face Growing Financial and Education Challenges

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Despite having one of the country’s highest median incomes, Colorado families are struggling to afford essentials like food, housing, health care and child care. That’s according to the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which released its annual Kids Count report recently. It provides an overview of how the state’s infants, children and teens are faring compared to previous years. The report is broken down into four categories: economic security, health, K-12 education and early childhood. “The data remind us of what is at stake and who is relying on us to pay attention,” Heather Tritten, president and CEO of Colorado Children’s Campaign, said in the report. “This is a moment when data matter. In difficult times, c...
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Jeffco Schools Seek $135 Million Tax Hike to Address Deficit and Facility Needs
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, Local

Jeffco Schools Seek $135 Million Tax Hike to Address Deficit and Facility Needs

By Melanie Asmar | CPR News Faced with a looming deficit, Jeffco Public Schools is weighing whether to ask voters in November to approve a $135 million tax increase. A community advisory group has recommended the funding be used for teacher salaries, career and technical education programs, technology, and safety and building upgrades. If voters approve the measure, property taxes would increase by $3.58 per month on every $100,000 of a home’s value, according to a district presentation. Although Jeffco is Colorado’s second-largest school district with 74,000 students, it spends less money per pupil than several other metro districts, according to state data. Part of the reason is that Jeffco voters have approved fewer tax increases, known as mill levy o...
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