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Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines

By: Adria Iraheta | Denver7 District officials say some cuts reflect unfilled vacancies — but parents say fewer educators mean kids pay the price. FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Poudre School District is eliminating 182 educator positions heading into the next school year, citing budget issues as the driving force behind the cuts. The move comes after months of conversations about declining enrollment, forcing Poudre School District to consider how its budget could reshape schools across the district. PSD is projected to have 654 fewer students in its schools next year, citing fewer school-aged children in the area due to declining birth rates and fewer younger families moving into the area due to housing costs. Denver7 was there as parents brought their co...
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Enrollment drops but Denver schools keep growing administration
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Enrollment drops but Denver schools keep growing administration

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Denver Public Schools administrative bloat -- with some interesting counterpoint The Gazette article linked first below touches on a subject that I’ve written about multiple times. It’s administrative bloat in schools. It seems as though DPS has gotten its ranks of administrators while at the same time enrollment has fallen. This pattern also seems to be playing out in school districts around the state. Quoting (with link intact) from the article: “This finding [that DPS is beefing up administration while student numbers fall] mirrors a statewide trend identified in a report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) that found Colorado school districts continued to grow their administrative staff despite declin...
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School Funding Concerns Grow As Douglas County Faces $22 Million Deficit
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

School Funding Concerns Grow As Douglas County Faces $22 Million Deficit

By Nicholas Fogleman | The Denver Gazette The Douglas County School Board on Tuesday previewed its proposed 2026–27 budget amid declining enrollment and a projected $22 million deficit. District officials said the shortfall will be partially covered by a one-time drawdown of the district’s general fund, bringing the balance in line with pre-COVID levels. However, leaders warned the approach is temporary and will require more permanent solutions in the following year. “Without a structural change to how we fund schools in this state, there is at least a substantial risk that next year’s budget would not just be lower but substantially so,” board member Brad Geiger said. “Any substantial decrease in our budget means decreasing employees.” The proposed $901 ...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — For years, Democrats have been chipping away at Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds while looking for ways to permanently disable the more than 30-year-old constitutional amendment that, among other things, limits growth of a portion of the state budge to a formula of population growth plus inflation.  Revenue collected over that limit must be refunded to taxpayers unless voters consent to forgoing refunds at the ballot box. This year, however, they may have found the way. The late session introduction and passage of Senate Bill 135 sends a question to the voters in November essentially ending TABOR rebates.  Proponents are using using school children and teachers to tug at the heart strings of Coloradans ...
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Critics Warn Democrat Plan Would Eliminate TABOR Refunds For A Decade
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Critics Warn Democrat Plan Would Eliminate TABOR Refunds For A Decade

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado voters could decide this fall whether billions of dollars that would otherwise be returned as refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights should instead go to public schools under a ballot measure unveiled Thursday by Democrats. Supporters say the proposal would address chronic underfunding in K-12 education, while critics argue it takes money away from taxpayers and amounts to sidestepping the state’s constitutional spending limits. Supporters have insisted that schools are underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars, while one study says revenue and spending by schools have significantly grown in the last few years, with a noticeable shift toward non-instructional spending. Under the proposed ballot measure, the am...
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Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Commissioner JJ Fletcher said he wasn’t looking to start a political fight when he published a recent op-ed questioning Colorado’s rapid move away from natural gas. What he wanted, Fletcher said, was to put a practical concern on the record—one he hears repeatedly from rural counties. Fletcher said the problem has become harder to ignore in recent weeks. With power shutoffs in December, higher utility bills and public anger spilling into regulatory hearings, he said counties are being asked to answer for decisions they didn’t make. In an interview with RMV, Fletcher said the message from state leaders has been consistent: counties are expected to deal with the impacts of electrification, even though they don’t contr...
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DPS Enrollment Drop Points To Deeper Budget Crisis Than School Closures Can Solve
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

DPS Enrollment Drop Points To Deeper Budget Crisis Than School Closures Can Solve

By Nico Brambila | The Denver Gazette Enrollment losses in Denver now outpace what school closures alone can address. Denver Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Alex Marrero is expected to present an update on the district’s enrollment to the board at its meeting this Thursday. During an October count, the district reported an enrollment decline of roughly 1,200 students and about $18 million in lost annual revenue, said Bill Good, a district spokesperson. Because of a practice known as “smoothing” — which averages pupil counts over three years, rather than a single year — the immediate impact has been reduced to about $9 million. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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60% of Colorado Voters Say Public Schools Are Off Track Despite Record Spending
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

60% of Colorado Voters Say Public Schools Are Off Track Despite Record Spending

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Most Coloradans believe the state’s public education system is in serious need of improvement, according to a recent Magellan Strategies survey . Meanwhile, the minority of respondents who view the state’s public educational system favorably praised teachers and noted improved outcomes. The survey, conducted by Magellan Strategies, collected responses from more than 1,000 voters across the political, economic, and demographic spectrum. Participants were asked questions about their views on the state’s public education system – from universal preschool to publicly funded colleges and universities. Nearly 60% of respondents said they believed the state’s public education system was headed in the wrong direction. W...
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Denver Schools Eye Another Bond Despite $975 Million Passed By Voters in 2024
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Schools Eye Another Bond Despite $975 Million Passed By Voters in 2024

By Nico Brambila | The Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools officials are already talking about the next borrowing after Denver voters just approved a nearly $1 billion bond 11 months ago. As previously reported by The Denver Gazette, DPS has grown increasingly dependent on voter-approved borrowing to fund the district’s basic needs. Over the past three decades, voters have approved billions in bond measures and mill levy overrides. During the board of education’s finance and audit committee meeting Monday, a finance official discussed “refunding” $67 million in bonds to “save” Denver taxpayers money. “It allows for the opportunity to create capacity for a future bond election without the district needing to increase the amount of money that we are paying in debt service and...
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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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