1 week Ago By Lucy Peterson, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
The Aspen School District board of education and the Aspen Education Association approved a joint resolution opposing statewide ballot measure Amendment 80 at an Oct. 9 meeting. The Aspen School District has joined its teachers union in opposition to a state ballot measure that would enshrine school choice in the Colorado constitution.
The ASD board of education last week approved a joint statement of opposition with the Aspen Education Association urging people to vote no on state Amendment 80 on the November ballot because of its potential financial implications on the school district. The measure would solidify a parent’s right to send their kids to any public school, charter school, private school or homeschooling program. Opponents argue it would pave the way toward school voucher programs, potentially losing school districts thousands of dollars in per-pupil funding.
“We know that funding is always the biggest issue for public schools in every state, and especially in Colorado, especially in Aspen right now, and anything that would jeopardize funding for our public schools is something that we want to stand in opposition to,” AEA President Marnie White said during an Oct. 9 school board meeting. The conservative political nonprofit Advance Colorado backing the measure says it would guarantee a parent’s right to school choice.
A 1994 state law grants students the ability to attend any public schools for free, including charter school and neighborhood schools, and also gives students the opportunity to enroll in schools outside of their home district. Opponents of the measure — including the Colorado Education Association, the Colorado Association of School Executives, the ACLU of Colorado and the Colorado Fiscal Institute — say it would make private schools one of the constitutionally protected school options for students, potentially redirecting funds away from public schools through school vouchers. Voucher programs use taxpayer dollars to fund private school education.
Colorado school districts rely heavily on enrollment numbers for funding. The state mandates how much money each school district can take in each year based on a funding formula that accounts for the total number of students, called per-pupil funding, and local funding like property taxes. The state’s base per-pupil funding rate this year is $11,783.
Losing students to schools outside the district could mean losing an entire department, Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. “If you lost 100 kids in a system this size, you’re looking at almost $2 million gone,” he said. “And if you calculate that at $100,000 a position, that’s 20 teachers .
.. there’s some districts where that would literally eliminate the transportation department or another department.
” The school district also joined AEA in opposing Amendment 80 because of the district’s precarious financial situation. In 2023, the district switched to 100% local funding because its local sources of funding exceeded the state’s allocation for the district. The state still mandates how much money a district can collect, and ASD is managing how to rebuild its reserve balance that decreased nearly 75% in the past five years.
Its reserves decreased from about $8 million to $2 million largely due to emergency pandemic upgrades, curriculum updates and salary increases. The district’s reserve balance is 6% of its general fund, far below ASD Superintendent of Business Mary Rodino’s recommendation of 20% to 30%. “School funding right now is incredibly important to us, especially where our budget is at the current moment,” said Board President Christa Gieszl during the Oct.
9 meeting. Amendment 80 requires 55% of the vote because it is attempting to amend the state constitution. It is one of several statewide measures on the November ballot.
Pitkin County began mailing out ballots Oct. 15..
