MLO dollars support teacher and staff salary increases

The salary adjustment plan for the MLO funds to provide fair, competitive, and living wages for all employees included:

  • Restoring the “lost” cost of living step to any district employee who was hired before the 2020-21 school year and has not since changed positions.
  • Increasing the district’s minimum wage to $18 per hour.
  • Using a portion of nonrecurring MLO funds to increase the district’s starting teaching wage to $50,000 in the form of a professional wage supplement.
  • Increasing salaries for teachers, counselors, special service providers, principals, assistant principals, and other staff members whose jobs are found almost exclusively in schools or school districts to ensure they fall in the top third (67th percentile or higher) of our ten comparison districts to ensure a competitive wage.
  • Increasing the salaries for staff working in a local market to ensure they are in the 67th percentile or higher of comparable salaries for similar positions at local organizations or of our comparison school districts.

The remaining nonrecurring 12% of MLO funds reserved for other retention and recruitment efforts will be allocated towards staff housing and an employee education opportunity fund.

Pros & Cons Ballot Issue 5B

Arguments For

  • RFSD has the 3rd highest cost of living but only ranks 23rd in average teacher pay across all Colorado school districts.
  • RFSD ranks in the bottom ⅓ of per pupil funding from the State of Colorado
  • RFSD is in the middle of a staffing crisis with numerous positions unfilled and no one applying because of the low pay.
  • Current RFSD staff are frequently leaving for better paying positions or are having to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

Arguments Against

  • RFSD voters approved a mill levy in 2011 and a bond in 2015.
  • Wages have been stagnant for many people in our community, not just teachers.
  • A mill levy override will raise property taxes.
  • The mill levy alone won’t solve the state school funding problem.
Mill Levy Override

On November 2, 2021, Ballot Issue 5B passed! The Mill Levy Override will help Roaring Fork Schools address the staffing crisis.

Although it passed, several things must happen before the district receives funding. The election results must first be certified. Our actual funding amount depends on a number of factors: actual student enrollment counted during the month of October and finalized in November; property tax valuations and mill levy certifications in December; and total program funding adjustment in December. Then, after the first of the year, property tax bills go out and we will begin to receive the funds in March 2022.