Former board president opposes Denver Public Schools mill levy override, says leadership has "failed our children"
Denver Public Schools is seeking a $44 million mill levy increase this November that would go toward areas such as staff salary increases, career and tech hubs, student mental health and special education support. However, it's giving some Denver voters pause.
"The challenge for a lot of our educators is that they're overworked; they're struggling to make ends meet," said Rob Gould, the president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
Gould is in favor of Ballot Issue 4A and spoke to CBS Colorado about how desperately DPS could use the extra funding.
"Positions go unfilled because people can't afford to live and work in the city and county of Denver, and so this money will help them to retain those individuals," Gould said.
However, Theresa Peña, former board of education president, sees the ballot initiative differently — unhappy with the state of DPS and how resources from previous mill levies have been used.
"We need to teach them how to read, write, do math, take care of the social emotional needs," Peña said. "I would argue that, when you look at the data, this superintendent and this school board have failed our children."
Peña also points back to a mill levy that the 2005 school board she was a part of asked voters to approve.
"It was exclusively used for professional compensation," Peña added. " It was negotiated with DCTA and the school district, the board, the leadership, and it was specifically around student achievement, professional growth, and hard-to-serve schools."
Peña explained the compensation was supposed to be tied to outcomes, but, over the years, DPS has dropped those qualifications without voter input.
"I have no doubt it's still being used for teacher compensation, but it's not meeting the original intent of what the voters voted for," Peña said.
While Peña wants DPS to be better stewards of the money taxpayers have already given, Chuck Carpenter disagrees. He is the DPS interim deputy superintendent of operations and chief financial officer.
"We have certainly kept our promises in the past," Carpenter said. "These ballot initiatives are always like, 'We're not doing these things now. DPS community, Denver community, this is what we'd like to do. Can you support us with that?' And, if the answer is yes, we're going to go do those things. And, if not, you know, then, we won't."
CBS Colorado sat down with Carpenter after asking for several weeks to speak with Superintendent Alex Marrero on the ballot measure. Marrero's team would not grant that interview.
