Roaring Fork School District Seeks $5M Teacher Pay Boost via Mill Levy Override

“We have a goal to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and staff in our buildings,” Roaring Fork School District Superintendent Anna Cole said. “The reality is that the way school funding works in the state of Colorado makes us fall short of being really competitive in attracting and retaining a thriving team.”

That was the core message delivered Wednesday at the district’s final community forum of the 2025-26 school year. The proposal on the table is a mill levy override. It would generate an estimated $5 million annually. The money goes strictly to teacher recruitment, retention, and salary increases. Senior staff leadership gets no new dollars.

The district is already one of the lowest-funded in the state. Colorado ranks in the bottom half for per-pupil school funding. This override is meant to plug that gap.

Chief Financial Officer Christy Chicoine broke down the mechanics. She sat alongside Cole and Chief of Human Resources and Talent Aimee Brockman. They explained why locals are paying more for less. The state’s funding formula has shifted. It dumps additional requirements and state funding cuts onto local taxpayers.

“(The state) has made it overly complex,” Chicoine said.

The figures tell the story. In 2023-24, 74% of RFSD funding came from local sources. Only 26% came from the state. A tiny fraction was federal. Now, in 2025-26, the ratio has flipped. Local funding has jumped to 85%. State funding has dropped to 15%.

Chicoine said this trend has been escalating for five years. Locals are paying more money. The district is not seeing that translate into additional per-student dollars. The state is using local property tax growth to help fund its own share of the education budget.

Rising property values haven’t saved the district’s budget. Despite the increase in value, school funding has not proportionally increased. The mechanisms in the legislature have shifted responsibility, but the budget hasn’t kept up.

The district can pursue this override because of a legislative change tied to the state’s cost-of-living factor. Previously, the cost-of-living adjustment was a variable based on averages and local conditions. The state capped that variable. That cap costs the district money. Now, the state requires the district to go back to voters and ask for that funding back.

“It’s a way for us to receive that cost-of-living adjustment that we’ve effectively lost,” Chicoine explained.

The proposal allocates no dollars to senior staff leadership. This is a deliberate choice. The district wants to ensure the cash hits the classroom. It wants to improve recruitment. It wants to improve retention.

Neighbors are listening. The forum was the last one for this school year. The clock is ticking on the decision. If voters approve the override, property taxes will rise. The $5 million will be there. If they don’t, the district stays in the bottom half of the state for funding.

Read that again. The state is capping the cost-of-living adjustment. It is forcing locals to pay the difference. The district is asking for permission to collect it.

The short version is simple. Teachers need better pay to stay. The state isn’t providing enough money. Locals are picking up the slack. The question is whether voters will keep paying the premium.

Worth watching is how the $5 million is distributed. The proposal promises it will go to teachers. It promises it will go to staff salaries. It promises nothing for administrators. That distinction matters. Locals want to see their dollars in the classroom, not in the corner office.

The vote will decide if the community accepts the state’s cap. It will decide if they keep paying the premium for a system that doesn’t value their contribution.