Boulder County votes against early childhood special district ballot proposal

Jun. 20—The Boulder County Commissioners on Tuesday voted 2-1 not to approve a proposal to create a special taxing district to fund early childhood education.

The proposed special district would have encompassed the Boulder and Weld county areas of the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts.

Weld County approved the proposal on Monday. If both counties had approved the proposal, organizers would have needed to collect signatures to get the measure included on the November ballot.

The proposal was created by the grassroots Early Childhood Alliance group. According to the group, about 20,000 children under the age of 5 live in the service area, but only 35% meet school-readiness criteria upon entering kindergarten.

Organizers also said there aren't enough childcare spots, especially for infants, largely thanks to a shortage of childcare workers fueled by low salaries. At the same time, the average cost of early childcare programs is too high for many families at more than $21,000 annually per child.

If the measure made it on the ballot, voters would have been presented with three issues: whether to create the special district, to seat a five-member board to oversee it and to approve a property tax to fund it. The proposal was to increase property taxes by 5 mills over three years, collecting about $60 million a year at the full amount. For a homeowner, the 5 mill increase would amount to about $35 a year per $100,000 of assessed value.

Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin, who cast the dissenting vote, said she wanted to approve the proposal with conditions, including reducing the amount of the property tax increase — though organizers didn't support that idea, saying they needed the full amount to make the effort worthwhile.

Longmont City Councilman Tim Waters, who presented the proposal to the county commissioners, said $60 million still wouldn't fully cover the full need. According to an outside needs assessment, he said, the total cost required to meet the need for high quality early childhood education in the service area is close to $104 million. Current available funding is $32 million, leaving a gap of $72 million.

"This is a chance to act on your best hopes and tell those kids you don't have to wait any longer," he said.

Other concerns raised by the county commissioners and those who spoke during public comment centered on the potential for duplication of services, whether creating another governmental entity through a special district was the best way to address childcare gaps, and a lack of support from some segments of the early childhood community.

Among the dissenters was Danielle Butler, executive director of the Early Childhood Council of Boulder County. The council is charged by the state with implementing Colorado's new universal preschool program.

While there's a clear need to improve a "fractured and fragmented" early childcare system, Butler said, she's concerned a special district risks "competing with and duplicating local government structures."

Organizers responded that the money would be funneled into existing early childhood programs and wouldn't be used to construct buildings or create new systems. Their plans included subsidies to childcare providers to boost salaries and subsidies to families to reduce costs.

"It is not to duplicate or take away from any service providers," said Matt Eldred, the executive director of Longmont's TLC Learning Center and a member of the Early Childhood Alliance.

Commissioner Claire Levy said her main concerns centered around accountability for the five-person board that would oversee the special district, noting organizers answered many of her questions by saying specific details would be determined by that board.

"Fundamentally, to me, I don't think a new governmental entity is the way to do this," she said.

While the proposal ultimately wasn't approved, Loachamin said she's hoping to see area early childhood proponents continue to work on the issue and take their concerns to the state legislature in the next session.

"I'm hopeful it will move some action to the state level," she said.