Poudre School District asking voters to approve mill levy in November

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Poudre School District has worked for months to try to resolve the massive budget shortfall they say is the result of higher costs and continually declining enrollment.

Denver7 followed as the school district's initial plans of possible school closures in April was met with public outcry, which led to the school board agreeing to take the option off the table about a month later.

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Poudre School District puts school closure, consolidation plans on pause

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"It's been a long road, and hopefully what our community sees is that we slowed down, we listened. And now we're doing what they have asked for, which is go ahead and ask the community to support us once again with a mill levy override," said Kristen Draper, school board president.

The board unanimously approved a mill levy override to the November ballot. If approved by voters, it would increase property taxes and provide $49 million per year to the school district.

Around $24.4 million would go to building maintenance and repairs, $20 million would go to the general fund costs like salaries, neighborhood schools and classroom materials, and $4.6 million would fund district-authorized charter schools. The district noted that the charter school funding is required by state law.

The mill levy will increase property taxes by $25.40 per year for every $100,000 in home value. That means, for example, a homeowner with a home valued at $600,000 would expect to pay an extra $152.40 per year in property taxes.

Below is a list of what school projects the district has in mind for each specific school in the district:

"In all honesty, they probably should have pushed that first," said proud Cache La Poudre (CLP) Schools parent Dustin Janzen. "It would have been better to come to the parents and come to the schools, the community members, the people that pay property taxes, and say, 'We need to be able to keep these schools open, to keep the fabric of Fort Collins and the community alive, and if we can't keep that community alive, then we're going to have to close schools."

CLP was one of the lower enrolled schools on the proposed chopping block initially.

"There was a lot of stress involved with a lot of parents and everybody really not knowing what's going to happen — teachers, too," he said.

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Poudre School District families curious about the district's financial future

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The district acknowledged the frustration of families during this process.

"If we could do it over again, I'm sure we would do it differently," Draper said.

Draper said the trend of decreasing enrollment doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon and with an unknown ending to the special session on property taxes , the district's budget issues aren't all solved even if this measure passes in November.

"What this will do is it'll give us a runway to go ahead and see what that looks like, probably about three to five years out, so we won't have to do anything immediately," Draper said. "And if there is, then we can do it thoughtfully, methodically and strategically with our community."

Poudre School District has put together a website to help families better understand the mill levy proposal. Click here for more information from the district.

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