Improve Jeffco Schools

A different perspective on the current state of Jeffco schools

Month: October 2021

Jeffco is falsely telling taxpayers that school projects are under budget

Jeffco Schools is lying about school bond projects being under budget

October 25, 2021 /

Jeffco’s Flipbook (and here if Jeffco deletes or changes it) is declaring multiple schools are under their bond program budget when they clearly aren’t.

I will document two of the schools here, Fremont ES and Belmar, but there are many more, including Arvada K-8, Columbine Hills, West Jeff MS, Welchester, Eiber and Semper.

Why is this happening? There are only two answers, either complete incompetence on the part of staff or a desire to mislead the public into believing the management of the program is not as bad as it really is.

Belmar – tagged with a green arrow in the Flipbook

The Flipbook states that Belmar has a budget of $1,068,000.

The current CAAC report shows Belmar costs as:

Efficiency & Future + Paving $848,999
Hazmat Costs $85,281
FF&E $382,202
Total $1,316,482

This is nearly $250,000 over budget and does not include additional costs such as security glass, site lighting, IT cameras and network upgrades.

Fremont ES

The Flipbook states that Fremont has a budget of $1,289,000.

The current CAAC report shows Fremont costs as:

Efficiency & Future Ready $1,087,700
FF&E Costs $334,083
Hazmat Costs $102,186
Total $1,523,969

or more than $230,000 over budget, not including additional costs such as security glass, site lighting, IT cameras and network upgrades.

Jeffco is lying to the public to present a picture that they are good managers and stewards of our money, when the exact opposite is true. This is not a good look.

Jeffco should fix this immediately. In addition, Jeffco should show the total costs for each school project so that voters and taxpayers can see the truth.

Jeffco CMAS Scores

How Much Pay Do Teachers Deserve?

October 17, 2021 /

Varda, Reed and Parker are running on a platform of “Paying Teachers What They Deserve”.

Obviously, they want people to believe that teachers are underpaid for what they are doing. But, what does that really mean in an era of declining results in Jeffco Schools?

In any private company I’ve ever been at a salary increase would be looked at very closely when organization objectives weren’t met. In many instances, annual increases would be limited to COLA increases or less, and it would stay that way until objectives were met.

For instance, taking last year’s DUIP, how can anyone justify salary increases when Jeffco wasn’t even close to achieving their goals, that were set during the pandemic?

Yet, Varda, Parker and Reed think that teachers “deserve’ more pay. Their definition of “deserve” is far different than mine. A salary increase above COLA would be hard to justify in my mind.

In fact, over the past 4 years teachers’ salaries have increased significantly, far outpacing the 11% Denver inflation rate.

For example, a teacher w/BA @ Step 2 and a teacher w/MA @ Step 4 would have each seen salary increases of approx. 30% including the 4 steps awarded by Jeffco. These teachers now make $51k and $61k respectively, before benefits.

Approximately 40% of Jeffco teachers have salaries over $70k and 20% make over $80k.

That’s not bad for:

  • 185 working days
  • Job Security
  • Ability to retire w/75% salary @55 & 30 years

In addition, Jeffco currently pays teachers based on their level of education along with years of service. Yet, study after study show that, with only limited exceptions (e.g. math and science), advanced degrees do not correlate to increased teacher effectiveness. (https://www.mhec.org/sites/default/files/resources/teacherprep1_20170301_2.pdf) Therefore, why is Jeffco paying more to teachers with those degrees? Do those teachers really “deserve” higher salaries? Not in my mind.

With year after year of declining education results, just how much do Varda, Parker and Reed think these teachers deserve in salary? They’re not saying, but you can be darn sure a salary increase wouldn’t be the topic of discussion on any corporate Board.

Jeffco schools is not an organization that is showing that it “deserves” salary increases for teachers and admin. It’s time to take a realistic look at total teacher compensation, not just salaries. It’s time to push back on the same old union rhetoric that teachers are underpaid because they aren’t for the results they are delivering.

And it is absolutely wrong for teacher pay to be one of Varda, Reed and Parker’s top priorities when Jeffco’s education results are so atrocious.

They aren’t a good fit for what Jeffco’s kids need now.

Jeffco Academic Growth

Jeffco Needs Accountability and Change

October 10, 2021 /

In 2017-18 the Educational Research & Design department of Jeffco Schools, led by Chief Academic Officer Matt Flores had a $23M budget. By 2021-22 that budget increased nearly 40%, $9M, to $32M.

Yet during that same time period both growth and achievement fell dramatically in Jeffco Schools.

It’s obvious that more money and continuing to keep Matt Flores as CAO are not the solutions to what is now a very real and urgent problem. Flores is responsible for these atrocious results and it is evident he doesn’t have the skills to reverse the slide that has permanently harmed 10,000s of kids.

Dorland needs to fire Flores immediately. He is providing no useful value to Jeffco. The fact that after 6 months she hasn’t already done this is a yellow flag on whether she has the ability to recognize the rot in Jeffco and the fortitude to do what is necessary.

Dorland and the Board next need to scrutinize EVERY single penny in the $32M ER&D budget. Clearly, that money is not being spent on programs that are improving achievement and growth. It’s time to find programs that work and spend taxpayers money in a manner that will truly improve the schools.

It’s time for the old, status quo, way of doing things to end. It is plainly obvious that the same people are incapable of effecting positive change. It is time for drastic and decisive decisions and actions to keep Jeffco schools from spiraling from its current state of mediocrity into the terrible category and to keep even more kids from being permanently harmed.

Taxpayers and students deserve Board members who will ask tough questions and hold Dorland accountable for big improvements, people like

Jeff Wilhite

Theresa Shelton

Kathy Miks

More money isn’t necessarily the answer to the problem. Even District staff admit that.

Yet, Parker, Varda and Reed want people to believe that repealing TABOR and eliminating the BS factor will solve all of the the District’s problems. They want people to believe that paying the same teachers even more money will somehow, miraculously, improve education in Jeffco. They want to “keep Jeffco strong”, when in fact Jeffco isn’t strong and has been on a downward trend for years. They have their heads buried in the sand.

Jeffco needs change. Parker, Varda and Reed are not going to provide that change.

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