Glowacki Urges Eagle County to Fund Teachers Over Taxes

Aspen —Will our kids still be here?

That is the question Rachel Glowacki poses in her Vail Daily opinion piece. She asks what kind of community we want to build. She asks what we are willing to invest in so children and grandchildren can thrive.

Glowacki answers with a simple fact. Her own children graduated from Battle Mountain High School. One is in college in Spain. One is in California. For nearly three decades, children have been the center of her work. She taught fifth grade in Honduras. She homeschooled. She subbed for ECSD. Now she writes books. She leads movement classes. She facilitates parenting groups for Mountain Youth.

But she is not just a parent. She sits on the Eagle County School District Board of Education. She makes this clear. She writes as a mom. As a voter. Not on behalf of the board.

Her argument rests on a metaphor. Aspen trees. They look separate. They are not. Beneath the soil, they share a root system. They support each other. The grove grows stronger together.

She applies this to our valley. She was in Edwards. She got new wiper blades. She asked the mechanic a random question. How many of his staff went to school in Eagle County?

He answered. Almost all of us.

Read that again. Almost all.

Consider the coffee shop. Consider the contractor building your deck. Consider the nurse in the clinic. Many of them are products of our public schools. The connection goes both ways. Some teachers hold second jobs. They work nights. They work weekends. They work summers. They do it to make ends meet. The cost of living is high.

This leads to the money question. Yes, Measure 5B will raise property taxes. The estimated cost is about $11 a month per $1 million of assessed value. That figure uses December 2025 assessment rates. Glowacki believes we should acknowledge that cost honestly. We should also consider what that investment supports.

The Mill Levy Override raises funds for people and programs. It pays teachers. It pays support staff. It strengthens reading, writing, and math instruction. It funds art, music, and PE. It hires mental health professionals.

The last MLO passed by Eagle County voters was about a decade ago. Costs have risen. Attracting educators is hard. Retaining them is harder. When it comes to pay, Eagle County ranks last among neighboring mountain districts. Steamboat beats us. Summit beats us. Roaring Fork beats us. Aspen beats us.

Our children sit in the classrooms. The benefits reach far beyond the walls. It touches families. It touches employers. It touches neighborhoods. It touches the future of our entire community.