Guide to Voter Guide on Ballot Issue 4A

Denver voters should not give up on their public schools.

The city’s teachers, students, principals and support staff need safe, comfortable classrooms and buildings to do their important work – readying the next generation of Coloradans for success and happiness.

Everyone needs to be safe and with comfortable classrooms. Without debt we buy twice the safety and twice the comfortable classroom situation – per tax dollar. Basic math.

The district funds most of the upkeep and upgrade of schools by asking voters to approve a bond package about every four years. This November the school board and superintendent are asking for almost $1 billion. A “yes” vote sends actual dollars to every school in the district for fixes, big and small.

Bonds pay for nothing. Every single dollar needs to be repaid from the schools’ budget, and tax payer money, plus enormous amounts of interest, fees, and other expenses. Every time we use bonds we pay twice as much, on average, and more, for that school, for that A/C, etc. This is a terrible reduction of actual service for the schools, a terrible reduction in teacher pay, pay that doesn’t materialize.

We understand that some are urging voters to reject this bond issue to send a message. There is a growing frustration with the district-level management and the elected school board about things that have little to do with fiscal management or school conditions. But we can’t justify punishing those who work hardest in this district or those students suffering summer heat simply to vocalize displeasure with the adults in charge.

Such the straw argument, and popular opinion too. Bonds, or not, is a financial decision, and the finances of a school district need to be seen for what they are – a relatively fixed budget over time. With variance, yes. But this variance is no where near sufficient to pay for the enormous amounts of interest, fees, and other expenses to operate our public school systems on debt. School debt is just terrible financial strategy to begin with regardless of management in general.

Here are five reasons to vote yes on the school district’s bond proposal and one big concern.

1. Technically taxes will not increase. Older bond debt is getting paid off leaving room for the school district to take additional debt without increasing service payments. Of course, what we all know is that if voters say no to this proposal, property taxes will decrease for homeowners and commercial real estate owners in the city. The tradeoff is not worth the small savings – collectively about $250 million a year.

Yes, taxes will not increase on election day November 5, 2024. After that, anything goes. If we approve more debt, we then have two choices. We can either watch the schools decay as we eliminate 56% of our future budget on $2.2 billion dollars, or we can raise taxes by $1.2 billion dollars just to maintain status quo. Asking the voters to shrink $2.2 billion dollars to $975 million is terrible financial strategy to begin.

2. 29 schools in DPS still have no air-conditioning in their buildings. The district has slowly whittled away at this problem and, if this bond passes, the district can officially say that none of its schools are without heating and cooling. In recent years, the district has had to close because of the heat, leaving students at home and parents in the lurch. But worse, some days the district has stayed open and children have suffered the ill effects of unbearably hot classrooms.

29 schools without A/C is from several decades of school board decision making, poor decision making pertaining to A/C budgeting. More debt will only leave the school districts with more serious problems in the near future. We need to accomplish A/C without more debt. Without debt we have more budget for A/C.

3. School safety is a top concern and this bond measure includes $30 million to make our schools more secure. At several campuses the district plans to add entrance vestibules that will allow staff to screen visitors before entry. The money can and should be used to buy new external doors that cannot be breached and locks and other barricades for internal doors.

School safety is high priority, we agree on that. We will buy twice as much school safety, per tax dollar, if we do not use debt to get it done. We need to vote NO on 4A so that we have enough money in the near future to keep the lights on. Schools without sufficient money to keep the lights on are not going to be more safe, they are going to be less safe.

4. Every school – including charter schools in district-owned buildings – will get some funding. The district has an inventory of historic buildings and those built in the 1960s and 70s that are in need of everything from new paint to new windows and doors. Principals, teachers and parents will have a say in how some of the money is spent at their schools.

Speaking of historic, how many billions of dollars have been taken from the schools budget and then given to the banks over the past several decades. School debt has been a series of terrible decision making leaving us with critical maintenance that has not been done as we pay billions in interest, fees, and other expenses.

5. The school district has proven that it will deliver on its promises over the years, and maintaining the same level of investment in our maintenance of buildings is an investment in the future.

Yes, exactly, the school will deliver on it’s promise of giving enormous amounts of interest, fees, and other expenses to the banks. This is why the banks line-up to rip off our budgets, our schools, our kids, our teachers. Chase bank didn’t become the largest bank in the world using empathy.

Debt is NOT an investment, it’s a liability. Tomorrow is just a day away. Tomorrow, our schools’ budget will be cut by 56% on $2,200,000,000 dollars as we give this money to Chase bank and/or all other banks, if we rely on debt. Basic math.

Our one big concern is that this bond does include millions of dollars for a new elementary school in far northeast Denver near the existing mega-campus that holds DSST Green Valley Ranch Middle School, Rocky Mountain Prep Green Valley Ranch, Vista Middle School, Kipp NE Middle School, and SOAR Elementary School.

