Vibrant public schools are the cornerstone of a vibrant community. Does anyone doubt this? Superior schools create a productive, educated workforce and well-informed citizens. They engage the public as passionate, proactive stakeholders, and they attract successful businesses to further enhance the community. They raise the quality of life for everyone.
It follows, then, that if everyone benefits from robust schools, it should be up to everyone – parent, grandparent, empty-nester, newcomer, old-timer, never-had-kids-er, business leader and employee, everyone – to see our community’s public schools thrive.
And thriving schools can’t function on borrowed money and a promise. Yet that is exactly how Durango School District 9-R has been forced to function for the past five years.
About the promise: In 2000, Colorado voters passed a promising Amendment 23, meant to ensure adequate school funding; but the economic downturn prompted Colorado lawmakers to reinterpret the amendment’s provisions, effectively decreasing funding every year since 2009. Then, in 2011, Colorado lawmakers passed the monumental Education Reform Act, Senate Bill 191. While the requirements of the act will improve student outcomes, the costs of implementation are high – and unfunded. The resulting burden is staggering for a state hanging its public relations branding on quality of life: In per-pupil funding, Colorado now ranks 40th of states across the nation; Durango 9-R comes in at 145 out of 178 Colorado school districts.
The picture is not getting any rosier, and here’s where the borrowing comes in: Durango School District 9-R faces a $1.67 million budget shortfall for the 2014-15 school year. Since 2010, the district has been able to tap reserves; however, responsible fiscal management calls for the district to maintain reserves at their present level, to stand ready should the economy weaken again. Borrowing from the reserves has come to an end.
Having managed wisely for maximum efficiency for the past five years, Durango 9-R now must make further cuts while also budgeting to meet those unfunded state mandates, in particular, replacing curriculum materials to meet rigorous new standards and improving access to technology to prepare students for all-online standardized testing starting in 2015.
Durango 9-R continues to maintain effective core-learning programs and keep class sizes reasonable. District 9-R teachers continue to expect – and achieve – good performance from their students and from themselves. But stringent budget constraints have stretched resources impossibly thin. Whole classes wait their turn to use scarce computers – a logistical nightmare for lessons requiring computer access. Updating textbooks and library collections is just a dream for many schools, as are field trips, classroom aides, after-school tutoring and summer-school programs. As one resourceful teacher said, “We make do.”
Is this the story of a robustly funded school system? Hardly.
Last year, community members and educators identified priorities for Durango 9-R: Provide help for struggling learners at every level; maintain class sizes; continue education in music, art and physical education; and improve access to technology. But the budget gap renders it difficult to honor even these excellent priorities.
Durango Education Foundation believes healthy schools infuse the community with a superior quality of life. We believe schools need funding to perform better than “making do.” To us, funding our schools is urgent, essential – and up to all of us.
So, we invite the community to join our Community Action for Education – C.A.F.É – fundraising campaign. Everyone: Because it’s up to us all to help close the 9-R funding gap.
We are encouraging community members to take action:
Attend the C.A.F.É. Fundraising Dinner on April 10; donations received through the dinner qualify toward a donor’s $50,000 matching pledge.
Take a hosted school tour April 15-17 to grasp the critical nature of our district’s choices.
Contribute generously through the C.A.F.É. Giving Menu at www.durangoeducationfoundation.org.
Urge legislators to implement an equitable and sustainable system of public school funding.
The money raised during the C.A.F.É campaign will go directly to the school – not to the district administration. The Durango Education Foundation will take no management fees. The foundation is a federally determined 501(c)3 charity, and all donations are tax deductible. We will give a full report on the use of all funds.
Elizabeth Testa is executive director of the Durango Education Foundation. To reach her or for more information, visit www.DurangoEducationFoundation.org, contact the Durango Education Foundation at 9RFoundation@gmail.com or by phone at 385-1491.
