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Adams 12 presents $39.42 million mill levy override proposal; board to vote next week on placing measure on Nov. 4 ballot
Summary
District staff presented a $39.42 million mill levy override proposal and asked the board to consider placing it on the Nov. 4 ballot at a special meeting next week.
District leaders presented a $39.42 million mill levy override (MLO) plan Tuesday night and asked the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education to consider placing the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.
“Last year we cut $27.5 million from our budget — it was painful — and about 150 jobs in this system are no longer here,” the district presenter stated while outlining why the override is necessary. The proposal, staff said, addresses three investment areas: safety and student mental health, 'world-class' staff and compensation, and programming including career and technical education (CTE) and STEM expansion.
The presenters told the board Adams 12 ranks near the bottom among 15 nearby districts for local override dollars per pupil and estimated that the district faces roughly a $50 million cumulative disadvantage in available local revenue. “We get a little over $2,000 per student through our local mill levy overrides,” the presentation said, and district staff contrasted that with peers to explain recruitment and program gaps.
Polling data from Magellan Strategies, presented by Joe Ferdani, showed 941 voters surveyed with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. An uninformed ballot test showed 55% yes support; after respondents received information about the district’s financial shortfall and program needs, support rose to about 56% in the district’s weighted odd-year electorate sample.
Staff said the MLO includes an estimated $3.6 million portion for charter schools and that the projected tax impact would be about $34 a month for a homeowner of a median assessed home valued at $661,000 (assessed value as of Dec. 2024). Presenters said more detailed line-item breakdowns and staffing counts for new programming will be provided to the board before the formal vote.
Board members asked for additional detail on the number of hires that would be needed to staff newly built CTE spaces, clarifications about how dollars will be distributed to charters, and more specificity on planned hires for safety and mental-health services. Presenters agreed to provide supplemental materials and said some of that information was already included in the meeting packet.
Next steps: staff confirmed they will place the mill levy override resolution on the next meeting agenda and the board is expected to vote next Wednesday on whether to place the measure on the Nov. 4 coordinated ballot.
