Brighton 27J students & alums mobilize for school funding measure

The Brighton 27J school district has tried and failed seven times to get voters to approve a mill levy override. The goal - to fund higher teacher pay and school programs.

A community group says it's created such a disparity with other districts that operating 27J schools and providing kids with what they need to succeed isn't sustainable.

So they're enlisting those most affected to work for a different outcome this November. 

Gabriela Chavez grew up in Brighton and graduated from 27 J schools.

Now on a merit scholarship at the University of Denver, she's baffled by how different her public school education was from her roommate who went to Cherry Creek High.  She often talks to high school friends who notice the same thing in their pursuits.

"We took these advanced courses we took everything that we could and yet we feel like we're behind once we enter this bigger real world," Chavez said.

And yet Chavez feels her younger siblings already have it even worse.  She said, "There are not enough teachers in any of the schools.  I went to my sister's back to school supply drop off and there were empty classrooms and there were a lot of new teachers." 

Compared to its neighboring districts, 27J receives hundreds to thousands of dollars less per student from local property taxes.

So after failing just last year, the school board is putting a mill levy override on the ballot again this year.

And Rocky Mountain Partnership (RMP) is mobilizing current and former students like Gabriela Chavez to drive voter registrations and turnout at the polls.

RMP's Senior Director of Community Engagement Christina Amparan said, "What we have seen is that the community just doesn't have that awareness of the impacts our students and our youth are experiencing especially through the educational inequalities so a major focus will be let's arm these youth with the information so they can go in the community and help inform."

Part of the effort is to get younger voters to engage. And to clarify misperceptions about how much the mill levy override will actually cost homeowners. For a $500 thousand dollar home, it would cost 5 dollars a week, Amparan said.

27J voters last year did agree to a bond issue to build new schools and technical education facilities.  But without the mill levy override, advocates say there won't be teachers to bring the programs to life.

The mill levy overrride on the November ballot for 27J would provide nearly 18 million dollars a year for school operations. 

The growing district now serves 22 thousand students.