Funding for K-12 education in Colorado has been under ongoing pressure because of the statewide budget crunch triggered by the 2008 recession. While state revenue is slowly climbing back, there remains significant budgetary damage to undo.
Educators had hoped to avoid the unhappy task of cutting from already-stretched district budgets by passing Amendment 66, which would have provided $950 million in new income tax revenue for Colorado’s schools. But with that proposal’s 2-to-1 defeat and not enough existing funding to go around, Durango School District 9-R and others are looking now at where to curb spending. There are no good answers.
It is a nevertheless essential exercise that 9-R is undertaking with the appropriate seriousness by inviting community input on priorities for district resources. The trouble is, the former outpace the latter. This year’s budget, at $37 million, is $4.5 million less than 2009 funding. The number has been steadily dropping for the last five years, and next year, the district will take another 4.3 percent hit, meaning $1.6 million will have to be trimmed.
For the last two years, 9-R has avoided that task by dipping into its reserves but can no longer do so because the rainy-day fund has reached 15 percent of the district’s total budget. The board is rightly unwilling to drop below that number. So now the district is setting about prioritizing its spending and has held a series of study sessions to discern its options. Participants thus far have indicated that classroom help for struggling students, keeping art, music and physical education in the curriculum, and ensuring student access to technology are priorities. But these are among a list of unmitigated but competing goods that includes student achievement, small class sizes, teacher and administrator salaries and benefits, transportation and school security. It is difficult to pick favorites from among so many critical and interrelated components of education.
The district has had the blow softened somewhat by generous private donors – the Katz family gave 9-R $250,000 in December – and the Durango Education Foundation is commendably committed to boosting that philanthropic trend. But that is not a sustainable solution to what has been a troubling trend in education funding. Ultimately, the problem must be solved at the state level if districts are to avoid compromising the education they are committed to providing for students. There are cuts that can be made here and there, but a nearly 17 percent decline in funding over five years – and a guarantee the hemorrhaging will stop – is even less sustainable. At some point, student achievement and preparedness will take a hit.
The Durango School District 9-R Board of Education has the unenviable task of selecting which of its programs and priorities will have fewer resources in 2014-2015. That is a trend that needs to be reversed in a comprehensive manner. With cuts growing and budgets constricting year after year, Colorado’s schools must do way too much with way too little. That is not to say that closely examining programs and priorities is without merit, though. Ensuring that limited education dollars are being effectively spent is educators and lawmakers’ responsibility – but they should not have to do so with a knife in one hand. These are difficult conversations that demand robust participation and thoughtful community input – only that can blunt the blow.
