Board, staff discuss issues at school board meeting

RE-1 board members: 2024 RE-1 board of education members present at January 9, 2024, meetings.

The Gilpin County RE-1 School District Board of Education held two meetings on January 9, 2024, in the school boardroom. The first meeting started at 6:30 p.m. All 2024 board members were in attendance. Superintendent David MacKenzie presided over both meetings. Educators and staff were also in attendance for the second meeting, which was a Meet and Confer follow up meeting.

The first meeting was to vote on a resolution to certify the RE-1 school mill levy for 2024. The resolution certifies to the Gilpin County Commissioners that the mill levy for 2024 will be 9.477 mills, creating revenue of $4,379,653. The resolution passed unanimously, and a certified document was sent to the County.

MacKenzie gave his superintendent’s report on the progress regarding bidding on the Wastewater Interconnect Project. The district received three bids by the deadline.

School administration is lining up individual meetings with the bidding construction companies to hear their presentations before submitting recommendations to the board. These meetings are scheduled for January 17. Board members Marr and Velasquez will be attending these meetings along with administrative personnel.

MacKenzie briefly discussed the financing for the wastewater project, which is expected to be around $10 million. He explained that the district needs to maintain adequate cash flows but has about $5 million on hand for the project. That would leave $5 million to be financed. MacKenzie proposed inviting representatives from Stifel Investments to give a presentation at the January 16 meeting on the process of issuing Certificates of Participation to raise the rest of the capital required.

Certificates of Participation are a type of bond with a guaranteed interest return. In this case, the financial instrument would be for 10 years with an interest rate around five percent. MacKenzie and business director Joe Tinucci have calculated that the bonds can be paid back in about six years for a total interest of around $700,000. The project is projected to last about 12 months and would require one-way traffic at points between Black Hawk and the school since the pipe would be laid down in the CDoT right-of-way along Highway 119.

Another special meeting to review the bids, hear Stifel presentations and make decisions about the Wastewater Interconnect Project is scheduled for January 23 in the school boardroom at 7 p.m.

The first meeting was adjourned at 6:56 p.m. The second meeting started at 7 p.m. and was a Meet and Confer meeting with school staff to discuss the items and issues that were raised at the October Meet and Confer meeting. These meetings are a chance for staff to address the Board on a variety of issues.

Joe Tinucci of the Business Office began the meeting with the key performance indicators for district revenue. The analysis by Tinucci included the time frame from 2019 through a projected 2025. The chart showed that the school has 362 students in K-12 that are funded by the state. This shows a decrease of 47 students since 2021. Revenue from property taxes and the contribution from Black Hawk from their Educational Enhancement Tax brings revenue for 2024 to $7,094,597.

At the October Meet and Confer meeting, 21 items or proposals were brought forward by staff for administration and board review. The January 9 meeting presented responses to the listed items. Staff added one more item, regarding compensation for extra training and certifications of Montessori educators.

The bulk of the meeting revolved around salaries and how the salary schedule for educators can be raised within the constraints of the 2024 revenue so that first year educators start at around $45,000. MacKenzie showed detailed schedules for raising all educators two levels to bring the starting salary up to $45,000. The net result is a raise of $2,444 for all educators, starting with the 2024/2025 school year.

The support staff, including the kitchen staff and bus drivers, will also be given raises to be competitive with surrounding districts.

There was a substantive discussion between the educators and the board regarding the need to provide a livable wage so that quality educators can be recruited and retained. Both staff and board recognized the problem of keeping qualified educators while not spending more than the current revenue can support.

This conversation touched on multiple items on the Meet and Confer list, including the reality that the RE-1 school is not able to compete with other districts like Jefferson and Boulder solely on salary. Several educators spoke about the Gilpin lifestyle, where educators teach smaller classes and live in…