All decision making pertaining new schools, or not, needs to be based on whether or not the new school is justified. Either way, bonds pay for nothing. Tax revenue pays every penny. Every penny of interest, fees, and expenses to the bank comes from the schools’ budget, from the kids, from the teachers.

The district projects that housing developments planned in the area will bring an additional 500 elementary students by 2027. However, we urge the school board to take a wait-and-see approach. Denver actually needs to close a number of schools with low enrollment and move school attendance boundaries to adjust for pockets of growth, pockets of gentrification, and changing school choice preferences.

Then, once those options have been exhausted, the board can move forward with building the new Gateway school at 51st Avenue and Telluride Street. If every elementary school in northeast Denver were filled to 100% capacity, there would be room for another 830 students. Obviously, that would mean bigger class sizes and students having longer drives to schools with bigger zones. But before we build a new school amid closures, let’s make sure we absolutely need it.

A few points to keep in mind. This voter guide does not provide one single number as to the cost of this debt. This voter guide paints the misleading perspective that bonds pay for A/C, critical maintenance, or anything else. Bonds pay for nothing, tax money pays every single dollar. And using bond-debt requires twice as many tax dollars per spend. Basic math.

As they say on the steep mountain inclines coming back to Denver, “Don’t be fooled.”

Denver Public Schools is asking voters for permission to borrow a record amount of money — nearly $1 billion — in the Nov. 5 election via Ballot Issue 4A.

District officials have said the bond is needed to upgrade and repair aging buildings and to build a new school in the far northeast part of the city. DPS is Colorado’s largest school district and operates on an annual budget of more than $1 billion.

School debt (“bonds” – what a happy word) is a big reason as to why the schools are running out of money. It’s sad that the DPS Board made poor decisions in the past pertaining to debt. We’re in a vortex of debt, more vortex is not the answer.

What would 4A do if passed?

It would take $2,200,000,000 and shrink it to $975,000,000.

The ballot measure asks voters to approve a $975 million bond, which the district will put toward maintenance projects, safety measures and other projects. The money will also install air conditioning in more than two dozen Denver schools that still don’t have cooling.

We buy twice as much maintenance, safety, and other projects, per tax dollar, when we do not use debt. We buy twice as much A/C, per tax dollar, when we do not use debt to get it done. A/C needs to get done and tax payer money is the only way to pay for it. Bonds pay for nothing.

DPS officials have said that taxes will not increase if the bond passes because older debt is getting paid off, freeing up repayment capacity. If voters don’t approve the measure, then property taxes will decrease for homeowners and commercial real estate owners.

Such the straw arguments. Yes, taxes will not increase on Nov 5, 2024, after that, anything goes.

As though wasting valuable school money in the past somehow justifies the same mistake again. Who in their right mind would brag about “repayment capacity,” the ability to take money from the schools’ budget and then give this money to the bank. How about we brag about how little we give to the bank, not how much.

Where would the money go?

56% will go to Chase bank and/or all other banks on $2.2 billion in future budget.

A breakdown of the bond’s issue’s planned spending:

• $301 million for critical maintenance at 154 buildings across the city, including mechanical, electrical, code and plumbing renovations
• $240 million to install air conditioning at 29 schools
• $124 million for new facilities, including a new school in the far northeast and an expansion of the Responsive Arts and STEAM Academy
• $127 million to upgrade 12 middle and high school performing arts hubs, three innovation centers and 14 athletic facilities
• $100 million to improve learning environments at 136 schools
• $83 million for safety and technology, including adding 17 secure vestibules

Taxpayer money is the only way to pay for all this. If you’re on the left, know that debt will eliminate 56% of $2.2 billion in future budget. If you’re on the right, know that buying anything with debt takes twice as many hard-earned tax dollars.

What do supporters say?

More debt please

Supporters say that without the bond, DPS would need to use money that would otherwise go for educator pay and classroom instruction to cover maintenance, upgrades and improvements.

Yes on 4A would eliminate 56% of future budget on $2.2 billion dollars. Using debt, educator pay and classroom instruction will be less as we give our budgets to Chase bank and/or all other banks.

The maintenance projects also will affect student achievement, supporters say, by improving classrooms for children and teachers and by reducing class sizes and school overcrowding. Air conditioning also is needed in older classrooms, where temperatures can reach as high as 92 degrees during the school day.

Once again. We buy twice as much maintenance and A/C, per tax dollar, when we do not use debt. School debt is a terrible reduction in actual ability to buy anything – cuts spending power in half. Basic math.

What do opponents say?

We need to talk about the enormous cost of debt

Others argue that the DPS bond issue is too big and prevents property owners from receiving a tax decrease. Opponents also say DPS should pay for many items included in the proposal from its general fund, and that with K-12 enrollment declining, schools should consolidate students into already-updated buildings.

One dollar, one million dollars, one billion dollars, school debt makes no sense. This type of debt is not like business debt or a home mortgage. Regardless of whether we are opening schools or closing schools, this category of debt, public school debt, makes no sense to begin with. ###