Local
Colorado Voters Approve Most School Tax Measures, but Jeffco and Douglas County Reject Funding Boosts
About 60% of 33 school district property tax measures passed on Nov. 3, with bond measures faring best and mill levy overrides facing a tougher road. Losses in Jeffco and Douglas County could force difficult budget decisions, even as two statewide measures promise billions more for schools over the next decade.
Colorado voters approved roughly 60% of the 33 school district property tax measures on the Nov. 3 ballot, according to unofficial results, a success rate in line with historical norms but one that leaves several of the state's largest districts facing hard choices.
Six of seven bond measures passed, funding school construction and building maintenance. Voters in the Archuleta and Holyoke districts also approved tax increases needed to secure matching grants from the state's Building Excellent Schools Today program.
Mill levy overrides, which typically pay for operating costs such as staff salaries, had a tougher time. About a dozen of 24 such measures passed, including in Denver, Littleton, Westminster, Roaring Fork, Eagle County, Summit and Telluride.
But voters in two of Colorado's largest districtsâDouglas County and Jeffco Public Schoolsârejected their measures. In Jeffco, two ballot questions were failing as of Thursday.
"The needs facing Jeffco Public Schools remain significant," interim Superintendent Rob Stein and school board President Michelle Applegate said in a statement Wednesday evening. "Without the additional funding proposed in these two measures, we will need to make difficult decisions about how to balance our priorities with the resources available to us."
District leaders had previously warned that failure could lead to more school closures, staff layoffs or salary freezes.
In Douglas County, the rejection of a mill levy override that would have provided 4% raises for staff was attributed to several factors, including a crowded ballot, poor planning by district officials and less specificity about how the money would be spent compared with a 2023 measure that passed.
"All in all, not as much effort went into it this cycle as it did in 2023," said Fiona Boomer, executive director of the Douglas County Federation, the local teachers union.
Boomer said Douglas County teachers have the lowest salaries compared with peer districts in the Denver area. The average Douglas County teacher salary was about $74,000 last year, according to Colorado Department of Education data, compared with about $82,000 in Jeffco and $96,000 in Cherry Creek.
"Douglas County for a long time didn't tax itself for school district funding," Boomer said. "So they are well behind the rest of the metro in that regard."
Voters in several medium-sized and small districts, including Mesa County Valley, Eaton, Hanover and Hayden, also rejected ballot measures.
Even in districts where local asks failed, there is a potential silver lining: the likely passage of two statewide ballot measures, Proposition NN and Amendment 87, which could send billions of additional dollars to schools over the next decade.
Most of the 26 districts with mill levy overrides on the ballot planned to use some of the proceeds to boost staff pay, and several also aimed to strengthen career and technical education and school security.