RE1J school district tells the state to keep its “negative factor”

“If the state has the means to fix this, they have the responsibility to fix this”

Gunnison Watershed School District Superintendent Doug Tredway hopes he, along with 170 other school superintendents from around the state, can convince the state legislature to fund education to the fullest—so the county’s taxpayers won’t be asked to in November.

Tredway told the school board at a meeting on Monday, March 10 that the projections are showing a billion-dollar windfall as a result of growth in the state and everyone’s getting a share, except education.
“This calls on the state to immediately eliminate the negative factor and the plan would be to do that over a four-year period. It would start with $275 million to backfill the education fund to get it back to where it should have been. The funds are going to be there based on the economic forecast,” Tredway said. “They’re choosing to put the money in other places. They made all the cuts in education and refunded most of the other programs, but not to education.”
The state’s negative factor has been a way for the legislature to make cuts to education without violating Amendment 23, which Colorado voters passed in 2000 to increase funding for education by the rate of inflation, plus 1 percent.
Tredway says that through the negative factor, the state’s lawmakers have been able to undo much of the progress made with Amendment 23 toward providing an equitable education across the state, no matter how rich or poor the community.
“I would hate to be in a situation where those who can pass a mill levy, their students get a high quality of education and the school’s that can’t, their students don’t get the same high quality education. It’s not consistent with our beliefs. We believe in a free quality education for everyone,” he says. “We voted on it.”
Over the last three years, the negative factor for the local schools has grown from $1.6 million, to $2.1 million, to $2.3 million this year. Tredway hopes next year the legislature will return some of that money with some of its newfound revenue.
“If the state has the means to fix this, they have the responsibility to fix this. If they don’t we’ll have to attempt to take our own steps to fix it locally. But I believe if the state has the means to do this they should take the responsibility,” Tredway says. “This makes more sense for our community, I believe. It makes more sense for all of Colorado because it helps bring back that equity of education.”
Tredway’s reference to fixing the problem locally alluded to a mill levy override that’s been so far unofficially proposed for the ballot this November. The district has formed a committee to consider the feasibility of a successful mill levy override and to consider some alternatives.
As an illustration for the committee, school district business manager Stephanie Juneau crunched the numbers for the next five years.
The numbers weren’t exact and the calculations weren’t complete, since most of the numbers are unknown. But knowing what she knows and making some conservative guesses, Juneau told the committee that by the 2017-18 school year the district would need to make another $1.7 million in cuts without a new source of revenue.
What those cuts will look like is anybody’s guess. “Up until this point we’ve been able to keep the cuts pretty far from the classroom and students,” Tredway says. “But without more revenue, there isn’t a whole lot we can do.”
Tredway admits that the original goal with the mill levy override was to improve the district’s offerings and the educational opportunities students get. Now he’s thinking a modest mill levy would maintain the status quo for a few more years.
“That was one of the major premises of the mill levy group—how we can take this district to the next level. But now it’s ‘How can we continue to offer what we’re offering?’ How can we continue to keep pace with the education that our students need without backsliding?” Tredway asks. “Even if we passed a small mill levy and move forward, it would catch up with us. We really need to be strategic about cuts.”
Juneau added, “If we think were going to ask for a mill levy and start spending, you can’t do it. You’d end up in the same boat five years from now.”
The board voted unanimously to pass a resolution in support of the letter urging the state to include education in its funding plans.
“If there isn’t a change in the revenue statewide, or at the local level, we’re running down that path,” Tredway says. “It’s a fact of life. We’ve been cutting since the 90s and it’s starting to catch up with us.”