Photo: Footprints impressed into quick-drying cement by vandals, in downtown Pagosa during the CDOT reconstruction of Highway 160, November 2025.
Some people want to make a mark of some kind in the world, but the type of mark varies widely.
On occasion, it falls to the rest of us to remove the marks made, when they don’t suit our expectations, or needs and desires. Sometimes that requires a totally new sidewalk.
We’re going to continue discussing Archuleta School District’s plan to establish a property tax increase next year — with voter approval — to build a new PreK-8 school building somewhere in Pagosa Springs. As I suggested previously, once the voters or elected officials establish a new fee or tax… or an increase to an existing fee or tax… that fee or tax rarely goes away.
In the case of a bond issue to build a new school, however, the related property tax increase does indeed have a termination date, once the bond has been paid off. In 1996, Archuleta School District voters approved a $12 million bond to build the Pagosa Springs High School, which opened its doors in 1998. ASD borrowed the $12 million from bond holders, and local property taxes gradually paid off the debt.
ASD has now paid off the High School bond. From here on, the District will need to properly maintain the High School out of its regular budget. Any upgrades will come from its regular budget, as well. Any emergency repairs will come out of its regular budget.
As we all know, building maintenance can become more expensive, as a building ages. But a school district’s regular budget doesn’t necessarily increase as its buildings get older. Rather than struggle to maintain and repair and upgrade old buildings, it’s not uncommon for a school district to ask voters to fund a brand new school — to be funded with a brand new general obligation bond. The new building will then require very little maintenance that must be funded out of the district’s regular operations budget.
The cost of maintaining older buildings puts financial stress on a school district.
Building a new school shifts the stress onto the taxpayers.
There are other reasons, however, why taxpayers might wish to approve brand new school buildings, instead of maintaining and upgrading the old buildings. Education, like other businesses, goes through fashions. One year, the fashion might be “open classrooms” and the school might tear down interior walls to accommodate that style of teaching. Another year, the learning model might require more online instruction, and some of the classrooms might be converted into computer labs.
More physical education might be called for, and a new gymnasium might be needed.
In the case of ASD’s only authorized charter school — Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) — the former office building in which PPOS operates never had a gymnasium, and still has no gymnasium. Would the Archuleta County taxpayers be willing to help fund a gymnasium for PPOS? That question could conceivably be placed before the voters next November, as part of a bond issue measure from ASD for a proposed PreK-8 school building.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer member of the Pagosa Peak Open School school board, but this editorial reflects only my own opinions and not necessarily the opinions of the PPOS board or staff.
As mentioned yesterday in Part Three, the ASD Master Plan Advisory Committee (MPAC) listened to a presentation on site development costs this past Monday evening, for two possible school locations. The questions and comments from the committee members made it fairly clear that certain members favored a new school adjacent to the existing High School, while other members favored a new school on ASD’s 37-acre parcel on Vista Boulevard.
Each site has advantages, and its disadvantages, in terms of costs and topography. The social and cultural aspects were not part of the presentation by SGM Engineering, even though we might believe those are the most important aspects.
You can download a summary of the SGM conclusions here. SGM provided additional details at the Monday evening meeting, which generated lively comments and questions from the MPAC group.
At the end of the meeting, ASD Superintendent Rick Holt addressed the 30 people in the room, and asked if the participants were leaning towards the High School location or the Vista location, after hearing the consultants’ presentation. A handful of participants indicated a preference for the High School site, and a similar number raised their hands for the Vista site. The remaining participants did not express a preference.
Mr. Holt made it clear that this expression of opinions from the group was “just information for the School Board”… all of whom were in the room and had heard the presentation. The Board would be discussing the two proposed locations at meetings scheduled for December, in preparation for a BEST grant application due at the beginning of March.
A state-funded BEST (“Building Excellent Schools Today”) grant could possibly fund a portion of the estimated $125 million cost for a new school building. The rest of the cost would come from increased property taxes in Archuleta County.
Mr. Holt encouraged the MPAC participants to continue sharing their ideas with the School Board.
“As as community member, you have access to the Board. You can share your thoughts… The Board allows public comments at every Board meeting… You’re fully welcome to submit written comments, emails, all of those are valid ways…”
You can download a summary of teh SGM research here.
A participant asked if the School Board would be making public the criteria they are using to pick a location, and Mr. Holt assured her that the selection process would be fully transparent.
“I know there’s not an answer here [in terms of which location] that makes our entire community excited. What I do hope makes our entire community excited is a new school for our students to attend — safer, healthier, has better learning environments, that helps us retain teachers, that maybe draws some of the kids back into the public schools…”
ASD has seen flat or slightly declining enrollment the past few years, for reasons that are unclear. More homeschooling? Families leaving the community?
Colorado school districts are funded based on enrollment, so it’s a typical district goal to increase enrollment — if possible.
Mr. Holt:
“I have no illusion that everyone in this room will think the Board has made the right [location] choice. It’s just the nature of making tough choices…”
MPAC chair Lisa Scott concluded the meeting by urging the participants to actively advocate for the new school throughout the community.