A Denver Public Schools committee will present a bond proposal to the Board of Education next month that would raise nearly $1 billion, a measure that, if placed on the November ballot, would represent the most money the district has ever sought from voters.
The Community Planning and Advisory Committee this week recommended that DPS use more than half of the money from the $975 million bond proposal for maintenance projects, including finishing a years-long effort to install air conditioning in school buildings without cooling.
DPS is Colorado’s largest school district and operates on a $1.3 billion annual budget.
If approved by voters in November, the bond measure would allocate $240 million toward putting air conditioning in the remaining 29 schools that still don’t have cooling, according to a presentation by the committee this week.
“I love the recommendations; I think they are what we need,” Denver school board President Carrie Olson said Thursday, noting that she previously taught in a school that didn’t have air conditioning.
“That’s really important especially when you think about the future,” she said, adding, “We’ve got so many aging buildings across our systems.”
According to the committee’s presentation, the proposed $975 million bond issue would break down to include:
$301 million for critical maintenance at 154 buildings across the district, including mechanical, electrical, code and plumbing enhancements and renovation
$240 million to install air conditioning at 29 schools
$124 million for new facilities, including building a new school — Gateway E-5 — and expanding the district’s Ceylon 6-8 campus, both of which are in far northeast Denver
$127 million to upgrade 12 middle and high school performing arts hubs as well as three innovation centers and 14 athletic facilities
$100 million to improve learning environments at 136 schools
$83 million for safety and technology, including improvements to network infrastructure and adding 17 secure vestibules
The committee will present the proposal to the school board on June 13, with board members expected to vote in August on whether to approve the plan and place the bond measure on Denver voters’ ballots in November.
DPS has asked voters to approve a new bond measure every four years since at least 2012, including a $466 million bond issue that year to improve school buildings and technology, and a $572 million bond measure in 2016 to fund a new elementary and middle school in northeast Denver and to add air conditioning to schools.
In 2020, Denver voters passed a $32 million mill levy override to increase educator pay and a $795 million bond issue, which DPS also used to put air conditioning in 26 more buildings and pay for other infrastructure projects.
On average, DPS buildings are 55 years old, and with such aging infrastructure comes the need for significant investment, said Trena Marsal, the district’s chief operating officer.
“Here in Colorado temperatures are a lot higher than they used to be,” Marsal said, adding,“There’s significant needs in all of our buildings.”
DPS starts its academic year in late August — a change Marsal said was made a few years ago so that classrooms aren’t as hot when students return from summer break — but the district still had to end classes early because of record heat at the beginning of the last academic year because not every school has air conditioning.
The volunteer committee met 20 times since January before making its recommendation.
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