DPS Board of Education Update for Sept. 16, 2016 
for Senior, School Leaders

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DPS Joins Plaintiffs in TABOR Lawsuit

Denver Board of Education members tonight voted unanimously to join the plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to declare the TABOR amendment is unconstitutional, arguing it violates the rights of elected lawmakers to determine core functions of state government such as its budget.

"Public education is one of the most fundamental activities of our society and we are, by engaging in this lawsuit, stating it needs to be a core part of what we invest in and not part of what gets whittled away every year in every budget cycle," said Board Vice President and former Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien.

"It's incumbent upon the school board of Denver to make a statement about how important it is to try and change TABOR," she added.

"The TABOR amendment has had a really serious impact on the functioning of government in Colorado," Board Treasurer Mike Johnson said. "We are somewhere near 42nd (among all 50 states) in funding education, our higher ed funding is way down, we have serious deficiencies in transportation and a whole series of other state services ...

"Given the state of education funding in particular in Colorado, we have to do whatever we can," he added. "We are asking voters to approve more money for us this year and I believe that, if we didn't have the restrictions of the TABOR amendment, we might not have to have done that."

DPS will not incur any expenses as a plaintiff, the resolution states, since the case is being handled by attorneys on a pro bono basis, or without charge.

Read the full resolution.

2016 Fall Enrollment Adjustments for Schools

Also tonight, board members received an update on fall enrollment projections, with preliminary numbers showing overall K-12 enrollment up to 86,200 - or about 1 percent over last fall. The number does not include ECE students, which are again expected to bring the district's total student count to more than 90,000.
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The state's official student count date is Oct. 3 this year, when schools across Colorado count students for state funding purposes.The district's Sept. 8 fall adjustment date is intended to more quickly allow schools to adjust funding based on actual student enrollment, including hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes in schools that have seen increases in the number of students above projected counts. Waiting until the Oct. 3 count likely would mean that schools would be waiting until mid-October for that class size relief, for example.

School leaders receive fall projections from the district each spring and have the flexibility to budget higher or lower if they disagree with those estimates. District staff said more than $1 million has been allocated to schools during the fall adjustment cycle to minimize disruptions to students.

The board's presentation included enrollment trends among district-managed schools (charter schools do not participate in the district's September adjustment but are likewise subject to the state's October count requirements). Among the data presented by the five board member regions:

  • Far Northeast, Northwest and Southeast regions saw increases while Near Northeast and Southwest areas posted declines from fall 2015 to fall 2016.
  • This annual trend holds true over time, with the same three regions growing in enrollment since 2012 while two -- Near Northeast and Southwest -- have seen losses in overall student numbers during this time.
  • Over the past five years, the Far Northeast region has seen the strongest growth, with nearly 4,000 more students today than in fall 2012. The region is the district's largest, with nearly 21,600 students. Seven district-managed schools have opened in the Far Northeast during this time.

See the full presentation, including grade-level and school-by-school data.

Board Approves Timing Change for Evaluation

Board of Education members approved a change in the superintendent's evaluation cycle designed to ensure they have more data in hand in preparing their final report. The change shifts the board's determination of whether performance-based compensation goals have been achieved from a Sept. 30 deadline each year to a Jan. 31 deadline.

Board President Anne Rowe said the board agreed last year to similarly shift the timing of the evaluation and this year are placing the change in Superintendent Tom Boasberg's contract. The timing of some data releases varies by year. This year, for example, the district has received student growth data from state assessments two months later than the previous year.

"It truly is just a timing change to do a more effective job of providing the superintendent with his evaluation," Rowe said.

See the full resolution. 

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