The Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to put a $975 million bond measure — the largest in district history — on the November ballot.
If approved by voters, more than half of the money will be used for maintenance projects, including about $240 million toward air conditioning in the remaining 29 schools that still don’t have cooling.
The seven-member board passed the bond proposal without any debate.
The bond issue will also fund the following:
- $301 million for critical maintenance at 154 buildings, including mechanical, electrical, code and plumbing enhancements and renovation
- $124 million for new facilities, including building a new school — Gateway E-5 in far northeast Denver
- $127 million to upgrade 12 middle and high school performing arts hubs as well as three innovation centers and 14 athletic facilities
- $100 million to improve learning environments at 136 schools
- $83 million for safety and technology, including adding 17 secure vestibules
DPS has asked voters to approve a new bond measure every four years since at least 2012. The most recent ask came in 2020, when Denver voters passed a $32 million mill levy override to increase educator pay and a $795 million bond issue, which was used for air conditioning and other infrastructure projects.
The $466 million bond issue passed in 2012 went to improve school buildings and technology and the $572 million bond measure in 2016 went to a new elementary and middle school in northeast Denver and air conditioning in schools.
The school board also discussed its policy on school consolidation an closures, which members passed in June, during the meeting. The policy opened the door for Superintendent Alex Marrero to once again recommend school closures because of declining enrollment.
Under the policy, Marrero must propose a timeline for any school closures to the board in August and then announce which schools are recommended for closure in October, with the members voting on the proposal by November.
Marrero sent a memo to the school board earlier this month and asked for changes to the policy, which he said was challenging to implement because of how it is currently written.
The superintendent has asked the school board to pushback the timeline for a school closure proposal so that he can present a list of schools to the board in November. The reason for his request is that school enrollment data won’t be available until September and October, according to the memo.
The board voted unanimously to approve Marrero’s request to push the timeline to November.
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