FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The community is helping determine what's next for the Poudre School District after school consolidation plans released last fall were met with public outcry.
The district's Facilities Planning Steering Committee has released its first round of recommendations to the school board on possible district boundary changes, consolidations and closures.
"This is not easy work and they have chosen to step up and serve their community and to help in aiding the board of education in making what is to be a very difficult decision," district spokesperson Madeline Novey said.
"But they suggest things like changing some of the boundaries of our schools in the eastern side of the district, over east of I-25 in Timnath, where we have significant growth, to be able to relieve some of the pressure from those schools and move students more toward the western edge of the district and across in a domino effect to address declining enrollment," Novey said.
The four proposals are only the first round the committee will make, and they're by no means final.
"Nothing is set in stone yet," Novey said. "And these are really a starting point as a means of getting good robust conversation started within our PSD communities."
But changes have to be made soon to address declining enrollment and budget shortfalls in the district.
For example, Novey said the number of kindergarteners in the district has dropped from 2,000 kids to around 1,600. That leaves a big gap in steady funding without those students growing up within Poudre.
Sometimes, those enrollment shortfalls are hard to see.
"In the eastern part of our district, we are experiencing significant growth," Novey said. "However, that's really difficult to reconcile when at the same time in our schools on the western side of the district, we've been experiencing declining enrollment for years."
Compounding the issue, many of the district's buildings are older, in need of repairs estimated to cost around $1 billion.
If they're able to close some buildings, getting to needed repairs faster becomes more manageable, Novey said.
"We're able to make some of those strategic decisions and prioritize buildings for capital needs where our kids are and then be able to perhaps push off or take longer to replace or do some of the needed work we have on other buildings," Novey said.
A final consolidation plan is still months away. Novey said the changes ahead will be hard but necessary.
"But we have to address the challenges we face today in order to remain a healthy and functioning school district for the kids we have in our buildings today," Novey said.
The committee's listening sessions are open to the public. Four have already been held, and three more are scheduled for:
- 6-7 p.m. March 27: Online Zoom webinar
- 5:30-7:30 p.m. March 28 at the Lincoln Middle School cafeteria, 1600 W. Lancer Drive, Fort Collins
- 6-8 p.m. April 4, at PSD Future Ready Center, Suite 510 in the Foothills Mall, 215 E Foothills Parkway (for those who speak Spanish)
The committee is expected to propose recommendations on potential closures and consolidations to the school board in May and June. The school board is expected to vote on a final plan during its meeting June 11.
Once a plan is approved, the changes are scheduled to take effect for the 2025-26 school year.
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