Photo: The Hindu god Shiva.
In Hinduism, the god Shiva is known as the destroyer, playing a crucial role in the cosmic cycle of destruction, creation, and preservation.
The god Brahma embodies the power of creation. Lord Vishnu is the god of preservation, maintaining cosmic order and protecting the existing universe.
Three different gods, handling three big but different jobs.
According to Hindu scripture, the god Shiva destroys the universe at the end of each kalpa… a kalpa being equal to one day in the life of the god Brahma…about 4.32 billion years. This destruction allows for a new universe to be created.
The important metaphor here is that a new universe cannot be created unless the old universe is destroyed. That is to say, ‘destruction’ is necessary for ‘creation’ to take place, when you want to create a new universe.
Closer to home, a new PreK-8 school facility cannot be built on Vista Boulevard unless three existing downtown school buildings are abandoned, or demolished, or repurposed.
Meanwhile, we understand that new taxes can be created without the old taxes going away.
Hindus understand that our present universe will be destroyed in a billion years or so, and there’s not much any of us can do about it. But, in the meantime, we do have some control over tax increases for school facilities. At the ballot box.
The government debt for the proposed PreK-8 school facility on Vista Boulevard (estimated by the Daily Post, based on information published by New Bridge Strategy) would be about $220 million, including the interest payments on the bonds… if it were financed entirely by general obligation bonds.
Nearly a quarter billion dollars. Brand new schools are not cheap these days.
Unless you get creative, and recycle an older building.
When a group of parents started a new tuition-free charter school here in Pagosa Springs, they located the school in a former office building in the Aspen Village subdivision. Pagosa Peak Open School purchased the building using a $4 million loan, and has since spent over $2 million on repairs and upgrades.
The alternative to recycling is to build new.
If the Archuleta School District (ASD) can qualify for a Colorado Department of Education BEST (“Building Excellent Schools Today”) grant in 2027 or 2028, that grant could cover perhaps 40% of the necessary debt for a new PreK-8 facility, leaving local taxpayers to cover the remaining 60%. The voters would need to approve a property-tax-funded general obligation bond.
ASD applied for a BEST grant this year and failed to win an award. But ASD can apply every year, if so desired.
At an hour-long School Board work session earlier this month — Wednesday, June 3 — three out-of-town consultants gave the ASD Board advice about potential next steps… for example…
1. Try again for a BEST grant next spring, and if it’s awarded, ask the voters in November 2027 for the necessary 60% match, meaning a property tax increase of perhaps $159 million… or…
2. Ask the voters to approve the tax increase this November, with the increase contingent on winning a future BEST grant. If the voters approve the contingent tax-increase, then go back to BEST in 2027 with evidence of voter support.
All dollar amounts in this article are Daily Post estimates.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer Board member for Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS), our District-authorized K-8 charter school, and infrastructure upgrades at PPOS could conceivably be included in a future ASD ballot measure. This editorial expresses only my own personal opinions, however, and not necessarily the opinions of the PPOS Board or staff.
Before ASD makes a decision about massive government debt and how to potentially fund it, the School Board would like to have a better idea about how the voters feel. Back in 2011, when ASD tried to pass a bond for a similar K-8 facility, a different School Board and staff leadership were not interested in knowing, in advance, how the community felt. They were content with knowing how certain local government officials and business owners felt.
At the actual election, the bond measure lost by a 3-to-1 margin. (About the same margin that defeated a proposed $2 million PLPOA Recreation Center expansion last year.)
At the June 3 work session, the two consultants who will be guiding a voter survey for ASD — Lynea Hansen with Hansen Communications, and Kathryn Hahne with New Bridge Strategy — said they wanted to keep the work session discussion somewhat vague and to avoid revealing the actual questions that might be asked of a voter sample, because…
…well… because you wouldn’t want the surveyed voters to know the questions in advance? And have a chance to think deeply about their answers, and perhaps even share their ideas with friends?
Better, perhaps, to spring the questions by surprise?
The School Board hired Ms. Hansen and Ms. Hahne to conduct a similar voter survey last summer, prior to applying for the BEST grant in 2026. You can download a summary of the 2025 survey results here.
Last summer, a bare majority of the registered voters surveyed appeared to support a property tax increase for a new PreK-8 facility.
Only 33% of those surveyed responded “Definitely Yes”.
It sounded to me like the new 2026 poll would ask very similar questions and would strive to present a scientifically-valid picture of voter sentiments, by polling about 250 likely voters representing various demographic groups.
It also sounded to me like the survey will not ask the voters about a much more affordable solution to ASD’s facility issues.
But we can discuss that alternative solution here in the Daily Post.
Read Part Four… tomorrow…