Dear Editor:
I am currently serving as Archuleta School District Board President, but I am writing to express my personal opinions, not those of the Board.
Local schools say a lot about a community and reflect some of our deepest values. We are fortunate to have excellent schools in Pagosa because we have dedicated and highly capable teachers, excellent administrative leaders and parents who care deeply about their children’s education. We also have aging buildings that require an exceptionally large percentage of the operating budget just to maintain. The buildings that serve our pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students have limitations and constraints that the annual maintenance budget does not address. Windowless rooms and poor drop-off and pick-up locations are just two aspects of the buildings that are sub-par.
With the upcoming ballot measure 5A, we have a chance to come together as a community and build facilities that reflect a community priority, providing the best educational experience for our children. The vibrancy of a community is tied directly to the overall quality of its schools. New families are drawn to towns that invest in kids. Even if you do not have children in school now, I certainly don’t, we all benefit when we have a thriving school system and active parents operating businesses, working here, and lending a hand to all we do as a community.
This bond measure has a unique feature that we have never had before. The tax will only occur IF the district is able to win a BEST state grant of 50 million dollars. We will be able to build a new prek-8 school with a 40% contribution from the state of Colorado now. No one can say for sure if these funds will be available in the future.
The last time our community approved a ballot measure to build a new school was in the mid 1990’s. That great “new” high school is almost 30 years old and that building debt has long since been paid off. Let’s come together and build a new school to serve our children for years to come.
Bob Lynch
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