Why Vote No on Jeffco’s 5A and 5B Mill Levy Overrides
Kids
The key question that Jeffco needs to answer is, “How will the $73 million general MLO help kids and improve academic performance and achievement in Jeffco”? Currently, 46% of kids are NOT grade level proficient in ELA/Reading and 55% are NOT proficient in Math, yet 87% of MLO funds are allocated to increasing the salaries of the same people responsible for the current results. That money isn’t going to improve anything.
Jeffco has made a big deal about how over 1,400 kids want to attend Warren Tech (CTE) campuses, but those programs are full. Yet, none of the $10 million in designated CTE MLO funds are being allocated to increase that program’s capacity. Jeffco already receives $4 million in CTE funding from the 2018 MLO, allocates $115,000 per high school for alternative pathways, and receives grants. What is that money achieving?
Accountability
Jeffco promised accountability and audits with the 2018 MLO and bond. However, the Financial Oversight Committee soon stopped performing oversight, even changing its name to Financial Advisory Committee. Now the District admits that the money can’t be tracked. As far as the bond, the Capital Asset Advisory Committee oversaw a program that ran $150 million over initial cost estimates and never voiced a concern. Promised audits were not conducted.
Planned oversight for the new MLOs will be even weaker. There will be no audits. General MLO oversight will by done by a parent dominated sub-committee of the District Advisory Committee (DAC) and capital spending oversight will be performed by the same CAAC that has proven it provides no oversight.
Posting expenditure figures on websites is not a substitute for professionally performed audits.
Waste/Fiscal Mismanagement
Jeffco has an long history of fiscal waste and mismanagement. Most recently, Jeffco spent nearly $40 million on upgrades to schools that were closed shortly thereafter and $65 million in 2018 bond money on tracks and fields. It also sold the former Emory Elementary School to the city of Lakewood for far below its appraised value, among many other bad financial decisions.
Even after recently closing a large number of schools, multiple under-utilized schools remain open, costing the District both operational and capital funds to maintain.
Trust
The bottom line is that Jeffco has done nothing to restore trust and show the community that the use of funds from new MLOs will be spent any more efficiently and effectively. Most importantly, new funding from taxpayers’ pockets will not improve the dismal academic performance of kids in Jeffco.
Until Jeffco implements significant changes with real accountability, the vote must be NO.