As a former educator, longtime community member, grandparent and believer in contributing to the greater good, I would like to urge voters to support the passage of ballot issue 3A – with caveats!
Unfortunately, the upper level administration of School District 9-R does not have a track record of building consensus from the bottom up, of valuing teachers or their input, of demonstrating financial transparency, or of building trust.
Board of education members, taxpayers, consumers of our public education, and families, do not write our school district a blank check. Instead, support our children, teachers and staff with a “Yes” vote, but hold this administration accountable for exactly how the money is spent.
The language on the ballot describing how the revenue will be used is vague, ambiguous and open to interpretation. Several questions arise. Goals, as written on the ballot, include:
“Investing in critical programs that support college and workforce ready graduates.” Question: “Critical” as defined how and by whom?“Minimizing increased class sizes and loss of more educational programs.” Question: What about reinstating valuable programs that directly benefit students, including fully funded libraries, gifted/talented support and early intervention for struggling students?“Maintaining our ability to attract, retain and train high quality staff.” Questions: How about increasing the salaries of current teachers and staff to a level that constitutes a living wage? The morale crisis among our teachers continues as they are directed to do more with less; what about specific measures to improve this situation?“Ensuring safe, effective, innovative learning environments and infrastructure.” Question: How are effective, innovative learning environments and infrastructure defined?If 3A passes, our community deserves to see a line-item budget so we can stay apprised of exactly how our tax dollars are being spent. Our school district administration is top-heavy, expensive and under the current policy governance model, too powerful. Our children and our community deserve better.
Please vote “Yes” on Ballot Issue 3A, but get involved and hold our school district officials accountable. Our kids are our future!
Betsy Kimmick
Durango
