Voters say "yes" to increased teacher pay in Douglas County, "no" to new schools
"The dreams that we had of our kids biking to school and walking to school with their friends is kind of on pause right now," said Lenaya Dotseth, mom of four kids under six living in Sterling Ranch, one of the neighborhoods DCSD calls a "school desert."
Dotseth opted to send her 5-year-old daughter to Coyote Creek Elementary because it was less crowded than her home school of Roxborough Primary. Meanwhile, an empty plot of land earmarked as a possible school site sits in her neighborhood.
"Right now, kids go everywhere, some go to Roxborough, some go to Coyote Creek. We're a neighborhood and we want that community feel, and I think that a school is essential in making that happen," said Dotseth.
Dotseth hoped to see ballot measure 5B pass. The $484 million bond aimed to create schools in those "school desert" neighborhoods of Sterling Ranch, The Canyons, and Crystal Valley.
"We were hoping to build three elementary schools, and expand two middle schools in order to accommodate the enormous housing growth we see in Douglas County," said DCSD Superintendent Erin Kane. The district also planned to expand career and technical education and undertake several capital projects with the funds.
Voters, however, said no to the measure on Tuesday, but said yes to 5A, a $66 million mill levy override.
The district's current mill levy override is about $2,000 per student below neighboring districts. Teacher pay is also about $20,000 lower. The passage of 5A will increase that per student funding by $1,000, getting the district closer to its neighbors.
"Our staff are just over the moon. Over the moon. They're just happy and clapping and celebratory because so many of them were faced with a really difficult decision about if they could stay in our district next year or not based on their compensation," said Kane.
The funding means the district will now pay staff 9% more, retroactive to July of this year, a big step towards remedying the district's teacher retention problems.
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"It should make a big difference in terms of the number of applications we'll be able to get and our ability to start filling our open positions," said Kane.
A critical bus driver shortage, which caused the district to implement rolling blackouts to bus service this year, will also be on the mend, although the superintendent can't promise the blackouts will be gone by next year.
"There is still a nationwide commercial bus driver shortage. So, there's no guarantee that even with higher pay that we will be able to fill all those spots, but boy we will have a much better chance of getting some of them filled," said Kane.
However, without 5B, capital projects will be hard to afford, and new schools are off the table.
"We will have to dig into our reserves to be able to do that, so we'll really have to look at only our most urgent needs," said Kane.
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"We're hoping it's not a 'no,' it's a 'not yet.' And that eventually this little guy will be able to walk to school," said Dotseth, holding her 7-month-old son.
The superintendent says getting 5A passed was an uphill battle in a year when home values increased by nearly 50%.
Homeowners in Douglas County will pay $13 more yearly in property taxes, per $100,000 in home value for the mill levy.
