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9-R Board of Education confronting money woes

State Supreme Court lowering standards also causes concerns
The Durango School District Board of Education continued its new policy of hearing from the community about important issues by talking with representatives from the health-care community on Tuesday. Catching students before they’re in crisis was one priority mentioned.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education found itself confronting the two major challenges facing all school districts in the state: money and standards.

On the money front, the Colorado Supreme Court decision Monday saying that the state General Assembly is correctly interpreting funding regarding Amendment 23 means the district probably won’t see any more money for the 2016-2017 school year, said 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger.

“Fiscally, there are some decisions we’re going to have to make,” he said. “There are some big expenses in our budget that some might argue are outside our mission.”

Snowberger presented a list of some of the programs the district offers that need to be reviewed.

“We were the first district in the state to shift to a full-time model for kindergarten, and we’ve been doing it for 20 years,” he said, explaining one of the items. “We’re only reimbursed by the state for a five-eighth day kindergarten, so that means we take money from first to 12th education funds to pay for the rest. It’s important for the community to understand we do that, and we still feel strongly about continuing to do it.”

The board plans to hold a series of meetings asking community members what they think the district should do. Thrown into the mix is the potential for a mill-levy increase the board is considering placing on the ballot in November 2016.

“We have to do a cost-and-benefits analysis of every item, and it’s footwork we have to do if we’re going to ask for big bucks,” board member Stephanie Moran said. “We also have to make sure people understand the risk if x, y or z goes away or is substantially cut. What happens to a 3-year-old if preschool goes away?”

In other education news, the Colorado Board of Education has lowered graduation standards a 2021 high school graduate needs to meet.

“We’ve sat here for a year-and-a-half working on raising graduation standards, because we thought that was important,” board member Greg Spradling said. “Now, we’re talking about lowering them?”

The district can have higher standards than the state, Snowberger said, but that is something for the board to discuss at its next work session. One of the biggest concerns for him is the lowering of the acceptable Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery score from 50, which is exactly in the middle of the 100-point test, to 31. Meeting the score of 31 would shut those out students who go into the military after graduation from a number of the more desirable career options.

abutler@durangoherald.com

Jan 17, 2016
Durango school district asks community for budget-cut input


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