Looking to November, Summit School District officials continue to discuss multimillion-dollar bond question that could be on voters’ ballots
Outreach campaign to gauge community support for a slew of spending proposals will continue into the summer

Liz Copan/Summit Daily News archive
Summit School District officials may be a few months away from drafting ballot language for a multimillion-dollar bond that could be before voters this November.
During a March 7 board of education meeting, district leaders reviewed results from an initial survey meant to gauge residents’ interest in supporting a litany of projects.
The last time Summit County residents passed a bond for the school district was in 2016 when 60% of voters approved a $68.9-million-dollar measure to pay for school building upgrades and replacements. Bonds are designed to allow districts to take on new debt that is later paid off using property tax revenue, with the 2016 funding set to be spent within three to five years of its passage.
Since then, district officials have identified more areas of need, from further building improvements to developing employee housing, which Chief Financial Officer Kara Drake said is “critical to recruitment and retention of not only our teachers but all of our staff in the district.”
The current proposal is estimated to cost as much as $267 million and is broken up into three key areas: Facilities support, program support and community support.
In a presentation to board members on March 7, public policy consultant Bill Ray laid out findings from a survey last week that shows some projects have more community support than others. Thirty-eight responses were collected, with more than 3-in-4 coming from district parents.
Rising to the top of the list for most respondents was a proposal to address building deficiencies at Breckenridge Elementary — the district’s oldest school. The next project to receive support in terms of being a high priority was staff housing.
Responses were mixed on whether or not other proposals, such as improvements to Snowy Peaks High School, expanding career and technical education programs and general classroom and program space improvements, were a high or low priority. A proposal to create a community space for students and families was not seen as a high priority.
“Typically, improving classrooms is a really popular thing … so I’m kind of curious to drill down or figure out why that was right in the middle (in terms of priority),” Ray said.
Ray said voters tend to be more supportive of projects that repair and restore existing facilities rather than create new ones. He added that while respondents might see the need for a community center, they may not believe it is the district’s responsibility to provide one.
Just under half of respondents, 44%, said the $267-million-dollar bond amount was “appropriate for the needs of the district.” Roughly a quarter of respondents, 26%, said the budget is too high and should be trimmed while 11% said it seemed appropriate but would prefer a lower amount.
“I call that the ‘sharpen the pencil’ kind of group,” Ray said.
There were also 14% of respondents who said they needed more information on the budget.
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The survey also contained written responses to some of the project proposals. Regarding Breckenridge Elementary, some surveyees wrote that the district should rebuild the school rather than repair it. When it came to staff housing, several wrote that they recognize it is an important need but questioned the district’s role in managing the units.
Other statements expressed concern that the district is asking “for too many things” and that the bond may fail, especially with homeowners already paying higher property taxes this year.
Ray stressed that the survey was just the beginning of the district’s outreach campaign. Future efforts will include a survey aimed specifically at Spanish speakers as well as focus groups with different stakeholders and community demographics.
“We are going to take a lot of inputs, and the survey’s just one of them,” Rey said, adding that all of the information collected will help board members make “valued judgments around what is possible and what must happen.”
Outreach is slated to continue through the rest of the school year and into the summer with ballot language likely to be finalized by early September. While officials have provided general outlines for their spending proposals much of it remains general outlines.
For improvements to Snowy Peaks, for example, previous discussions have included building a brand-new school or integrating it with Summit High School, with officials citing the lack of a gym and adequate administrative space. Officials have proposed a project budget of $31 million.
Other proposals, such as expanding career and technical education opportunities, could entail scaling up programs already being offered at Summit High School like welding, engineering and hospitality in addition to creating new classes. The associated costs are expected to be anywhere from $4.8 million to $7.8 million.
In pushing for community support, board members said it will be imperative to make the argument that these funding initiatives will have a direct link to student success.
Board member Vanessa Agee gave the example of providing employee housing. While Agee said it may not be seen by some as being the district’s role, if the community wants to have “exceptional teachers providing an exceptional learning opportunity to our students, they need somewhere to live.”
A housing needs assessment conducted by the district last fall found that approximately 45% of staff are cost-burdened, meaning that they are spending more than 30% of their household income on their rent or mortgage. The current proposal is to create 100 affordable housing units, which could cost the district over $70 million.
Still, some project costs could change as board members continue to fine-tune their proposal for a bond before sending it to voters. That could mean changing or cutting some spending proposals altogether.
“We need to be able to explain things clearly … and we also need to be able to speak to alternatives that may have been considered and ruled out,” said board member Julie Shapiro.
“I don’t know if we can do everything,” she continued. “I just want us to feel like we can really believe in (a bond) and balance that with all of the concerns out there with taxes and the realities of what we find ourselves in in this election year.”

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