Like many of Colorado’s school districts, particularly those in rural areas, Hinsdale County School District RE-1 in Lake City keeps its classrooms humming with a bare-bones, but scrappy, staff.
There’s the English teacher who also instructs AP courses and offers drama and personal finance classes; the social studies teacher who also teaches concurrent enrollment classes so high schoolers can earn college credits; and the school counselor who doubles as a licensed teacher, managing courses in cybersecurity, career and technical education and concurrent enrollment.
Not only is the district light on educators and school support staff. It is also staring down the barrel of a very tight budget year, as Gov. Jared Polis and lawmakers face the pinch of the state budget with deficit demanding painful cuts.
Under projections from Polis’ most recent budget proposal, Hinsdale County School District would suffer a 13.8% hit to its $2 million budget, losing $284,177 in state funding. Other small districts in rural and urban parts of the state are up against similarly worrisome — or worse — funding slashes.
The governor’s budget is just a request. The six-member Joint Budget Committee writes the final spending plan, and the rest of the legislature has final say. But while lawmakers say they want to minimize cuts to K-12, top Democrats have also signaled a willingness to incorporate some of Polis’ proposed cuts.
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