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Benson Report: A few good petitioners needed

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Contributed by: Louise Benson on 5/10/2008

Most readers of the Benson Report are familiar with my criticism of the Boulder Valley School District, and my opinion that Broomfield, which is in six school districts, would be better off with its own school district. During my campaign for Broomfield City Council last fall, about two-thirds of the people I spoke with agreed with me.

One of the purposes of Broomfield becoming its own county was to unify the school district. But BVSD and Adams, the largest two districts serving Broomfield, did not want to give up the students (which equal money). And, the new city and county was concerned about taking on this task at the same time as the new county. So a deal was struck that Broomfield would not seek its own school district and signed an Intergovernmental Agreement with BVSD and Adams; in exchange, we got Aspen Creek K-8 and Legacy H.S. from respective districts.

What would it take to unify Broomfield's six districts? The state legislature could pass a law, or each of the six district school boards could "say bye-bye" to their Broomfield portions. Neither of these is likely to happen with our current legislature, and the students=money thought process of school boards. So it would be up to a citizen petition process to get it on the school board ballot. I proposed last fall to start with petitions in BVSD and Adams, and add the other four small pieces in the future. The main roadblock was the City's reluctance to fund a feasibility study in order to present the true benefits and costs to the potential petition signers and voters.

Currently, there is a petition drive originating in Boulder County to split BVSD into two smaller, more responsive districts, east (Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, and Broomfield) and west (Boulder and the mountains). A previous Benson Report gives the details.

I have been asked whether this split would prevent Broomfield from ever having its own district -- excellent question. The answer is, no, because the same process would still hold in the future. As the entire area grows, Louisville Lafayette, and Superior would be able to support their own district if Broomfield split off. And the Adams part of Broomfield is also growing, and by then the Legacy bond would be paid off (a realistic concern, that of taking over the Legacy bonds now). In addition, a future state legislature might be more open to Broomfield's desire for a unified district.

So, in the interests of improving at least the BVSD portion of Broomfield, I have become Broomfield's petition organizer for the drive to split BVSD. If you want to learn more, go to www.BVSDCape.org. There you will find information on why smaller districts are better for achievement and safety, and a good argument why BVSD should be "localized" into two ideally sized districts that are equivalent in student numbers and demographics. If you want to help, email me at louisebenson@comcast.net.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Louise Benson

Broomfield , CO

Louise Benson has posted 55 stories and 36 comments since joining on 3/11/2007. Louise Benson 's average story rating is 4.38.

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