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APS Community:

I would like to share two important decisions the APS Board of Education made at its meeting last night.

Blueprint APS
As we have shared with you over the past several years, Blueprint APS is the district’s long-term plan to create more district-run college and career choice options. The plan seeks to bring intentionality and equity to how APS directs its resources to serve families. To accomplish this, APS will need to repurpose buildings throughout the district. Our initial focus for repurposing recommendations was for regions 2,3 and 6. Thank you for your patience and dedication as we work to fulfill our community’s Blueprint APS vision for the future.

During its meeting on 1/19/2021, the Board approved the following Blueprint APS recommendations:

Region 2

• Construct a new P-8 school in the Green Valley Ranch-Gaylord region (tentatively planned to open for the 2023-24 school year)
• Construct a new educational facility (potential magnet) in the new Horizon development (tentatively planned  to open for the 2024-25 school year)

Region 3

• Replace Lyn Knoll Elementary School with a new boundary P-8 school (close Lyn Knoll at the end of the 2020-21 school year) (plan to open new P-8 school in the 2023-24 school year)
• Repurpose Sixth Avenue Elementary School for an alternative use (effective for the 2023-24 school year)
• Repurpose South Middle School for an alternative use (transition begins in the 2021-22 school year and is complete after current South students transition to high school for the 2023-24 school year)
• Realign elementary and middle school attendance areas

Region 6

• Repurpose Century Elementary School for an alternative use (close Century at the end of the 2020-21 school year) (repurposing begins 2021-22 school year)
• Realign elementary school attendance areas

To support this work, the Board approved the reallocation of the 2016 Bond Contingency Budget (approximately $72.3 million). 

It is important to note that there are two additional construction projects already in progress that are part of the 2016 bond program:

• Partially replace and remodel East Middle School (in process)
• Remodel Virginia Court Elementary School (in process)

In addition, district leaders are also planning to convert two schools into magnet schools as part of Blueprint APS implementation:

• Repurpose Peoria Elementary School, Educational Services Center 4 and Aurora Central High School as a K-12 Magnet Campus in the Visual Design & Performing Arts region (scheduled to open for the 2022-23 school year) 
• Repurpose Wheeling Elementary School as a magnet school in the Entrepreneurship & Invention region (effective for the 2022-23 school year)

We have shared our plans with parents/guardians and staff members from affected schools in these regions.

2021-22 District Calendar Approved by BOE
The Board also approved the 2021-22 district conventional calendar. Below are a few highlights for the 2021-22 school year: 

• First Days of School: Students in grades 1-12 will have a simultaneous start on Aug. 12. As we have done in the past, preschool and Kindergarten students will start school the following week on Aug. 18.
• Fall Break: APS will have a three-day Fall Break held Oct. 13-15, with Oct. 13 slated as a student non-contact day and teacher work day. It occurs at the end of the first quarter to ensure uninterrupted learning. Please note that Oct. 18 is also slated as a student non-contact day and teacher work day.
• Thanksgiving Break: As with the current school year, APS will maintain a full week of Thanksgiving Break for students, which will be held Nov. 22-26.
• Winter Break: APS will continue to hold Winter Break at the end of December and the beginning of January. It will be held Dec. 17-Jan. 3, with Dec. 17 and Jan. 3 slated as student non-contact days and teacher work days.
• Spring Break: APS will hold Spring Break March 11-18, with March 11 being a student non-contact day. It occurs at the end of the third quarter to ensure uninterrupted learning.

Please note that APS will use this calendar regardless of whether APS is back to fully in-person learning or if we remain in a remote, hybrid or cohort learning model. Visit aurorak12.org/calendars to view this calendar and individual school calendars.

Thank you for your support as we work together to ensure that every student shapes a successful future.

- Superintendent Rico Munn 

Story excerpt:

"Among a dire statewide economic crisis and budget cuts created by the pandemic crisis, historic teacher salary boosts and a stipend program for high-turnover positions are now a reality in Aurora Public Schools.

The APS Board of Education unanimously gave a sweeping teacher pay plan its final seal of approval Tuesday night as part of finalizing this year’s contract negotiations between the Aurora Education Association teacher union and the district.

