From my experience of 21 years as a public school superintendent, I know that the Summit School District Board of Education has made many major errors regarding Ballot Measure 4A. 

My biggest concerns are that the board doesn’t care how much 4A will cost. The board has made no effort to save money, and that the majority of working families will be hurt by the tax increase. This is the number one reason to vote no on 4A!  

Our School Board members are out of touch with our community. Continued tax increases will hurt our community by forcing young families to leave with their children, and the school district will continue to have declining enrollment, meaning we won’t need two elementary schools in Breckenridge. 

The district’s late start with planning and wanting to proceed carelessly made the district miss the application deadlines of the BEST Grant. The BEST Grant could have provided the district with up to $10 million to reduce property taxes. Yes, it is possible to apply for the grant in a later year, but the question becomes how much money are you really asking for now — $195 million or $185 million or some other amount? Additionally, if you have already passed a $195 bond you really aren’t very needy to warrant financial help from the grant. This is irresponsible planning. 

I agree a plan needs to be formed to remedy Breckenridge Elementary, but the board has not done any forward thinking. The town of Breckenridge is planning to build 100 workforce homes just north of Upper Blue Elementary. From my professional experience, most of the homes will be occupied by young families with children. Expanding Upper Blue would be a major cost savings to the board’s plan! Expand the Upper Blue Elementary now, and close Breckenridge Elementary. Consolidating the two schools could save over $1.5 million in operational costs annually. Otherwise, I think the board will be asking for another round of taxes to expand Upper Blue very soon. 

Staff housing is another concern that should be done in conjunction with the town of Breckenridge and Summit County, not as a stand alone project. The cost for each rental unit to build is projected to be $750,000. This is outrageous. The district is planning to limit the rental fee so that the staff member doesn’t pay more than 30% of their annual salary, according to the district’s website. Vail charges their staff at a 40% rate of the staff’s salary, according to Vail’s website. Our teachers deserve a fair salary, but when compared to many of our community members they already are paid well. A beginning teacher is paid $54,000 per year, with full benefits, according to the salary schedule online.   

The board’s plan is to build a center at the high school to teach career and technical education. This is not new to education and has been around since the ’90s. The expense of this program is more than a building, equipment and materials. It will be an ongoing expense. This type of advanced skills education should be the responsibility of a technical college, or Colorado Mountain College or financed by the state.   

A replacement building for Snowy Peaks alternative school is also in the plan. This programing is essential — not every student learns the same way. The school currently has 125 students, which is roughly 10% of high school students enrolled in the district. This number is already a large number considering the size of our high school. The high school wants a bigger facility so more students can have an alternative education. My professional experience says that the regular classroom teachers need to use differentiating instruction to meet the needs of more students. Professional development must be a priority to help all teachers be a better teacher. The high school teachers need to meet the students’ needs at Summit High School, not tracking students to an alternative program.   

The district continues to irresponsibly spend over their budget for the past three years. The district could lose their excellent bond rating due to this over spending. A bonding company will look at how the district has been utilizing taxpayer money to determine a new bond rating if ballot 4A passes, in my experience. A lower bond rating will make the district pay higher interest rates on the 25-year payoff of the bonds. That is wasting the taxpayer’s money! 

Continued property tax increases by the district are not sustainable.   

Vote no on 4A! 

Come back with a better plan! 

This column was signed by Steve Schiell, a former superintendent and current Summit County resident.