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School district may ask for tax hike
A community survey may help determine whether a mill levy increase will be on the November ballot.
By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Sometime this month, the Pueblo City Schools Board of Education will review results of a survey it commissioned and decide whether to ask voters this year for a mill levy increase.
The school district has struggled to balance its budget for years and last year had to trim $6 million from projected increases just to break even.
Community members working on the district’s strategic plan agreed that more money was needed and made that a major part of one of its six objectives.
Board President Stephanie Garcia said that a community survey recently was conducted regarding a mill levy increase and the results soon would be presented to the board members for discussion.
If the survey results are positive, there’s a good chance a mill levy increase could be on the ballot in November. “I would be hopeful of that,” Garcia said. The current rate is 39.152 mills for every dollar of assessed valuation. That is expected to generate $20.2 million this year for the school district. That's approximately 17 percent of the district's general fund budget, with the rest coming from the state and federal governments.
While higher than the state average, Pueblo’s mill levy is substantially below that of Denver-area districts and Colorado Springs, where rates are in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and the taxing property often has higher valuations.
Salaries are a big part of the district’s operating budget and any tax increase can be expected to mean pay increases for the district’s employees.
The district and the Pueblo Education Association, the teachers’ union, are at an impasse in negotiations for a new contract, with or without a tax increase. Both sides announced last week that mediation had failed and the next step will be fact-finding in the fall.
Neither Carole Partin, president of the union, nor Doug Wilson, the assistant superintendent for human resources, would say why there was an impasse.
Wilson acknowledged that in most school districts money usually is what causes an impasse, but Partin said last week, “there’s more on the table than money.”
Partin also made a plea to the board during a public comment session at last week’s meeting for more money for supplies so that teachers don’t have to pay for things out of their own pockets.
Garcia said the board would like to raise salaries although that’s not its main reason for asking for more revenue.
“What we do recognize is that when you look at teachers’ salaries in this district, they are not comparable with like districts," Garcia said. “We do want to compensate our teachers. There’s no impasse over that fact, but there are other needs as well.”
According to the Colorado Department of Education, the average salary in the Pueblo school district last year was $45,376. Denver’s average was $45,685, Colorado Springs District 11 was $44,914. The highest was Englewood’s at $52,868.
Those figures can be skewed, however, by the number of veteran teachers on staff, because salaries also rise almost on a yearly basis with seniority, in addition to cost-of-living increases, and as teachers earn advanced college degrees.
TEACHER SALARIES
Here is a comparative look at the average salaries of Pueblo City Schools District teachers with other major school districts in Colorado:
Source: Colorado Department of Education.
The school district has struggled to balance its budget for years and last year had to trim $6 million from projected increases just to break even.
Community members working on the district’s strategic plan agreed that more money was needed and made that a major part of one of its six objectives.
Board President Stephanie Garcia said that a community survey recently was conducted regarding a mill levy increase and the results soon would be presented to the board members for discussion.
If the survey results are positive, there’s a good chance a mill levy increase could be on the ballot in November. “I would be hopeful of that,” Garcia said. The current rate is 39.152 mills for every dollar of assessed valuation. That is expected to generate $20.2 million this year for the school district. That's approximately 17 percent of the district's general fund budget, with the rest coming from the state and federal governments.
While higher than the state average, Pueblo’s mill levy is substantially below that of Denver-area districts and Colorado Springs, where rates are in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and the taxing property often has higher valuations.
Salaries are a big part of the district’s operating budget and any tax increase can be expected to mean pay increases for the district’s employees.
The district and the Pueblo Education Association, the teachers’ union, are at an impasse in negotiations for a new contract, with or without a tax increase. Both sides announced last week that mediation had failed and the next step will be fact-finding in the fall.
Neither Carole Partin, president of the union, nor Doug Wilson, the assistant superintendent for human resources, would say why there was an impasse.
Wilson acknowledged that in most school districts money usually is what causes an impasse, but Partin said last week, “there’s more on the table than money.”
Partin also made a plea to the board during a public comment session at last week’s meeting for more money for supplies so that teachers don’t have to pay for things out of their own pockets.
Garcia said the board would like to raise salaries although that’s not its main reason for asking for more revenue.
“What we do recognize is that when you look at teachers’ salaries in this district, they are not comparable with like districts," Garcia said. “We do want to compensate our teachers. There’s no impasse over that fact, but there are other needs as well.”
According to the Colorado Department of Education, the average salary in the Pueblo school district last year was $45,376. Denver’s average was $45,685, Colorado Springs District 11 was $44,914. The highest was Englewood’s at $52,868.
Those figures can be skewed, however, by the number of veteran teachers on staff, because salaries also rise almost on a yearly basis with seniority, in addition to cost-of-living increases, and as teachers earn advanced college degrees.
TEACHER SALARIES
Here is a comparative look at the average salaries of Pueblo City Schools District teachers with other major school districts in Colorado:
- Englewood: $52,868.
- Denver: $45,685
- Pueblo City Schools: $45,376.
- Colorado Springs District 11: $44,914.
Source: Colorado Department of Education.
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