The pandemic cut short those negotiations, and revenue shortfalls brought on by recession conditions pulled about $25 million in state funding from the district budget, The Sentinel reported last week.

Even so, the school board signed off on a plan to put an additional, approximate $10 million every year into teacher pockets. The plan involves directly raising salaries and sending annual stipend checks to teachers and specialized employees in 'hard-to-staff' positions. District officials have said they already budgeted the money into next year’s financial plan, thanks to a 2018 mill levy override voters approved in part to give teachers raises.

From that pot of money, APS will now invest about $7 million into teacher salaries each year for the foreseeable future."

• Read the full Sentinel story

Any person paying school taxes in said District may, at any time prior to the final adoption of the budget, file or register objections via email to the Assistant to the Board of Education at cpaz@aurorak12.org.

APS BOARD OF EDUCATION
Joint School District No. 28-J of the Counties of Adams
and Arapahoe, Colorado
Debra E. Gerkin
BOE Secretary

Dear Aurora Public Schools Families,

I would like to provide you with updates that were shared with the APS Board of Education last night. This included possible changes to the 2016 bond program. The Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) voted unanimously to recommend a pause on six capacity-building bond projects with a combined budget of $28.5 million. The CBOC recommended pausing the following projects to the APS Board of Education: 

• Early Childhood Education additions at Paris Elementary School and Boston P-8 School
• Classroom additions at Aurora West College Preparatory Academy and Aurora Central High School
• Building replacement for Lyn Knoll Elementary School
• Early Childhood Education building on the Sable Elementary School campus

Shortly after the bond program was approved in 2016, the district started experiencing sharp declines in enrollment in the areas where these schools with projects are located. The CBOC does not believe it would be a good use of taxpayer dollars to construct these capacity-building projects as originally envisioned.

The total adjustments that the CBOC recommended included moving funds from net savings on projects, facilities repair projects, IT projects and the bond contingency fund. These shifts would result in a $74 - $82 million contingency fund for Blueprint APS implementation. Many of you are familiar with Blueprint APS, which is the district’s long-term educational and facilities planning process. With strong community voice and support for more district-run college and career choice programs, the APS community designed a long-term plan that includes providing more choice options through seven unique regional specializations. 

Regional specialization recommendations were also presented to the Board last night. The top choice for the seven specializations included: One Health; Business Management and Hospitality; Visual Design and Performing Arts; Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM); Technology, Engineering and Design; Entrepreneurship and Invention; and Project-Based Learning. For more information on some of these specializations, please review both the presentation and appendix.

As APS responds to these significant enrollment changes to better support college and career choice opportunities through specializations, APS will be repurposing buildings throughout the district. Originally, the work to identify repurposing opportunities in Region 3 was set to start this year. However, due to the district’s ongoing response to COVID-19, that work has been postponed until the fall.  

The APS Board of Education is expected to vote on the CBOC’s recommendations as well as the regional specializations at their next meeting on June 9. As a reminder, you can always watch the live stream and review the meetings, agendas and materials yourself on our website. 

To provide public comment, please email written comments to Claudia Paz-Blossick, assistant to the APS Board of Education, at cpaz@aurorak12.org. All public comments will be provided to the Board and will be posted with the minutes of each meeting.

We will continue to provide you with updates throughout the summer. Thank you for your continued support.

- Superintendent Rico Munn

Especializaciones regionales de Blueprint APS y recomendaciones para suspender los proyectos financiados con los bonos escolares de 2016

Estimadas familias del Distrito de las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora,

Me gustaría proporcionarles con la información reciente que se compartió anoche con el Consejo Directivo de Educación de APS, que incluye posibles cambios con el programa de bonos escolares (bond program) de 2016. El comité de supervisión (Citizens Bond Oversight Committee / CBOC) realizó una votación en la cual unánimemente favorecieron recomendar que se suspendan seis proyectos financiados con bonos escolares que tenían el objetivo de aumentar la capacidad de los edificios escolares. El presupuesto total de estos seis proyectos es de 28.5 millones de dólares. El CBOC recomendó al Consejo Directivo de Educación de APS que se suspendan los siguientes proyectos: 

