Article Contributed on: 10/3/2008 1:10:00 PM
Continued voter support provides for County's students
By Pat McGraw, Chief of Staff
Thanks to local community support in 2006, Douglas County School District is now almost two years into a $200 million Bond and $5 million Mil Levy Override program. The November 2006 mil levy override allowed Douglas County School District to address reading intervention and World Language needs at the elementary level, maintain student performance and provide a per-student allocation to all schools. The bond provided for multiple new schools and sites.
At the start of the 2008-09 school year more than 4,000 elementary students were learning a world language. This year, an additional 6,000 will be exposed to world languages. Schools continue to work with their communities to determine the language they would implement. Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and French are now being offered. Remaining elementary sites will implement World Languages by 2010. Funds from 2006 also provide additional resources for Reading Recovery (RR), a reading intervention program which serves the lowest achieving 1st grade students. As a result of this program, 78 percent of non-proficient readers in 1st grade now achieve at performance expectations, and 85 percent of students with individualized reading plans in grades 3 through 10 now achieve at proficient/advanced CSAP levels. Each school also received per student dollars for local improvements, such as personnel, instructional materials, technology, equipment and the development of students and/or staff.
The 2006 bond funded construction of seven new schools, an early childhood center, two career and technical additions to high schools and a third District stadium. To date, five new schools have opened. The Legend High School Career and Technical Education Lab is expected to open in January 2009, while District Stadium #3 is Parker will likely open in August, 2009. Cimarron Middle School in Parker will be completed in Spring of 2010. The replacement for Plum Creek Academy in Highlands Ranch is estimated for completion in June, 2009, as is an Early Childhood Center in Castle Rock. The School District's 47th Elementary School (Castle Rock) is in design stages and is expected to be completed in July, 2010. Additions and remodels were also part of the 2006 bond, and are in various stages from design to construction and are expected to be completed on-time and under budget by the 2010-11 school year. Voter support of 2003 and 2006 bonds enabled DCSD to open 17 new schools to keep up with student enrollment growth in the past five years.
DCSD continues to look for ways to maximize dollars and improve student achievement. Growth is still a factor in Douglas County, with an estimated 2,000 new students expected to enroll each year for the next five years.
The Board of Education is asking voters to approve a $17 million mil levy override and $395 million bond in the November 2008 election. Additional resources are needed to maintain existing levels of programming and student achievement in DCSD. The combined cost of the 4 mil solution for both the $17 million override and $395 million bond is 33 cents a day on the average Douglas County home valued at $372,000.
For more factual information, go to www.dcsdk12.org and click on Bond/Override info.