NOREEN: Time for District 11 to apply basic math

Colorado Springs School District 11 is doing this backwards.

For what seems like the leventy-jillionth time, the D-11 School Board is discussing school closures (tonight at 6:30 p.m.) to deal with a tight budget and declining enrollment. Closing schools is tough on neighborhoods. It's a tough political decision - one of the main reasons schools haven't been closed.

Last week, D-11 voters soundly defeated a $21.5 million mill levy override.

Maybe the economy is so tight, no tax increase stood a chance. Or maybe voters wanted D-11 to make some tough fiscal decisions before asking for more money.

For about a decade, the district has waltzed, two-stepped and otherwise sashayed around the issue of school closures. In May 2007, East Middle School was closed, but it soon re-opened as a magnet school.

The current promenade is fully adorned with a consultant's report and was preceded by an advisory panel, the School Configuration and Use Committee.

These are the usual hallmarks of school board decision-making.

Generally, when there is a shortage of political will there is a surplus of blue-ribbon committees. At the same time, we wouldn't want a school board that took school closures lightly.

If there is a line to be crossed, it sounds like school board member John Gudvangen is ready to take a step forward.

"We have to decide what's best for the kids and will it be better for the district as a whole and I think that's the point where we are," said Gudvangen, who is leaning toward school closures.

Gudvangen said proposed school closures shouldn't be linked with last week's mill levy measure because even if it had passed, the board would still be pondering closures.

Gudvangen is right on those facts. But there are plenty of conservative voters here who perceive D-11 as an ever-expanding empire, and their perceptions make for Election Day reality.

Looking at the latest consultant report, it's hard to ignore that Hunt Elementary has more than $1 million in capital needs and an enrollment far less than its capacity of 500. If Hunt's students transferred to nearby Adams Elementary, the total enrollment would still be less than the capacity at Adams, which has projected capital needs of $556,000.

The district would save half a million in the near term, plus the costs of keeping the building open.

There are other such examples among the district's 41 grade schools, but it's not just about closures. The consultant also has recommended converting two middle schools and an elementary school to K-through-8 facilities.

"I'm closer to trying to avoid closing schools because I realize how important schools are to neighborhoods," board member Tom Strand said.

Asked about the mill levy proposal, though, Strand acknowledged, "I have a lot of friends who said, ‘Until you as a board do a better job with your resources, I can't support it.'"

It is projected that in the next 10 years, D-11 will lose another 2,600 students.

Will it still have 41 grade schools? Will it still be having trouble with this basic math?

Will it still be doing things backwards?

Because leventy-jillion is a lot.

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Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears on Fridays on KOAA TV channels 5/30 and on KRDO radio 1240 AM and 105.5 FM.