Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Jeffco
Most recents (6)
Thread: At #Jeffco board meeting, Director Miller’s questions get to the truth about the current state of the scandal ridden $800m bond program…@wsj @The74 #copolitics #edcolo #k12 #edpolicy #edchat
(1) After net $19m in costs at schools receiving students from 16 closed ES, only $34m (!) is left from $118m in bond premium ($51m was spent on athletic facilities not disclosed to voters in 2018)…
(2) About $100m from original bond proceeds is currently allocated to projects that haven’t begun, including construction of 2 new ES (!!!). This includes $17m for projects now in design phase, and $83m that haven’t begun.
Thread: If a picture is worth 1,000 words, this 1Feb23 video of the teachers union presentation to the board of @JeffcoSchoolsCo (nation's 39th largest district) is worth a million. But first, some background... #edpolicy @FoxNews #edchat #suptchat #k12 #edcolo #jeffco @WSJ
Before the union presentation, the Jeffco board spent more than an hour discussing this affluent, educated suburban district's dismal student results, which have been declining for a decade... 
Last June, the 4 (out of 5) union backed board directors approved such a large comp increase for teachers that Jeffco was plunged into financial chaos. Faced with $130m of projected deficits and reserve drawdowns, 16 ES have been closed, with more MS and HS to follow...
Thread: @JeffcoSchoolsCo is closing 16 elementary schools. More closures will be needed if we can't stem enrollment declines. Some believe these are due to falling birthrates. The data say this is only part of the story... #edcolo #Jeffco #copolitics #edpolicy #suptchat #k12
This slide shows changes in total enrollment in Jeffco schools (Neighborhood, Option, and Charter) since 2012. As you can see, the fall in Grd 1 enrollment (a proxy for birthrate declines) is much smaller than the fall due to other factors.
Let's look at enrollment changes in more detail. As you can see below, district-managed Option schools have added students since 2012.
Thread: My first take on #Jeffco's 2022 CMAS scores: Big change in demographics of test takers impart an upward bias to reported results. The real situation is worse. Read on. #edcolo #copolitics @JeffcoTranscrip @ChalkbeatCO @denverpost @ColoradoSun @boardhawk @JeffcoSchoolsCo
In 2019, before COVID arrived, 48% of Jeffco students in grades 3-8 did NOT meet state ELA standards. In 2022, that increased to 50%. The comparable numbers for math were 60% in 2019 to 63% in 2022. But the real results were likely much worse. Why?
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of valid CMAS results fell by (5,566) for ELA and (5,512) for math. But these declines weren't evenly distributed across all student groups. In 2019, only 83% of students failed to meet the CMAS math standard, vs 50% for non-FRL students...
Thread: #Jeffco parents and voters: The district's Capital Improvement Program has spent about $173 million on cost overruns, scope changes, and projects not disclosed to Prop 5B voters in 2018. Let's look at the facts. #edcolo #copolitics #edchat #k12 #edpolicy
In 2018, Jeffco voters approved the issuance of $567 million in bonds to fund a $705 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The remaining $138 million was to be provided by the annual transfer of $23 million to the district’s Capital Fund from the General Fund for 6 years.
Of the 705, 56m went to charters, $563m was to be spent on projects at district run schools, and $86m was for "Program Contingency." Each project at a district run school included a 10% "project contingency" to cover cost-overruns and scope changes. If these were > 10% ...
Thread: This afternoon #Jeffco Schools released two damning independent reports on the causes of poor achievement results and the out-of-control Capital Program. The district hid both from voters until after the election...#copolitics #edcolo #k12 #edchat
The first was @moss_adams' independent audit of Jeffco's Capital Improvement Program, which Moss finds is least $136 million over budget due to cost overruns and spending on projects not disclosed to voters:
go.boarddocs.com/co/jeffco/Boar…
go.boarddocs.com/co/jeffco/Boar…
After she was elected to the board in Nov 2019 @Miller4Students repeatedly questioned the mgmt and governance of the capital program. Until Tracy Dorland became Supe, Miller's calls for an outside audit were blocked by the union-backed board majority. This report vindicates her.
