One month after declaring a fiscal exigency, the School District 49 Board of Education on Thursday night approved staff and program cuts across the board as part of ongoing efforts to fill a multimillion-dollar budget gap during their regular meeting.  

Thirty-nine staff positions were eliminated as part of the board’s consent agenda and 12 teaching contracts were later approved for nonrenewal. The dates of the positions expiring range from the end of March to the end of June.

Ahead of approving the cuts as part of their consent agenda, one teacher, his students and district parents implored the board members reconsider.

“Do not let Sand Creek become the school that steps backward in time while programs in the rest of the world leap forward. I’m asking you tonight to re-invest in Sand Creek,” said Sand Creek High School computer science teacher Stephen Swanson, whose position was among those not to get renewed.

Swanson’s comments were followed by seven of his students who expressed the importance of his program and his teaching to them.

Ahead of their vote, each board member expressed their appreciation for the commenters and stressed the difficulty of the decision. Board President Marie La Vere-Wright called the decision “painful in every way possible” and explained that it was largely the result of changes to recent state and federal funding, which school districts rely predominantly upon.  

“It all rolls down and hits us eventually,” she said.

At last month’s meeting, Superintendent Peter Hilts explained the exigency was the result of declining student enrollment and Colorado’s new school finance act negatively affecting the district’s revenue, while inflation, health care charges and compensation have increased expenses over the past two years.

In explaining how these positions were ultimately chosen Thursday night, he said that programs like Sand Creek’s computer lab and Stetson Elementary Schools Dual Language Immersion program were chosen because of declining student enrollment or interest along with their opportunities to provide postsecondary options like Advanced Placement credits, college credits or industry certificates.

He also noted that the district doesn’t have “any fluff or fat or nonvaluable programs” currently and that options will be available going forward to offer similar programming at other district sites in a more consolidated approach.

“We’re at a point where we’re debating which things are more central, are more mission-critical, add more value (and) attract more students,” he said.

Later in the meeting, Hilts provided the board with an update on some of the additional expense reductions recently made across the district. Beyond the personnel decisions, he detailed reductions with contracted providers services and centralized data purposes.

Additional personnel reductions include secondary dean and AP positions in secondary schools, security administration, four learning services positions in addition to consolidated administrative roles and communications.