If the Jeffco schools' average age is 45 years old and they are in desperate need of repair, then why is less than half of the $535 million bond allocated to fixing aging schools?
As a Jeffco parent, I want my kids to learn in healthy environments and I realize that comes at a cost. But I have to ask myself - why is Jeffco spending nearly $100 million on adding 120 classrooms to move sixth graders to middle school? What happens to all the empty classrooms left behind in the elementary schools? Will that lead to school closings? What about the $30 million allocated to adding a second gym to six schools and artificial turf to seven schools? Those sound more like luxuries than necessities, when other schools need new roofs. How many more schools could be updated with $130 million?
Additionally, there are plans for two new schools, costing over $50 million, while enrollment in Jeffco has remained flat over the last 10 years. Yes, there is overcrowding in north Arvada, but Zerger Elementary and the old Sobesky Academy sit empty. Is there a reason those spaces cannot be utilized?
The district has already added almost 2,000 additional seats; Candelas and Sierra account for 1,000, and new charter schools make up the remaining 1,000 seats. With enrollment across the district flat and 2,000 new seats already added, what happens to the schools that will lose enrollment due to new schools opening?
Finally, paying down these bonds with the board's proposed financing structure will cost us nearly one billion dollars. Don't believe me? Read your ballot in November, it will state that clearly.
As fiscally responsible citizens of Jeffco, and as the generation who will be saddling our children with this debt, we need to vote NO on 3B. Let's demand that the school board give us an improved bond and debt structure, with more emphasis on the real needs of our Jeffco schools and students.
Kim Gilmartin,
Littleton
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Letter-No-on-Jeffco-bond,236901
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