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Denver school bond issue under scrutiny

DPS board asks hard questions but seems to agree it needs to pass

By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 7, 2008 at 8:47 p.m.

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Denver school board members picked apart pieces of a proposed $454 million bond issue Thursday, but there appears little question they will be turning to voters for help come Nov. 4.

"We need to pass the bond," school board President Theresa Pena said at one point, as they pored over a 24-page executive summary of the proposal.

"There's no question we need to pass the bond," echoed board member Jeanne Kaplan.

A citizens' committee finalized its recommendation for the bond issue this week and, on Thursday, presented the plan in detail to school board members.

They ultimately will decide whether to ask Denver voters to approve the ballot question and, if so, whether to seek the record amount recommended by the citizens' group.

Rising gas and food costs, a ballot expected to be crammed with initiatives and the perception that DPS is awash in empty seats all may play into those decisions.

"The committee is absolutely aware of the economy and the political dynamics that are facing voters and taxpayers," said Dawn Bookhardt, who served as co-chair. "We carefully reviewed and scrutinized these projects to determine immediate and urgent need."

'Maintenance is No. 1'

The top line item in the $454 million proposal is $273 million for what DPS staff and committee members deemed "critical and significant" maintenance.

That includes replacing nearly 100 roofs, repairing more than 50 fire alarm and sprinkler systems and bringing nearly 50 spaces into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It also includes purchasing fire-resistant stage curtains at 37 schools at a cost of $344,000, a number confirmed Tuesday after Denver Fire Department inspections.

"Critical maintenance is No. 1," Bookhardt told board members. "That's the No. 1 priority."

About $75 million of the $273 million is in safety, health and code issues, said Mark Bollinger, DPS associate executive director of facilities.

Bookhardt said committee members, who spent four months preparing their proposal, believe DPS "needs to address ways to pay for ongoing maintenance."

"We don't want to go out for a bond and then we don't have the funding to keep up with ongoing maintenance," she said.

Bill Mosher, a committee co-chair, said every school in DPS is touched in some way by the bond issue.

And when a board member questioned why a particular school in her area was not included, Pena quickly stepped on the idea of "pork barrel" negotiations.

"We need to look at the macro level," or districtwide, she said, quipping, "We don't do pork barrel. We are not the federal government."

Asking questions

Other board members asked questions about inflation costs, the proposed use of artificial turf and why North High School was identified to receive nearly $40 million.

"I want the public to understand why AstroTurf is a critical need for this district," said board member Michelle Moss, prompting a response about the high costs of re-sodding fields and fewer injuries on fake grass.

But the questions dealt more with what to include in the pitch to voters, not whether to make the pitch at all.

In fact, at one point, a board member asked who would be the "face" of the campaign. DPS' last bond effort, in 2003, was led by Mayor John Hickenlooper.

DPS bond projects

A citizens' committee is recommending the district seek a $454 million bond issue this fall, including these projects:

* $3.3 million for 30 classrooms to add 500 full-day preschool slots across the city

* $3 million for the Kunsmiller Arts Academy in southwest Denver

* $17 million to retrofit existing city schools for charters or other new programs

* $37.6 million to continue repairs at North High School in northwest Denver

* $48.5 million for a new 750-student elementary/middle school and a new 450-student high school in far northeast Denver

* $12.8 million for artificial turf at George Washington, Kennedy, Manual, South and West high schools

* $29 million for new playgrounds at the 37 elementary schools without them

* $374,000 for the Balarat Outdoor Recreation Center

Projected cost to homeowners

* $5 more annually for every $100,000 of home value

* $12 more annually for a home with the city's median home value of $230,900

Comments

  • August 7, 2008

    9:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    spyder writes:

    What happened to the LAST billion dollar bail out to the 'education' system? Oh, wait, didn't alot of that go to pay for a brand new office in DENVER for the president of CU Boulder? Where are my priorities? never mind

  • August 8, 2008

    6:24 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    rushrulesbaby writes:

    But!!!! Its for the children!!!!! Where has all the money gone? Who is being held accountable? Give me a break! I vote NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

  • August 8, 2008

    6:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mike846 writes:

    Uh...excuse me. Nowhere in this article do I find listed the uses of the "other" $181 million thats NOT for "critical and significant maintence"? I agree with spyder, what about an accounting for the last bail out? Can we expect the Mayor to trot out his little red letters again, "for the kids"? Denver voters need to send a message. Vote NO. And vote these NEA-pandering, leftist spend-thrifts off the school board. "For the kids" my aching you-know-what. Mike

  • August 8, 2008

    8:10 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    fencergal writes:

    How much of this money will find its way into the pockets of the teachers union and ultimately to the DNC? Maybe this is a backdoor way of paying for the convention.

  • August 8, 2008

    1:27 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    BetterEducated writes:

    I figure it has to be a (bad) joke.
    The administration really needs to understand that the public wants empty seats on Grant Street and suitable facilities for the children at the schools. But it just keeps hiring at the top end anyway, while empty buildings sit unused and the dudes in the maintenance dept do .... what?! Can't they install drywall and upgrade electric in the existing structures, already located where communities need schools?
    The hard goods obviously have to be purchased and that's an unavoidable expense. But the labor....it should already be there in the Facilities & Maintenance Dept...and the Rocky should publish what that dept is costing the public and exactly what has been doing instead of (duh) maintaining the facilities.
    The bond proposal is an apt demonstration that you can't hi-tech, politically pressure or mentate your way through some issues, and many of those are the ones that matter most.
    When facilities are unsafe, non-compliant or unsuitable, that should be the first priority followed only by enthusiastic educators. The District likes to hire people to study, document and analyze stuff instead, then ask the public to pay for what it knows is the #1 priority, knowing this is a much easier sell than the outflow of funds into legal defense, HR management and expenses of political posturing in a climate where the actual public function of the entity became skewed and obscured a long time ago.
    "Pork barrel" politics? This local government has WAY more power than the federal government insofar as the actual experience of its workers and schoolchildren are concerned. Immune to the eyeballs and legislatively equipped to the gills...."everybody and his dog" has tried to reform it at one time or another. The "public's" experience with DPS is actually an intimately personal one from the individual perspective, and in many instances a very wounding experience at that.
    Yes, definitely needs more money. Or it will cut the workers at the bottom and eventually NOBODY will be cleaning the buildings or teaching the kids. Cuz you certainly can't make it spend the money it already has, on these vital things...it's immune, equipped, and the same expensive, impersonal, bureaucratic beast as ever it has been.
    Mentally I have a picture of Mike B trying to walk down a pier at the ocean ... towing a gigantic steamer behind him. I want to hollar: Don't ask the public to give you more coal -- reduce the size of your ship so it can float on its own for a change.

  • August 10, 2008

    5:19 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    lahojoel writes:

    NO, NO, NO!! I have been a great supporter of our public schools, and continue to be. However, when a big chunk of that money goes to build another new school in Stapleton, rather than filling all the ringer schools that are under-enrolled, closing Hallett when kids could be moved there, there is a BIG problem. I live in Stapleton and regret that it has become a lily-white-mentality, white picket fence community. Our taxes have skyrocketed, and MOST of that goes to DPS. NOPE, get rid of Grant St. building, and show some fiscal responsibility