• Las ampliaciones en Paris Elementary School y Boston P-8 School para ser sedes de programas de Educación de la Primera Infancia (Early Childhood Education)
• El aumento de salones en Aurora West College Preparatory Academy y Aurora Central High School
• Reemplazo del edificio de Lyn Knoll Elementary School
• El edificio de Educación de la Primera Infancia en el recinto escolar de Sable Elementary School

Poco después de que se aprobara la medida de bonos escolares en el 2016, el distrito comenzó a notar una disminución marcada de matrículas en las áreas donde se encuentran estas escuelas con proyectos escolares. El CBOC considera que no sería un buen uso del dinero de los contribuyentes construir estos proyectos de aumento de capacidad de los edificios, tal como se había planeado originalmente.

El total de ajustes que recomendó el CBOC incluye mover fondos de ahorros netos de los proyectos, proyectos de reparación de las instalaciones, proyectos de Tecnología de Información (IT) y el fondo de contingencia de los bonos escolares (bond contingency fund). Estos movimientos resultarían en un fondo de contingencia de 74 a 82 millones de dólares para implementarse de acuerdo al plan Blueprint APS. Muchos de ustedes ya tienen conocimiento de el plan Blueprint APS, nuestro Plan Maestro de largo plazo para la educación y las instalaciones. Con gran apoyo y voz por parte de la comunidad a favor de tener más programas de opciones de carrera y estudios universitarios que son administrados por el distrito, la comunidad de APS diseñó un plan de largo plazo que incluye más opciones por medio de siete especializaciones regionales individuales. 

Las especializaciones regionales que fueron recomendadas también se presentaron ante el Consejo Directivo anoche. Las opciones preferidas para las siete especializaciones incluyen: One Health; Administración Hospitalaria; Diseño Visual y Artes Escénicas; Ciencias, Tecnología, Ingeniería, Artes y Matemáticas, conocido como el modelo STEAM (por sus siglas en inglés); Tecnología, Ingeniería y Diseño; Iniciativa Empresarial e Invención; y el Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos. Para más información acerca de estas especializaciones, haga clic aquí y revise la presentación y el apéndice.

A la medida que APS se va adaptando a estos cambios considerables con las cifras de matrícula y con el objetivo de apoyar mejor las opciones de carrera y estudios universitarios por medio de estas especializaciones, APS estará reutilizando edificios a través del distrito. Originalmente, teníamos previsto iniciar este año con el trabajo de identificar las oportunidades de reutilización para la Región 3. Sin embargo, debido a la respuesta del distrito hacia el COVID-19, ese trabajo se ha postergado hasta el otoño.  

El Consejo Directivo de Educación de APS espera realizar una votación sobre las recomendaciones del CBOC y las especializaciones regionales en su próxima reunión el día 9 de junio. Les recordamos que pueden ver en línea las transmisiones en vivo de las reuniones, junto con las agendas y los materiales, por medio de nuestro sitio web.

Si desean hacer comentarios públicos, por favor, envíenlos por escrito a Claudia Paz-Blossick, asistente del Consejo Directivo de Educación de APS, a la siguiente dirección de correo electrónico: cpaz@aurorak12.org. Todos los comentarios públicos se presentarán ante el Consejo y se publicarán junto con el acta de cada reunión.

Continuaremos proporcionándoles actualizaciones a lo largo del verano. Gracias por su apoyo constante.

- Superintendente Rico Munn

These RDTs will be made up of current parents, community members, secondary (grades 6-12) students or recent alumni, school leaders, teachers and other school staff members. An APS Board of Education member will also be assigned to each Regional Design Team. The teams will work collaboratively to develop three proposals for regional specializations to present to the Long Range Facilities Advisory Committee.

RDTs will meet twice monthly beginning in October 2019 to February 2020. Please note that Regions 2 and 3 will also be meeting regularly from April to June to complete work on Charge 2. 

For more information about Blueprint APS and to submit an application to be on a RDT, please visit aurorak12.org/about-aps/blueprint-aps.

