COLORADO SPRINGS — Homeowners in Academy School District 20 will decide this fall whether they want to raise their property taxes. The board of education is preparing a mill levy override question for the November ballot.
The question would raise an estimate $35 million annually to hire armed security officers for all district elementary schools, increase pay for teachers and staff, and fund upkeep of buildings and facilities. A proportionate amount of that money would go to charter schools in the district.
The increase would not have a sunset. It also would not not exceed the exiting voter approved mill levy cap of 60.216 mills.
The district estimates the increase would raise property taxes by $2.28 a month for every $100,000 of home value. With an average home value in Colorado Springs of roughly $500,000, the increase would be around $11.40 a month or $137 a year for a typical homeowner.
Chief Financial Officer Becky Allan explained that increasing teacher pay is a big need for the district. The board of education has raised pay twice in the past two years.
Allan said the starting salary of $48,800 for new teachers is not as competitive with neighboring districts and communities on the Front Range.
"We have a neighbors to the north like Boulder and Poudre who are well over $50,000 for their initial starting salaries District 11 their starting salary is $50,000 and again we're at $48,800," Allan said.
In April, a former student was arrested by deputies in Elbert County for making threats to "shoot up" Timberview Middle School. Detectives later found plans in the suspect's home that included the locations of Prairie Hills Elementary
The district's security staff currently has one officer assigned to each of its middle and high schools. However, a single officer will regularly be assigned to multiple elementary schools.
This could be a challenging year to ask voters for a property tax increase. As we've previously reported, property assessments county-wide rose by an average of 44 percent this year.
Hundreds of people have filed appeals to try and soften the blow from higher taxes. Colorado lawmakers also referred Proposition HH to the November ballot in anticipation of higher property taxes statewide.
"You might be thinking why in the world would Academy School District 20 be asking for additional money because this must mean you’re going to get so much money more money, but here’s the reality we have something called total program funding and it’s based on that per people revenue for the number of students we have," Allan explained.
When the district collects more in property taxes, its share of state funding drops.
"We may bring in $20 million more and local property taxes next year but our overall amount will not change. The state will put $20 million less into our funding bucket," said Allan.
Academy District 20 currently receives the lowest amount of state funding per-pupil of any district in Colorado.
This will be the third mill levy override request in district history. The district's previous increases came in 1999 and 2008.
A handful of other school districts notified the El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office that they plan to refer questions to the ballot. They include Calhan District RJ1, Ellicott District 22, Falcon District 49, and Peyton District 23.
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