DENVER (KDVR) — The Boulder Valley School District announced Friday that it would not have classes on Thursday after a large number of staff members called out for the day.
It’s because March 20th is a day of action led by the Colorado Education Association dubbed “No More Education Cuts.” A letter written by BVSD Superintendent Rob Anderson said that over 600 staff members had requested time off on the 20th, preventing the district from keeping the schools open “and operating in a safe and meaningful manner.”
“We know this presents significant hardship for our families, our goal was to share this in advance so families can make necessary arrangements,” Anderson said in its announcement.
The day will remain a workday for all school and district employees, requiring those absent to use their personal leave time. Schools will reopen as normal on Friday, Anderson said.
“The public education funding crisis will present real impacts to our school district,” Anderson wrote in his announcement. “With our governor’s proposed student count averaging change (moving from a five-year average of student enrollment to a single-year count) our school district will experience a loss of funding for next year by nearly $5 million.”
Anderson said the district administration supports the fight for fully-funded schools, and said the board of education and himself will “continue to advocate at the legislative level and will share updates at our regular public meetings.”
According to the Colorado Education Association, the Colorado Legislature is considering cutting almost $150 million to education funding because of the proposed student count averaging change, which would use student enrollment from a single year, instead of using the four-year average currently in place.
The association said that schools are underfunded by about $4,000-4,500 per student each year.