Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Home › News › Education

San Luis district awaits word on $322,000 state loan

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 13, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

More Education

More stories »

Map my news

Schools in Colorado's oldest community are seeking a state cash infusion to help straighten out tangled finances going back several years.

The Centennial School District in tiny San Luis spent money it mistakenly believed would be coming as a result of rising property values in the community near the New Mexico border.

The district also spent money on operating costs - such as salaries and school bus maintenance - that should have been used to repay building bonds.

The district's plight was laid out in a letter to the Colorado Board of Education from interim Superintendent Mark Maksimowicz.

The board this morning will vote on whether to loan the district $322,000 from a contingency fund to get through the crisis. The loan would be in addition to $250,000 advanced recently by the state treasurer.

Education Commissioner Dwight Jones said Wednesday he will insist the loans come with conditions that will include training for local officials on how to manage their money.

Jones noted the district had similar problems four years ago.

"Four years later, they're in the same kind of conditions," he said.

The financial problem will cost jobs, Maksimowicz said. The Centennial school board will decide the exact number Nov. 20, but a dozen positions will probably go, including four of the district's 28 teachers. About 210 students attend the district's schools.

The district will have to pay back all loans.

The money - $572,000 from the treasurer and the education departments - is equal to about 17 percent of the district's $3.4 million budget.

Exactly why the district overspent its budget isn't clear.

Costilla County Assessor Thomas Aragon said some land was recategorized from "agricultural," which pays the lowest taxes, to "vacant," which pays at a higher rate.

According to Maksimowicz, school officials "made an erroneous assumption that this additional assessed valuation would lead to additional revenues available to the district."

In fact, under Colorado's school finance system, when property tax revenue goes up, state aid goes down by the same amount, leaving schools with the same amount of money to work with.

Maksimowicz, a semi-retired educator from Monument, said he can't explain the misunderstanding, which occurred before he took over in August.

School board member Ronda Lobato said, "We had a superintendent who assured us everything was fine, and of course the school board depends on their administration for that kind of information."

But former Superintendent Diana Cortez said the district's finances were a mess when she took over three years ago. An audit last December identified a $120,000 error that had been carried forward since 2006-07 school year, Cortez said.

Cortez, who headed school districts in Utah, said she understands the Colorado school finance law, but she had trouble getting accurate information from the district's bookkeeper.

Cortez is a San Luis native whose father once chaired the school board. She said local schools suffer from the community's frequent political squabbles.

"It's all based on personal family history," Cortez said. "The children have never really mattered. That has been one of the most frustrating situations I have ever been in."

Comments

  • November 13, 2008

    12:54 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    michaelwelsh writes:

    Because they are funded with tax dollars, rural schools are the largest steady source of income for many people in the surrounding communities. Not only jobs but purchases for supplies, equipment, construction, insurance, etc., etc., flow from these school districts. No wonder the former superintendent complained about the family politics that drove school board decisions. It's the same logic that drives decisions about who plays on sports teams. What would be interesting would be a Rocky story about how small districts throughout the state are faring with the reductions in property taxes, personal income, and perhaps declining enrollments. There are districts with fewer than 100 students in the K-12 system, and class sizes that average ten or less. During the Great Depression, the economic collapse forced many such districts to close. Could that happen again?