Set to the backdrop of funding uncertainty at both the state and federal level, Summit School District officials applauded the community for rallying around the cause to better fund education in Colorado, recognizing those who gathered at the state capitol and those who provided childcare during the event.

Hundreds of faces from Summit — including district staff, concerned community members and families — joined thousands of others March 20 to advocate for public education funding, which is currently facing cuts as legislators try to fill a $1.2 billion budget deficit.

Board of Education member Chris Guarino said at a March 20 meeting he was impressed by the number of local parents who drove students down to the event to educate them on how the state’s wallet impacts their education. Superintendent Tony Byrd called out his favorite sign at the rally made by a local student which read: “I need a haircut, not a budget cut.”

Local organizations and afterschool programs like High Country Soccer Association, Breckenridge History, Keystone Science and many others received kudos from board members for stepping up to bring enriching activities to students during the day off from school. Byrd thanked the district principals and staff for what he said was the “big lift” of figuring out how to keep schools open so families still had childcare.

Byrd also discussed tangible impacts state funding has on Summit School District, describing it to be a “challenging time for principals and staff.”

“We’re going through staffing conversations, and we’re having to have some very hard conversations with people given the budget,” he said. “So I just want to hold the community tight (during a) time that is very hard.”

Board member Lisa Webster brought up a recent proposal made at a countywide meeting of mayors and town managers to diversify funding with a method used by similar school districts like those in Steamboat Springs and Aspen. She said Dillon’s town manager Nathan Johnson noted these school districts generate funding with local sales tax.

Steamboat’s “half-cent” sales tax, first approved by voters in 1993 and expanded many times since, has yielded over $88 million for public education in Routt County since its inception, according to the Steamboat Springs Education Fund website. Aspen has a 0.3% sales tax for public education. According to the city’s website, that tax is slated to sunset on Dec. 31, 2026.

“It may be something that we want to look into in the future, but will that that will require additional conversation with our partners across Summit County,” Webster said.

During the March 20 meeting, Byrd shifted focus to federal funding in an attempt to quell community concerns. He touched on the federal Department of Education’s workforce being cut nearly in half and worries surrounding funding for special education. He said, based on what he has heard so far, the district’s typical $2.5 million in federal funding allocated for special education will remain.

On the topic of federal funding, Byrd issued a “reminder to the public” regarding President Donald Trump’s order to begin dismantling the Department of Education, which happened the same day as the meeting and the rally. The order states the education secretary will, “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the states and local communities.” The order did not outline how this directive would exactly be carried out.

“That actually takes an act of Congress to completely close, because the Congress put it in place, and so we’ll have to see how that plays out, and we’re following that very closely,” he said.