Douglas County blue book raises concerns among school district officials

In just over three weeks, voters will decide on the big issues impacting their communities. While ballots are now in the mail, school leaders in Douglas County are concerned about another election-related item in people's mailboxes.  

The county's annual TABOR book is a rundown of everything on the November ballot, including ballot language, fiscal notes, and arguments from voters on both sides of each issue. Along with the state "blue book," the mailer sent out by the Douglas County Clerk and Recorder's office is meant to keep voters informed, though this year, some have concerns. 

"The comments that came in opposing 5A and 5B are not accurate," said Erin Kane, superintendent of the Douglas County School District (DCSD).  

DCSD has two major funding initiatives on the ballot this year.  

Ballot issue 5A is a $60 million Mill Levy Override aimed at making the district's pay for staff more competitive. If approved by voters, homeowners would pay an extra dollar per week for every $100,000 of home value, district officials said. That's about $255 a year for someone with a $500,000 home. 

Ballot issue 5B is a $450 million bond. The money would go toward building new schools and maintaining older ones, as well as adding more career and technical training programs, security upgrades, and more. 

This year both issues are laid out in the TABOR book, which is required by law, along with arguments for and against. According to Kane, school leaders are concerned about some of the arguments presented to voters.

While a district-appointed official collects the comments and sends them to the clerk's office to distribute in the book, they cannot edit or dispute them, even if they are wrong. 

The clerk's office cannot edit any comments either, but whatever group puts something on the ballot does have control over the ballot text and fiscal information, a spokesperson for Douglas County said.

"Any registered voter can submit comments, either for or against any initiative," Kane said. "There's no fact-checking of any kind or any kind of checking."  

In the book this year, one opponent urges people to vote no while claiming there's "woke ideology indoctrination" in the curriculum, something Kane and other school leaders have disputed this past week.  

According to Kane, other arguments against the ballot measures incorrectly inflate the ultimate cost to voters by saying they'll increase with an upcoming reappraisal. She said another misrepresents the district's shortcomings in teacher pay.  

 "We certainly want our voters and our community to have accurate information as they consider whether they want to vote for or against the ballot initiatives that the board of education put on the ballot," Kane said.  

 While the book does have a warning about how ballot issue language and comments are not verified, Kane said she and other leaders want voters to have the truth about each issue. What they do after that is out of their control.  

 "It's really important to make sure that our community is operating off of facts," Kane said. "At the end of the day though, the decision is, of course, up to each and every one of our community members."  

CBS News Colorado attempted to get more clarity on why this is, but the Douglas County Clerk and Recorder's Officer didn't make anyone available for an interview Monday. Calls to the Colorado County Clerks Association were not returned.