Superintendent Erin Kane knew the Douglas County College District’s pitch to voters this fall to lift taxes to fund trainer pay will increase and extra wouldn’t come with out its challenges.
Rising inflation, for instance, makes it troublesome to ask of the group, she mentioned.
“We knew it will be an uphill climb,” Kane mentioned in an interview.
However the district is dealing with one other, sudden problem: The county’s personal voter information, Kane and the varsity board contend, contains incorrect and deceptive details about the $450 million bond measure and $60 million mill levy override the district positioned on the November poll.
At difficulty are the submitted feedback arguing towards the 2 measures.
“They don’t seem to be fact-checked,” she mentioned of the feedback vital of the measures during a recent school board meeting. “I used to be astounded.”
A consultant for the Douglas County Workplace of Clerk and Recorder didn’t return messages from The Denver Submit searching for remark. It’s unclear who submitted the vital feedback revealed within the information, as they don’t seem to be attributed.
However the voter guide itself — known as the “Douglas County Poll Proposals and Election Info E book” — confirms that the revealed feedback arguing for and towards poll measures should not fact-checked.
The workplace “doesn’t warrant, confirm or verify the accuracy or reality” of the poll difficulty language or remark summaries which are offered within the information, based on the ebook.
Among the many characterizations that Kane and different district leaders take difficulty with is a remark that encourages individuals to vote “No” on the $450 million bond measure.
“Alienated mother and father are a deeper problem for the varsity district,” the remark reads. “Whereas DCSD has many superb academics, mother and father are involved about ‘woke’ ideology indoctrination within the curriculum.”
The language echoes comparable feedback which have been used nationwide as states, including Colorado, debate what educators can educate college students about racism, sexual orientation and gender identification.
Getting a mill levy override and bond handed in a conservative district like Douglas County could be arduous sufficient, however the vote is coming as broader “tradition and ideological conflicts” are happening nationwide, mentioned Paul Teske, dean of the College of Public Affairs on the College of Colorado Denver.
“There’s simply plenty of code phrases, whether or not it’s ‘woke,’ ‘vital race principle’ or regardless of the dialog was about furries,” he mentioned. “It’s very straightforward for issues to go viral.”
(That dialog about furries started after Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl claimed college students are figuring out as cats in colleges in Colorado. Districts have said this isn’t true.)
Kane denied that the Douglas County College District, which drew nationwide consideration earlier this 12 months when the conservative board majority fired the former superintendent, is “pushing something ‘woke’ into the curriculum or any form of indoctrination.”
The district follows state educational requirements, Kane mentioned through the faculty board assembly, including, “Our academics are doing superb work.”
If it passes, the district plans to make use of the cash from the mill levy override to pay academics extra — which Kane mentioned is required if colleges are to retain their educators.
Lecturers in Douglas County make on common $18,000 much less per 12 months than these within the neighboring Cherry Creek College District, Kane mentioned.
“We might lose academics to neighboring districts and with the present trainer scarcity we have now fewer candidates than we have now ever had,” she mentioned.
There have been different feedback within the information that Kane mentioned had been incorrect or deceptive. For instance, one mentioned that cash from the bond measure could be used for present bills the district already has budgeted. However the district beforehand has mentioned the cash would go towards constructing future colleges in areas of the county the place enrollment is rising and different bills, comparable to faculty security.
One other incorrect remark, she mentioned, acknowledged that the mill levy override “would add an extra $520 to the property taxes to a house valued” at $1 million as soon as they’re reappraised in 2023. The mill levy override is a hard and fast quantity and will likely be primarily based on present valuations, Kane mentioned.
The district beforehand has mentioned the associated fee for residents with houses valued between $500,000 and $1 million could be about $255 to $510 per 12 months. The price of non-residential property that’s valued at $100,000 could be about $214 per 12 months.
The district has mentioned the bond wouldn’t improve taxes. As an alternative, they might drop barely, if the bond will not be handed.
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