The Bell Policy Center
Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) is a competitive grant program established in 2008 to help Colorado’s poorest school districts. The BEST program addresses health and safety issues by providing funds to repair, rebuild or replace dangerous and dilapidated school buildings.
Some BEST Grants are paid for by leveraging revenue from the School Trust Lands and the Colorado Lottery. However, larger projects, such as school replacements or major renovations, are financed with certificates of participation, and the financing is paid back with future revenues from the School Trust Lands and the lottery.
Amendment 61 would ban the use of certificates of participation – effectively cutting off one of the main ways of financing these school construction projects.
This rebuilding project in Chaffee County is in jeopardy:
| School District | BEST Funds Awarded | Total Project Cost | Percent of Project Potentially Left Unfunded if 61 Passes |
| Salida R-32 District | $12.5 million | $30.4 million | 41% |
Salida High School needs to be replaced. The current school, built in 1922, has a great many systems and components that are beyond repair or obsolete. Fire inspections revealed numerous code violations regarding health and safety, and the Department of Education indicated that several major mechanical systems “need to be replaced,” including the sanitary waste system, fire-protection system, plumbing system and HVAC system (the pipes that heat the building also are failing). Also, roof coverings, exterior walls and windows, parking lots and sidewalks need to be replaced.
The BEST Grant would help fund the replacement of Salida High School. Click here for a detailed description of this project.
If Amendment 61 were to pass, all bets would be off regarding BEST funding. There would be no guarantee that Salida High School would receive the grant money it was awarded. Even worse, Salida R-32 District would have few resources to look to when faced with future problems like this one. By restricting local borrowing, Amendment 61 would also make it even harder for school districts to raise their own funds. This would ultimately leave students to suffer through schooldays in failing, deficient and unsafe facilities.
The Bell Policy Center • 1905 Sherman Street, Suite 900, Denver 80203 • www.bellpolicy.org
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