It may be summer vacation for students and teachers, but the
“Let’s approve the ballot language as late as possible, because you’re the best spokesman for the mill levy,” board member Matt Sheldon said to Superintendent Dan Snowberger. Once the ballot language is approved, Snowberger and the rest of the 9-R staff can answer questions only about district finances and cannot campaign for the mill levy increase on district time, and Snowberger is considered always on the job.
That approval is now scheduled for the board’s meeting on Aug. 23. The language is due to the La Plata County clerk no later than Sept. 9, Snowberger said.
In the interim, the district will be working on an intergovernmental memo of understanding with Mountain Middle and Animas High schools, both free public schools chartered through the Colorado Charter School Institute, to include them in the ballot measure.
Monies would be distributed on a per pupil basis, which in the first year would be about $320 per student.
Determining how to describe how the money will be spent without making it so rigid the district can’t adapt as times change is one of the board’s biggest challenges.
“I’m getting a lot of push back on the big language instead of being more specific,” Sheldon said, referring to current phrases such as “providing safe, secure and productive learning environments.” “I’m trying to explain to people that the money is in this pot, and we may apply it to different points on the pot, whatever will make our district better.”
Some phrases the board liked included moving teachers to a new job description of “learning specialists” or “learning facilitators.”
“We all should be learning specialists, because learning is learning, no matter what the content is,” Board Vice President Nancy Stubbs said. “Instructional design is my background. Content is available; it’s getting it across that matters.”
The aging bus fleet and facility maintenance are also high on the list of the safe learning environments, board members said.
One misconception that may require some education, Sheldon said, was that some people think AHS and MMS could not designate some of their portion of the proceeds to a new school or new construction.
“A bond can’t be used for anything but a one-time capital expense,” Snowberger said, “so people may automatically assume it’s the opposite for a mill levy, but it’s not. Mill levies can be used for operating expenses or capital expenses.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
9-R mill levy draft usages (PDF)
