The Durango Education Foundation is engaged in a special “Community Action for Education, or C.A.F.É., campaign to bring support tools to the classrooms in Durango School District 9-R. Due to the 2008 economic downturn, the district has experienced $4.3 million in lost revenue during the last five years because of a 23 percent reduction in local property values. The School Finance Act is meant to equalize funding among the school districts in the state but did not make up the lost revenue.
Amendment 3A, passed by residents of the district, saved it from even greater revenue losses. Without Amendment 3A, the district would have suffered further losses of $6.2 million. District 9-R’s funding is still about $1 million less this school year than it was in the 2009-10 school year. Amendment 3A also imposed required expenditures, including keeping class sizes to 30 students and adding preschool programs. Furthermore, during the last five years, unfunded federal and state mandates have been imposed on schools, particularly with regard to testing.
The biggest impact of the funding reduction has been to the discretionary budgets for all 9-R schools; these funds are used to provide educational supplies and tools for the schools. As a result, important technology purchases were halted, textbooks have not been replaced and programs have been curtailed. While the 9-R school board has insured that the schools can get by, educators in the schools must do more with less. It is a real credit to 9-R’s staff that they still do such a good job of educating our community’s students.
On our website, www.durangoeducationfoundation.org, is a menu of items the schools need. Every dollar we raise (beyond the modest direct campaign expenses) will be given to the individual schools; DEF will not take any management fees. This is a one-time special campaign, which will directly benefit our community’s kids. All contributions are tax deductible. Please consider making a contribution to DEF’s C.A.F.É. campaign – your gift will help close the Durango 9-R funding gap.
Robert Dawes, Durango Education Foundation president
Durango
