To be a teacher in Durango is to care about something so deeply you can’t afford to pay your electric bill.
“No wonder young people don’t want to become teachers,” said Tiffany Ketter, a teacher at Needham Elementary School in Durango, reflecting on the aphoristic analysis she’d just put forth.
Ketter, who spoke as she cleaned out her first grade classroom and prepared to move to the pre-kindergarten class to which she had been assigned, has worked for Durango School District 9-R for three years.
At 44, Ketter asks herself – “Am I foolish for trying to live my dream and to do good, hard work in a mountain town?”
That question is top of mind for many staff members in the district as two teams of negotiators, representing the administration on one side and the teachers and paraeducators on the other, prepare to convene Monday.
The monthslong negotiations stalled in early May after the district and the Durango Education Association and the Durango Education Support Professionals Association – the collective bargaining units representing licensed and unlicensed staff, respectively – failed to agree on compensation.
The unions have consistently called for cost-of-living adjustment to the natural step plan that rewards teachers and paras for tenure, community involvement and professional development. To pay for the cost-of-living adjustment, the unions have proposed dipping into a $7.1 million unrestricted general fund reserve.
The district resisted offering a cost-of-living adjustment without a clearly identified source of ongoing revenue to fund the recurring costs.
“Using one-time savings to fund ongoing salaries is not sustainable and would quickly deplete reserves, putting the district at risk of deeper cuts or insolvency during future emergencies or funding shortfalls,” district spokeswoman Karla Sluis said in an email to The Durango Herald.
When the parties stalled at an impasse on May 5, the district’s final offer was a 1% cost-of-living adjustment. The unions refused to budge from their 5% request, which had dropped substantially from an initial ask of 15%. Teachers received no cost-of-living adjustment in 2024.
Mediation begins Monday. If no agreement is reached, the unions may vote to strike.
The starting salary of a licensed teacher in Durango is $51,500 – about 10% above the national average and higher yet than the state average – in a state ranked 41st nationally for teacher pay, according to the National Education Association.
But that’s not enough to live in Durango, early-career teachers and paraeducators say. Paras start at $41,600, below licensed teacher pay.
“I don’t have a savings because I don’t make enough money to put things away,” said Mikaela Johnson, a fourth grade teacher at Needham who just finished her second year in the district.
During the school year, Johnson works one or two nights a week waiting tables at a restaurant on Durango’s Main Avenue before she heads back to her Mancos home – the only place she can afford to live with her pets – after a 16-hour day.
“After my bills, I have maybe a couple hundred dollars left in my bank account,” she said. “I use that money throughout the month that I’m getting from tips and from my paycheck at the restaurant to survive.”
The district is not deaf to these concerns. But its leaders say they worry about the ramifications of giving raises without sustainable funding.
“Giving meaningful raises that we can’t sustain year after year could lead to larger class sizes, program cuts or layoffs – outcomes that would hurt both staff and students in the long run,” Sluis said. “That’s why we’re also focused on long-term strategies like affordable housing, structural funding reform and local solutions that build financial stability. We’re not ignoring the need; we’re working to meet it in a way that protects our students and our future.”
Jake Richmond, a special education teaching assistant who is part of the DESPA negotiating team, took home less than $25,000 last year after taxes. He said there’s a bit of wage location deflation in Durango. Given the region’s high quality of life, he suspects employers try to pay less.
“We don’t get to enjoy that beautiful place that we live in,” he said. “We’re just busy figuring out how to survive.”
Although he moved to Durango in 2016 to ski, Richmond has never been able to afford a ski pass. And that hypothetical Ketter shared – to teach in Durango is to care so deeply you can’t pay your electric bill – is a reality for Richmond. He said he’s late paying his electric bill every month and usually puts it on a credit card.
When a friend back home in Illinois died during Richmond’s first year teaching, he couldn’t afford to fly back for the funeral. The best he could do was have his mom drop off flowers.
“That still bothers me a lot,” he said.
The compensation negotiations have brought into high relief the sorry state of Colorado’s public education funding.
Although the unions and the administrators disagree about how – or whether – to fund cost-of-living increases, they agree on one thing: The inadequate and unpredictable nature of education funding in the state must change.
Barbara McLachlan spent 20 years working at Durango High School before she was elected four times to Colorado’s House of Representatives.
The former lawmaker, who left office in January and could not seek reelection because of term limits, said she understands all sides of the debate.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, limits the state’s ability to retain rising tax revenues, thereby dramatically restricting state spending. The Legislature has for years twisted various knobs and pulled levers to cut public education funding – including the “budget stabilization factor,” which has cost District 9-R more than $62 million since 2009.
The state has its hands tied, McLachlan said. And the district can’t increase salaries without knowing how it will fund the raises. But for teachers not to be compensated for the step-plan increases they earned – or for the rising cost of living – that seems “totally unfair,” she said.
A vote to repeal or alter TABOR would require a 55% margin in a statewide election – a steep hurdle.
“It’s easy to say, ‘let’s prioritize,’ and if we want education, ‘let’s fund education,’” McLachlan said. “But on the other hand, if you prioritize one thing, you have to unprioritize something else.”
This year, lawmakers balanced the state budget without deep cuts to education, but slashed funding for transportation and other programs.
Next year’s budget process is expected to be more painful, lawmakers predict.
The school district says its approach must evolve, and that district leaders, unions and educators must speak as a unified voice if they are to move the needle.
“What comes next is local and statewide action: engaging families, community members, and local leaders to raise awareness of how outdated state policies are harming our schools,” spokeswoman Sluis wrote. “That includes exploring local ballot initiatives, working with other underfunded districts to push for statewide reforms, and continuing to amplify staff voices.”
But no obvious solutions have emerged, and educators say they feel the crunch now more than ever.
“Even though I love this work,” Richmond said, “it just doesn’t pay enough for me to do it forever.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to reflect that former Rep. Barbara McLachlan was term-limited after four two-year terms and Tiffany Ketter is being reassigned to a pre-kindergarten class.
