PSD Board to Vote on Next Move (CO)
June 8, 2010
The Poudre School District’s Board of Education will vote tonight on a resolution asking district administrators to create by Sept. 1 a plan for closing and/or consolidating schools.
Tonight’s meeting at the Johannsen Support Services Center, 2407 Laporte Ave., will likely see a unanimou s acceptance of the proposal that would instruct Superintendent Jerry Wilson and his Cabinet members to begin creating a plan to study closing or consolidating schools by the 2011-12 school year, according to Board President Nancy Tellez.
Tellez said it was clear from the small schools forums and other community input received by board members that it was expected of them to take steps to address underutilized schools.
"This resolution begins that process," she said.
The board has allowed a bond/mill levy committee to continue working on a possible ballot initiative for November’s election.
The announcement of which specific schools would be closed or consolidated would come after voters cast their ballots, but Tellez said she couldn’t say how possible consolidation plans by the district would play out in the mill levy election.
"I don’t know how to predict how voters will respond," Tellez said.
If passed, the resolution would direct the superintendent to create a plan concerning underutilized schools by this fall and present it to the board. A final recommendation would come to the board by Jan. 11, 2011, and the board would vote on the plan at its meeting Jan. 20.
"There’s definitely a time for action, and I think you’ll hear that in the tenor of the resolution," said Tom Balchak, one of three board members who worked on drafting the resolution.
Balchak, alongside directors Patrick Albright and M.L. Johnson, have been writing the resolution since late April and have been sharing it with other board members to finetune it, Balchak said.
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The seven-point resolution identifies the financial cuts the district has undergone because of decreased funding from the state and says "the Poudre School District cannot afford to keep all of its schools open without cuts elsewhere."
The proposed resolution also identifies some schools with lower enrollment that are small by choice or because of geographic isolation and notes that these "may not be suitable for closure," instead suggesting these communities find efficiencies on their own, such as school branding or creating a K-8 configuration.
Through the resolution, the board extends that sense of innovation to all school communities, encouraging solutions to come from interested parties.
The resolution also mentions the facilities studies conducted by the district last fall as well as the public input sessions held this winter.
At the input sessions, parents and community members voiced their values for schools, including the importance of a quality education and having PSD be a good steward of financial efficiency.
Albright said he recognized that having underutilized buildings in the district isn’t the best option for taxpayers or students.
"When you look at the vacant seats we have in our schools, it’s not the best use of the money that taxpayers are giving us," Albright said. "Money going into buildings that are severely under capacity could be going towards programs or salaries."
Balchak said the district is not alone in having to make these cuts. School funding has been decreasing for the past several years and the recession has further created budget difficulties for schools.<br /&g t;
"This reality has been on the district’s radar screen. It goes back even eight years; it’s just simply become more pressing because of the economic situation," he said.
The board’s proposed resolution does not spell out specific steps district administrators must take, although Tellez said she is confident district administrators will utilize best practices for this situation, as called for in the resolution.
"I’m willing to leave it to (Superintendent) Wilson and the staff to determine what would be the best plan," she said.
"We set up that process of community input and small school forums for a reason, and it would seem silly to ignore what we heard," Tellez said.
Balchak agreed that he expects district administrators will take the adequate steps to include all stakeholders in the process.
"We want it to be open and transparent, and I think that’s what’s going to happen," Balchak said.