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Aspen School District administrators and educators held a walkout Thursday to protest proposed statewide budget cuts that would further underfund education in the state.
They joined districts across the state that walked out and rallied at the Capitol in Denver to protest Governor Jared Polis’ proposed budget cuts that would hinder the implementation of a new education funding formula passed last year. The overhauled funding formula would have made up for decades of underfunding in education in Colorado, advocates say, but budget shortfalls are making it difficult to put into action.
ASD is one of only a few districts that would lose money under the new funding formula. But the district still held the walkout Thursday to urge lawmakers to commit to increased education funding.
“It’s in solidarity as much as it is for our specific funding,” ASD Superintendent of Business Mary Rodino said. “We’re just trying to stand with other districts, because now it seems like there are some additional cuts on the table to balance the budget.”
The state legislature passed a new funding formula for the first time in 30 years last year. It prioritized funding for districts with underrepresented students, and was supposed to allocate $500 million more toward K-12 education. But a $1.2 billion budget shortfall at the state level is requiring legislators to consider budgeting less money to school districts.
Polis’ budget proposal allocates $138 million to K-12 funding. But ASD administrators and educators, and other districts who walked out Thursday, saw the proposal as a cut to education funding.
“There’s going to be a lot of changes upcoming, and education is not in the best zone right now,” Neala Young, a special education teacher at Aspen High School, said. “Teachers are underpaid … and we’re looking at bigger class sizes, reduced resources and we really just need America to know that we’re here, we’re going to teach no matter what, but we need their support.
“Everyone who reads this sign can read it because of a teacher,” she added. Young joined the walkout and held a sign that said “Support Education” at the Maroon Creek Roundabout Thursday afternoon.
ASD is one of 23 districts that are slated to lose funding under the proposed new school finance formula. According to the district, it would lose $5 million in funding over the next five to six years if the formula was implemented. The change represents about a 13% loss in total revenues for the district.
A spokesperson for Polis said it was “incorrect to say that the district would see a year-over-year reduction in funding under the new school funding formula.”
“There was a hold harmless built into the new formula, so that districts would at least maintain their old formula amount,” Shelby Wieman, press secretary for Polis, said in an email to Aspen Daily News. “The House Speaker and Governor’s Office are engaged in productive conversations with districts to identify a path forward that addresses concerns of districts while also moving away from the fundamental inequity and inaccuracy of Colorado's current averaging formula.”
The “hold harmless” provision would provide $150,000 in increased revenues, according to ASD.
Over the past year, the district has identified expense-cutting measures that will save the district money after its reserve balance decreased by nearly 75% in the previous five years. It convened a task force to identify strategic cuts.
The district is supported by several additional funding sources — the Aspen Education Foundation, Aspen Public Education Fund and Snowmass Village Public Education Fund. Without those funding sources, programs at the district would look extremely different, ASD leaders have previously said.
The district’s goal is to save between $750,000 and $1 million annually to rebuild its reserves and increase teacher salaries to have the highest-paid teachers in the state.
“I think the people that win at the end of all of this work will be the students,” Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said during the walkout.