Adams 12 presents 2025–26 proposed budget, outlines bond spending plan and procurement updates ahead of June adoption

Adams 12 Five Star Schools finance staff on a recent board briefing presented the district's proposed 2025–26 budget, a quarterly monitoring report through March 31 and updates on bond proceeds, capital projects and procurement ahead of formal board action scheduled for June 4.

The presentation outlined how federal and state program assurances will be signed by the board at the June meeting and reiterated the district's maintenance-of-effort requirement for special education under IDEA. Aaron (staff member) explained that dedicated special-education funding from the state and IDEA totals about $21.4 million while instructional spending for special education in the prior year was about $47.1 million, and that the district has budgeted $40.0 million to meet the maintenance-of-effort requirement.

Why this matters: bond proceeds and restricted funds constrain how the district can use cash even when overall reserves are high, and the bond-funded capital program will drive major spending for building, IT and nutrition services projects over coming years.

District finance staff reviewed fund-balance categories and restrictions, noting that TABOR, bond redemption proceeds and food-service funds are restricted for their specific purposes and cannot be moved into the general fund. Staff said the district currently forecasts its unassigned general-fund balance at the policy minimum of about 4 percent, or roughly $18.5 million, and that liquidity and cash monitoring are done daily.

The briefing included these fiscal and program details discussed by staff: special education instructional expenditures were about $47.1 million for the last fiscal year; the state provided roughly $14.0 million in special-education funding and IDEA funds were about $7.2 million, for roughly $21.4 million in dedicated special-education revenues. Staff noted the maintenance-of-effort requirement is based on the prior-year spending level and that the board will sign assurances related to ESEA/ESSA and IDEA at the June 4 meeting.

On bonds and capital projects, staff reported the district issued $171.6 million par in late January and, after premium and costs, realized proceeds in the neighborhood of $185 million. As of the March 31 reporting date, the capital projects fund had earned about $1.4 million in interest on those proceeds. The district reported $3.0 million in encumbrances through March 31 and said spending will accelerate over the summer; remaining authorized issuance for the program was stated at about $658.4 million. Staff said bond proceeds will support projects including the Thornton High School renovation, an ERP (enterprise resource planning) implementation starting in early July, a district nutrition services center (warehouse) and roughly $5.5 million in furniture replacement for selected schools.

Procurement and project delivery were a major focus. Brenda McGee, director of supply chain management, said purchasing issued solicitations in advance of bond approval so the district could move quickly after the vote and that contracts for Thornton High School (owner's representative, architect/engineer and CM/GC) are awarded and active. McGee said the owner’s representative will act as a day-to-day liaison to help keep the large Thornton project on schedule, while financial decisions remain under district authority. “We hit the ground running,” McGee said of the purchasing department’s early solicitations.

McGee described the nutrition services center rollout as phased: first stand up the warehouse so deliveries go to a central site (reducing case costs), then later expand into kitchen-side changes. She said the change in philosophy toward a central scratch kitchen and same-day distribution will be significant and that staff will provide additional details on district plans.

On other contracts and solicitations, staff said the district issued about 47 formal solicitations during the 2024–25 monitoring period. Specific procurement highlights discussed included a multiple-vendor strategy for translation and interpreter services (to cover many schools and simultaneous events), a single responsive bid from Hudl for athletic live-streaming services (with district outreach to another vendor that declined to respond after questions) and an award to AD Miller on a mechanical contract. McGee explained the RFP evaluation process, said large bond projects used larger evaluation committees and noted that, going forward, district leadership has required price to account for at least 35 points on scoring rubrics for solicitations tied to bond projects.

Staff also flagged administrative items: the district will issue an RFP for audit services (a required competitive solicitation; issuance does not necessarily mean the auditor will change), the student fee schedule for 2025–26 has been submitted to the board for adoption, and the district plans future bond issuances in tranches over the life of the program (staff said the next issuance is anticipated in late 2027 or early 2028, subject to market conditions).

Board members asked for clarifications on special-education funding, the timing of bond issuances, how the nutrition services center will operate across schools with different kitchen models, and the owner's-rep authority; staff said they would provide requested documentation on the warehouse plan and that day-to-day construction decisions can be delegated operationally while financial approvals remain with the district. Kelly (board member) and other trustees pressed for details on contract scoring and the narrow margins between bidders; staff explained the scoring and interview steps and confirmed awards are typically made to the highest-scoring proposer unless other standardized clarifications change outcomes.

Next steps: the board will review and is scheduled to adopt the 2025–26 budget and sign required federal and state assurances at its June 4 meeting; staff will provide additional documentation on the nutrition services center and continue contract procurement and phased bond issuances as the capital program progresses.