Denver Public Schools Could Ask Voters to Approve a $44 Million Tax Increase

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat Colorado.

Denver Public Schools is considering asking voters in November to approve a $44 million tax increase to benefit the city’s schools at a time when enrollment and funding are uncertain.

How that $44 million would be spent is an open question, district officials said. But the district plans to float several options at a series of community meetings starting this week.

Attendees will be asked to prioritize the options, which include:

• Pay raises for all DPS staff.
• Bigger pay incentives for teachers and other staff to work at high-poverty schools where 60 percent or more of students qualify for subsidized school meals.
• Bigger pay incentives for teachers and other staff to work in hard-to-fill roles, such as high school math teachers, bilingual teachers, school psychologists.
• Reducing employee health insurance premiums.
• Funding for career and technical education, including classes in aviation mechanics, animation, welding and more that will be offered at new regional hubs.
• Funding for teacher training and alternative teacher licensure programs that allow aspiring teachers to work for DPS while earning a degree.

If voters say yes, it would increase property taxes by about $77 per year for a Denver home valued at $630,000, the median home price in the city.

Denver voters consistently approve tax increases for schools

Like many districts in Colorado, Denver Public Schools is facing serious funding pressures. Lower birth rates and higher housing prices are causing the district’s enrollment to drop, which means it could get less per-pupil funding from the state. Federal funding uncertainties coupled with a tight state budget puts the district in a precarious position, officials said.

The district’s health insurance and utility costs are rising, officials said. And an increase in the number of students with disabilities has meant the district is spending more to support them.

Denver voters have a track record of approving school tax increases. In 2024, voters approved a $975 million bond measure to benefit DPS. Four years earlier, voters had approved both a $795 million bond measure and a $32 million mill levy override.

Bond measures are used to build new schools or renovate existing ones. Mill levy overrides pay for programming. Past overrides have funded elementary school art teachers, tutoring programs, and increased mental health services for students, for example.

Voters’ past generosity meant DPS was already raising the maximum amount of override funding allowable under state law. But two years ago, state lawmakers increased the cap. DPS can now raise an amount equal to 29 percent of its state funding, up from 25 percent.

In real dollars, that’s an estimated $332 million, up from $288 million, according to a district presentation. DPS has about 89,000 students and a total budget of about $1.5 billion.

Not all Colorado school districts are as lucky. Many struggle to convince voters to approve tax increases, creating vast inequities in school funding across the state.

The Denver teachers union supports another mill levy override. It was even part of the union’s last contract with the district, signed last year. The contract included a memorandum of understanding in which the district acknowledged that educators “serve a vital role” and agreed to consider asking voters in 2025 or 2026 to raise taxes. Overrides can help pay for teacher salaries.

DPS has tasked a nine-member committee with recommending whether to put a mill levy override on the November ballot and how the money should be spent. That committee will consider feedback from attendees at six regional meetings. The meetings are scheduled for:

• Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Gust Elementary
• April 27, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Westerly Creek Elementary
• May 4, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Holm Elementary
• May 6, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Trevista at Horace Mann
• May 12, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Responsive Arts & STEAM Academy
• May 14, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Whittier ECE-8

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education.