Overview
- The Denver Public Schools Board voted unanimously to place the $44 million mill levy override on the Nov. 3 ballot following a Thursday meeting.
- If approved, the levy would generate about $44 million in annual property tax revenue to fund operations rather than building projects.
- The district has proposed specific uses: a flat $1,750 raise for each full-time employee, about $4 million for career and technical education, $2.9 million for student mental health, $2 million for special education, and $9.3 million set aside for charter school shares required by state law.
- The measure would raise property taxes by roughly $72 a year for the median Denver home and asks voters to permit an increase in the levy cap from 25% to 29%; DPS will run citywide outreach from August through October before the election.
- DPS leaders say the request responds to multi-year enrollment declines, rising health and utility costs, and growing special-education needs, and the district has a local history of voters approving similar overrides seven times in the past 38 years.