Colorado’s public schools have experienced the short end of the money stick since the 2008 recession. From 2010, annual funding has run about $950 per year per student less than obligated. The state Legislature labels the gap as the “school finance negative factor.”

That’s the crisis that many school districts want to mitigate through bond and mill initiatives on the 2016 ballot. Denver Public Schools is asking for $56.6 million in a mill increase and $572 in bond money. Jeffco is asking for a $33 million mill increase and a $535 million bond. Cherry Creek is going for a $23.9 million mill and $250 million bond.

Jeffco’s request comes soon after three conservative board members got the boot in an election recall in November 2015. The five new board members received the district’s finance plan in April and formalized the mill/bond resolutions in August, a tight time frame for citizens to review and comment.

The financing structure for the Jeffco bond, with its $987 million total price tag, caused head scratching among citizens trying to figure out how $535 million gets to almost $1 billion in repayment based on current low interest rates.

As it turns out, the bond will take 25 years to pay off rather than the usual 20. Payments in the first years will run about $20 million per year. As earlier years’ bonds end, their annual payments will be transferred to pay off the 2016 bond, increasing the district’s annual installment to $72 million and dismaying property owners who thought they would see a reduction in their taxes. If payments for the 2016 bond were evenly spread across 25 years, the debt could be paid off at $750 million, saving roughly $200 million.

Jeffco is apparently hoping that the state Legislature will add more money to per pupil funding somewhere down the line to offset the extra $200 million in interest payments. As is, those funds won’t be available for salaries or new capital needs.

Other questions concern how the bond money will be allocated. The district needs big repairs as $99 million from a 2012 bond barely addressed the $550 million in capital investment required at that time. Now the district’s projected capital needs run to $800 million.

The current bond plan allocates $100 million to move sixth-graders to middle school, $100 million for fees and cost overruns, $50 million for two new schools, and $30 million for gyms and turf fields at high schools. That leaves $270 million for roofs, HVAC, etc.

Similarly, of the $33 million mill set for operating expenses, only $12.5 million goes for salaries. School leaders say that the extra mill money is necessary to keep Jeffco compensation competitive with other districts, but that amount is not enough.

State underfunding leads school districts to come up with hodgepodge solutions to their problems. Based on the devastating 2008 recession and its aftermath, Jeffco was too cautious to ask in 2012 for the dollars it really needed to right the ship. Now it’s upped its ask, but the complicated bond repayment plan and mill allocation will make it more difficult to cover future needs. It’s a bad cycle that cannot lead to optimum results.