Seigel presented his plan to board members at a work session Wednesday. The bond also would pay for an array of building improvements, along with repairs to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The referendum would pay for an unspecified number of teachers and school personnel for literacy and other academic efforts. But it will also ensure Boulder Valley students will improve academic performance for years to come, Seigel said. School officials have been considering a bond issue for nearly two years.
Planners say it is needed to address classroom overcrowding in eastern Boulder County schools.
A referendum, meanwhile, is seen as a way to pump more money into school programs. Such an injection is needed school officials say because increases in state funding have not kept pace with the actual cost of education. The exact amount the schools should ask voters to approve, however, has been open to debate. Parents in Louisville assailed the idea because it also called for the conversion of Louisville's Monarch K-8 into a middle school. Planners said growth patterns in Louisville would no longer support a K-8.