December 03, 2009 09:26 AM UTC

DPS Board wastes tax dollars by going to Broadmoor

• 1 Comments
• by: Mark Mehringer

In the midst of the Great Recession, and soon to face district wide budget cuts, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education is scheduled to meet tomorrow at the five star Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. (Read the agenda here, which specifies the location as the Broadmoor Resort.)

CBS Channel 4 further reports that as part of this event, the DPS Board apparently plans to meet with a marriage counselor. (See news story here).

I was shocked to learn of these poor decisions by the DPS Board and find them to be disappointing mistakes for several reasons:

First, our tax dollars are in short supply.  We have yet to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.  It is inappropriate for DPS to spend our tax dollars at a five star resort at any time, but especially in this terrible economic climate.  The DPS Board has provided yet another example of government waste, at a time when we need to shore up public confidence in the good that government can and should be doing.

Second, the DPS Board should never hold a “public” meeting outside of Denver, especially in Colorado Springs, so far from where all district residents live.  Meeting this far outside the district sends a clear message that Denver students, parents, taxpayers, and other stakeholders are not welcome.  Further, those DPS tax dollars should be spent inside the district.  Keeping those dollars closer to home will help boost the local economy, and thus indirectly help boost DPS tax revenues.  Denver has many more appropriate meeting locations that would be glad to accommodate the DPS Board’s meeting, including several hotels here in Northeast Denver.

Third, our schools need those dollars.  It is completely inappropriate for DPS to spend its dollars at a luxury resort when DPS students go to class in trailers or attend 800-1000 student elementary schools, eating lunch as early as 10:30am.  Before DPS Board Members indulge in the five star luxury of the Broadmoor Resort, they should ensure all of our schools achieve five star results.

Lastly, it is incredibly disappointing that DPS Board Members cannot show enough leadership to work through their personal differences for the benefit of DPS students, parents, and taxpayers.  If they are not up to the job, they should step aside and let someone else serve who is.  Being a DPS school board member is an important and prestigious position.  I have met several of our school board members personally and fully believe they have it in them to resolve their differences without the expense of marriage counseling or the luxury of the Broadmoor.

I urge you all to contact the DPS Board immediately and urge the board members to come back to Denver and bring as much of our money back as they can.

The email address for the DPS Board is board@dpsk12.org and their phone number is 720-423-3210.

Please be polite to the staff members who work at DPS, but please also make clear to the DPS Board that these decisions are simply unacceptable.

Sincerely,

Mark Mehringer

Denver parent and taxpayer and candidate for Colorado State House District 7