colorado district looking to november bond vote to fund new elementary school

Another Colorado school district experiencing unprecedented growth, owing to its proximity to Denver, hopes to build a new elementary school to accommodate a recent unprecedented increase in enrollment.

The Lewis-Palmer District 30 is based in the town of Monument, around 52 miles to the south of Denver.

While Monument has seen its population quadruple in the last two decades, from just under 2,000 to more than 8,000 people, the school district’s enrollment has more than doubled during that same period of time.

According to a study conducted earlier this year by a construction market information service called Metrostudy, the district is expected to add nearly 700 new students between now and 2024, as well as in excess of 1,500 students in the next decade.

District officials have additionally noted that portable classrooms have recently been set up at one of the middle schools and several elementary schools to accommodate the enrollment increase.

In response, members of the district’s Board of Education have approved putting on this November’s ballot a $29 million bond that will pay for the construction of an elementary school in the town’s Jackson Creek neighborhood.

As planned, the new elementary school will be built on land owned by the district to the immediate west of the Bear Creek Elementary School at 1330 Creekside Drive.

The Bear Creek facility was created to serve students from the former 60 year-old Grace Best Elementary School, which was closed in 2010.

Once the new elementary school is built, the Bear Creek school will serve middle school students. 

Voters in the district last November rejected a $36 million school facility construction bond by a 66 to 34 percent margin.

A later survey indicated that many district voters thought the ballot language for the 2018 was confusing and that the bond might be used for other purposes.

This time, the ballot’s clear language specifically states that it is a “single purpose bond” for the building of a new elementary school.

By Garry Boulard

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