WOODLAND PARK — The Chief Financial Officer of the Woodland Park School District (WPSD) confirmed to News5 that he resigned from his position on Monday.
CFO Jack Bay's resignation comes as the Woodland Park City Council plans to vote on repealing a city sales tax that helps fund the school district. Last year, the 1.09% sales tax raised $3.2 million for the district. The money can be used for certain expenses, including school programs, teacher salaries, and building improvements.
During a Feb. 6 city council meeting, several city council members said the district was not following the sales tax reporting guidelines established in an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the school district and the City of Woodland Park. The Aug. 2024 IGA said the district is required to submit monthly reports to the city showing sales tax expenditures through detailed and categorized ledgers. The most recent report submitted by the school district was in the form of a one-page summary.
WPSD later submitted a more detailed report to the city on Feb. 13, which was 13 days past the Jan. 31 deadline outlined in the IGA.
In a phone call with News5 on Tuesday, Jack Bay said he chose to resign because he was fed up with the back-and-forth over how the district was supposed to report its spending of taxpayer dollars. Bay also pointed to the district's issues with staff turnover. A Colorado Department of Education database shows WPSD had a 36% staff turnover rate from the 2022-2023 school year to the 2023-2024 school year. The state's average school district staff turnover rate during the same time was 21%.
Bay agreed to do an interview with News5 on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. to talk about his resignation and why the full sales tax reports were submitted after the deadline. Bay cancelled the interview on Wednesday at 2:31 p.m. and did not return our calls.
In a text message, Bay said his decision to resign was also due to the city council's "political attacks on the school district" and its administration. When asked for clarification, Bay said council members had continued to harass the district by submitting records requests to WPSD for public information under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA). Last week, News5 sent a CORA request to the district asking for a list of all records requests made by individuals from Nov. 1 to Feb. 12. According to the records we received, none of the six council members submitted a CORA request to the district during that time.
News5 reached out to WPSD Board President Mick Bates for comment on Bay's resignation. We have not heard back.
The Woodland Park City Council is set to introduce an ordinance during the next council meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20 that would repeal the 1.09% sales tax. If passed during the first reading, there will be a public hearing and a final vote on the ordinance on Thursday, March 6.
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