Shaping Their Future

Future Funding for Douglas County Schools

The work begins at Douglas County School District to demonstrate accountability and transparency for these additional dollars.

Douglas County School District is able to confidently state that both its Mill Levy Override (5A) and Bond (5B) measures have been approved by voters. As of close of business on Thursday, November 8, ballot initiative 5A (Mill Levy Override) earned 53.37% of voter approval, and ballot initiative 5B (Bond) earned 51.85% of voter approval.

“We are so thankful to those who voted in favor of additional funding for our great schools and students. And we appreciate the hundreds of volunteers who gave up evenings and weekends to inform our public about the importance of these ballot measures,” said Thomas S. Tucker, Ph.D., Superintendent of Douglas County School District.

“While we are certainly celebrating the passage of 5A and 5B, we understand that these measures passed by close margins and, thus, we have work to do to fully gain the trust of our community and to demonstrate that we will use these dollars as outlined.”

Funding from 5A and 5B will be used to:

● Increase teacher/staff pay to address internal pay gaps and become more competitive with the pay of our neighboring school districts
● Enhance safety and security at all schools, including neighborhood, charter, magnet and alternative schools
● Reduce student to counselor ratios at our middle and high schools, and add counselors at the elementary school level
● Address overdue capital repairs at school buildings such as heating and cooling systems, fire alarm systems, plumbing, etc.
● Add more student programming opportunities, including alternative and career/technical education options
● Explore and provide new construction to address community growth
● Replace aging buses and classroom technology

Douglas County School District will share MLO funds with its charter schools on a 100%, per-pupil basis -- this translates to approximately $640 per student. Bond funds will be shared with DCSD’s charter schools to enhance safety and security systems, and to address urgent capital repairs as allowable by Colorado state law.

The DCSD Board of Education will create a Citizens Oversight Committee that will ensure that MLO dollars are spent as outlined. In addition, DCSD staff will provide regular community updates and reports on how MLO dollars are being used.

What is the difference between an MLO and a Bond?

MLO funding is generally used for operational needs such as salaries, staffing and student programming. 
 
Bond funding is generally used for capital needs such as facility repairs, security upgrades, purchasing classroom equipment, buses and technology. 

These new local dollars will enable Douglas County School District to:

• Increase teacher/staff pay to address internal pay gaps and become more competitive with the pay of our neighboring school districts.
• Enhance safety and security at all schools, including neighborhood, charter, magnet and alternative schools.  
• Reduce student to counselor ratios at our middle, and high schools and add counselors at the elementary school level. 
• Address overdue capital repairs at school buildings such as heating and cooling systems, fire alarm systems, plumbing, etc.
• Add more student programming opportunities, including alternative, and career and technical education options
• Explore and provide new construction to address community growth.
• Replace aging buses and classroom technology.