PLEASE NOTE: Applications are now closed.

We are pleased that Aurora voters overwhelmingly approved Ballot Measure 5A, a $35 million mill levy that will support student health, safety and learning.

The mill levy will ensure student success by investing in the following key areas:

• Expanding staff and training dedicated to student mental health
• Increasing pay to recruit and retain high quality teachers
• Expanding after-school learning programs for K-5 elementary students
• Adding seat belts on school buses

We are grateful to our community for their continued support to ensure that every student shapes a successful future. 

Please visit our mill levy page to learn more about the 2018 mill levy. 

Read the full message about passage of the Mill Levy Override from Superintendent Rico Munn.

APS:

I hope you are able to enjoy some time off with family and friends this summer. I am writing to provide you with an update on our budget for the coming school year.

On Tuesday night, the APS Board of Education approved our budget for the 2018-19 school year. Our 2018-19 general fund appropriation reflects an increase of $6.7 million from the 2017-18 school year to $365 million. This is mostly thanks to a favorable state legislative session that included a buy down of the negative or budget stabilization factor. In addition, district divisions reduced their budgets by 3 percent or approximately $2.7 million.

However, funding challenges continue for school districts across our state as K-12 education funding in Colorado still lags well below the national average. In addition, continued declining enrollment in APS has negatively impacted our budget and will likely continue to do so for several more years.              

This year, the APS Board of Education and Leadership Team identified several key budget priorities for the upcoming school year. These priorities allow us to strategically allocate our resources to the important work we need to do to support students to shape successful futures.

As part of our human capital work, we prioritized budgeting for compensation increases for all staff. This means the following for our employee groups:

• For licensed employees, each cell of the Licensed Salary Schedule will increase by $1600 effective the start of the 2018-19 contract year. Educational Lanes will be provided to eligible employees effective the start of the 2018-19 contract year. Experience step increases will be provided to eligible licensed staff effective January 1, 2019. This step increase is not retroactive to the start of the 2018-19 school/contract year.
• Classified staff will receive a 2.93% General Salary Increase (GSI) effective July 1, 2018 through an adjustment to the Classified Staff Salary Schedule. Effective January 1, 2019, eligible Classified Staff will receive an experience step increase as outlined in policy GDBA, Classified Salary Schedule. This increase is not retroactive to the start of the 2018-19 school/contract year.
• Administrator and Professional/Technical staff will receive a 2.93% General Salary Increase (GSI) effective July 1, 2018 through an adjustment to the Administrator and Professional/Technical Salary Schedule. Effective January 1, 2019, eligible Administrator and Professional/Technical staff will receive a salary increase as outlined in policy GCBB-R, Administrator and Professional/Technical Staff Compensation. This increase is not retroactive to the start of the 2018-19 school/contract year.

To improve our teaching and learning resources, APS is adopting and implementing new curricular resources to strengthen instruction and further drive student growth and achievement. APS is implementing new curricular resources for math, literacy, world language and health instruction.

We are also investing additional resources in our equity work to engage students in ways that are relevant to their lived experiences and identify and address inequities in our teaching and learning environments. Part of this work includes creating a Central Language Services Office to better support the needs of our multilingual families. The office will support and train school staff in accessing translation and interpretation services as well as ensure greater cost efficiency by leveraging economies of scale in centrally contracting for language services.

It is also important to support the wraparound needs of our students by increasing mental health supports. Next year, we are allocating additional funds for mental health staff to support students in affective needs classrooms as well as students with mental health support identified on their Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs).

As a district, we have made noteworthy gains in student growth and achievement over the past several years. In order to maintain momentum, we are investing additional funds for teaching partners who provide instructional support and coach teachers under the direction of school principals. Teaching partners are instrumental in helping our teachers develop content knowledge and strengthen instructional skills.

Lastly, to improve services to students with diverse academic needs, we are launching APS Avenues. This will transition our existing APS Online and Rebound services to a single blended platform of services. APS Avenues will serve students who have dropped out, are at-risk of dropping out and students who will likely experience greater academic and social success in a smaller and more individualized learning environment. It will also allow students to remain enrolled at their home school and be part of that home school community if desired.

Thank you for your work in supporting our students and families. I look forward to a great 2018-19 school year.

Rico Munn
Superintendent
Aurora Public Schools
303-365-7800

“My job is to accelerate learning for every APS student, every day.  I do my job by making sure we have the right people, doing the right work, with the right resources in the right way.  My community needs me to do my job.”

For this meeting, there were two major topics which occupied significant time: a community proposed resolution; and, the draft budget.

The Board heard from several speakers representing our community who asked the Board to adopt a resolution regarding our immigrant and refugee families. The Board discussed the proposal and agreed to consider the draft of such a resolution at its May 16th meeting. At the May 16th meeting the Board will discuss a draft document and consider whether or not to move it forward for a vote at a subsequent meeting. 

The Board also received a presentation of the draft budget. At this point, the draft budget is based upon numerous assumptions about projected student count and what will happen with the State budget. As you might know, the State budget has been in a significant state of flux over the last few weeks. Accordingly, there are shifts expected in the draft budget ahead of its final presentation to the Board in June.

As always, you can find the Board presentations and minutes on our website.

Rico Munn
Superintendent
Aurora Public Schools
303-365-7800

“My job is to accelerate learning for every APS student, every day.  I do my job by making sure we have the right people, doing the right work, with the right resources in the right way.  My community needs me to do my job.”

As part of our strategic budget redesign process, we continue to review past practices and think differently about how to align our resources to our work.

We want to thank the hundreds of students, parents, staff and community members who provided feedback during our recent budget open houses. We value your time and thoughtful consideration. After reviewing the feedback, it is clear that, among other things, our community values the following:

• Maintaining opportunities for our youngest learners
• Providing a well-balanced education including extracurricular opportunities for students
• Having a minimal impact on school budgets and classrooms

As a reminder, you may review the feedback from our budget open houses here. Your feedback will help inform the next steps of our work as we evaluate our available resources.

As we move forward in our budgeting process, there are still many moving parts to consider that are outside of APS’ control including the level of Read Act funding, the impact of the Gallagher Amendment on the per pupil revenue allocation and the likely increase of the Negative Factor. State officials plan to provide an updated budget forecast in March, which will greatly impact our budget landscape for the next school year. These moving parts may impact our revenue and expenditures, so it is vital for us to have flexibility in how we respond to these factors.

To help inform our process, the APS Leadership Team is asking the APS Board of Education for guidance on our staffing ratios for the 2017-18 school year. In order to maintain the flexibility needed to respond to budgetary impacts, we are asking the Board for a ceiling on a possible staffing ratio increase. We are recommending that staffing ratios increase no more than 1.25 from the current staffing ratios.

To be clear, the APS Leadership Team is not, at this time, asking the Board to increase staffing ratios. At this time, we are seeking guidance around an acceptable range that can be used as we factor in the other moving parts mentioned above. The goal will be to use as little, if any, of that range as we get more clarity on the state budget. The final staffing ratio recommendation will not be made until late March or early April.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Rico Munn
Superintendent
Aurora Public Schools
303-365-7800

“My job is to accelerate learning for every APS student, every day.  I do my job by making sure we have the right people, doing the right work, with the right resources in the right way.  My community needs me to do my job.”

For the past several months, APS has been engaged in a strategic budget redesign for the 2017-18 school year and beyond. As part of the redesign, we are asking staff, parents and community members for your feedback. We want to know how you think we can better use our limited resources to serve our students and families.

Please join us for one of the following budget open houses:

Thursday, Jan. 19
6 p.m.
APS Professional Learning and Conference Center
15771 E. 1st Ave., Aurora, CO 80011 

Saturday, Jan. 21
10 a.m.
Aurora Central High School
11700 E. 11th Ave., Aurora, CO 80010-3758

Tuesday, Jan.24
4:30 p.m.
Rangeview High School
17599 E. Iliff Ave., Aurora, CO 80013

Tuesday, Jan. 31
6 p.m.
Vista PEAK Exploratory School
24551 E. 1st Ave., Aurora, CO 80018

• Learn more about the APS Budget Redesign Process.