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Megan Kelly Dunklee (00:00)
Hello, you're listening to the Fort Collins, Coloradoan. My name is Megan Kelly. Thank you for joining us. Let's get started. New plan would preserve Livermore. PSD could remove elementary from list of closures by Kelly Lyle. Pooter School District's Board of Education will consider modifying a committee's recommendation to
To close all three of the district's mountain elementary schools by keeping the one in Livermore open. That option, presented as a basic feasibility analysis in meeting materials posted online for the school board's scheduled october twenty seventh work session and meeting, would remove Livermore Elementary School from the list of nine schools recommended for closure.
And make it a receiving school for Red Feather Lakes Elementary. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the committee's recommendation at the October 27th meeting. There's a picture of a brick school building. It says Livermore Elementary School in Livermore, Colorado, is pictured on October first, 2026. Students currently assigned to PSD's Other Mountain Elementary School.
Stove Prairie would still be reassigned to Casha Le Puder Elementary in Laporte, which was originally recommended as the receiving school for all three mountain elementaries. The Livermore option was pitched to the Board of Education by a Livermore resident with four children, and a letter board member Kevin Hivalda read out loud.
During a seven and a half hour special meeting october twentieth on the Closures and Consolidations recommendation proposal. All seven members of the Board of Education expressed concerns about the long bus rides up to an hour or more that young children would be subjected to if all three mountain schools were closed during board meetings october thirteenth,
and october twentieth. Keeping Livermore Elementary open would reduce the maximum bus ride time for those students from sixty one minutes to forty one minutes according to the feasibility analysis. Average bus ride times for students now attending Red Feather Lakes Elementary would be thirty two minutes to Livermore.
While average bus ride times for students attending Livermore Elementary would be sixteen minutes. The district's average bus ride times range from twenty to forty minutes, according to the analysis. If I was a parent, I don't see myself putting my kid on a bus for fifty nine minutes minimum, board member Olzum Gherkin said at the october twentieth meeting.
The number of bus routes the district currently runs would be reduced by one or two routes, the analysis noted. Students in the current Red Feather Lakes Elementary School attendance area would all be eligible for PSD busing to Livermore Elementary, while students in the current Stove Prairie Elementary attendance area would all be eligible for PSD busing to Kasha Lapuder Elementary.
A staffing plan for a combined Livermore slash Redfeather Elementary could feasibly reduce per pupil expenses by half, the analysis noted. PSD currently spends an average of twenty seven thousand two hundred and fourteen dollars per student to operate the three mountain elementary schools according to its online facilities dashboard. Alpha Best is
Would be able to provide preschool services at Livermore Elementary for the students it currently serves there, in addition to those it currently serves at Red Feather Lakes Elementary, the analysis said. Red Feather Lakes Elementary had 20 students in kindergarten through fifth grade in 2025-2026, according to the Colorado Department of Education's annual count.
And Livermore Elementary had 37. The projected combined enrollment of both schools next year is 59 students, according to the analysis. Livermore Elementary's building capacity, according to the facilities dashboard, is 100 students. Stove Prairie Elementary had 21 students in grades K through 5 in 2025-2026.
and is projected to have nineteen in twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight, according to the analysis. Kasha La Puder Elementary had two hundred forty seven students in twenty twenty five twenty twenty six and is projected to have two hundred twenty one in twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight, including the nineteen from Stove Prairie if the revised scenario was adopted.
That figure doesn't include the students from Irish Elementary Escuela Bilingual that would also be reassigned to Kashalapuder Elementary if that school is closed, as the recommendation calls for. Kashalapuder Elementary's building capacity is five hundred fifty students, according to the facilities dashboard. The revised scenario is
For the Northwest region of PSD's schools will be discussed along with the Comprehensive Planning Committee's full recommendation to close nine schools and consolidate two others prior to the Board of Education's scheduled vote at the October twenty-seventh meeting. That recommendation also calls for the closure of Beattie, Irish, Johnson, Putnam, and
And Timnath Elementary Schools, as well as Blevins Middle School, and the consolidation of PSD's two alternative high schools, Centennial and Pooder Community Academy. Reporter Kelly Lyle covers education, breaking news, some sports, and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at K E L L Y L Y E L L.
At Coloradoan.com Colorado sets record heat low snowpack year Will Super El Nino help by Miles Bloomhart and there is a picture of a dried up lake bed and it says a mooring ball sits above an inlet where thousands of fish died at Boyd Lake in northeastern Loveland on august first and second.
It's official, Colorado saw its hottest temperatures and lowest snowpack on record in staggering fashion during the twenty twenty six water year. That combination led to persistent and extensive severe drought over much of the state, which led to wildfires, critically low water storage, and
An extremely low river runoff, impacting Colorado economic staples such as agriculture, recreation, and wildlife. The water year is defined by climatologists and hydrologists as october first through september thirtieth, which corresponds to when mountain snow typically starts in fall through when stream flow slows.
Will the Super El Nino save Colorado from a repeat? It leans that way, but in a state where the only consistent aspect of the weather is its inconsistency, and wildfires and flash floods happen in the same month, we can only hope. Here is how unprecedented this water year's weather was, according to the Colorado Climate Center's recently released.
twenty twenty six Water Year End Report Heat, statewide temperatures were four point five degrees above the nineteen ninety one to twenty twenty normal and over two degrees warmer than our second warmest water year on record in nineteen thirty four. Snowpack the record low mountain snowpack.
Resulted in a peak of fifty one percent of average statewide, which was followed by rapid melting in the unprecedented March heat wave. That set up thirty-five percent of the state experiencing extreme to exceptional drought at the end of september twenty twenty six, compared to fourteen percent at that same point in twenty twenty five. Reservoirs.
Storage in Colorado's reservoirs was more than two million acre feet below average, the lowest level since two thousand two. That amount would cover more than one point five million football fields, including in zones, to a depth of one foot. Colorado's heat was persistent and included all but small pockets of the state. Water year twenty twenty six is
Was the most unbalanced temperature year on record, with nearly twenty-two times more daily high records and lows than cold records, according to the Climate Center. Here are some highlights. Every month in the water year was above average, and it was the warmest winter, spring, and summer since weather data was collected in 1895.
There were seven statewide heat waves, the most in any year dating to nineteen fifty one, breaking the record of five in two thousand two, two thousand three, and twenty twenty two. Fort Collins and surrounding area set heat precipitation records. Fort Collins saw fifty four days of ninety degrees or warmer during the water year.
Compared to the nineteen ninety one through twenty twenty average of thirty, and twice as many days of sixty degrees or warmer than any other winter in more than one hundred twenty five years of records, resulting in the warmest year by far. Denver saw sixty five days of ninety degrees or warmer compared to forty six on average. Fort Collins experienced its driest.
Precipitation year since 2006 and 11th driest on record. But Greeley fared worse, recording six point seven eight inches of precipitation during the water year, breaking the record by just more than one inch while seeing half its normal amount. Loveland recorded its latest ever first measurable snow, and Fort Collins its fifth latest.
What caused the record hot dry year and will a super El Nino save us? Allie Mazarek, Colorado Climate Center engagement climatologist, said average temperatures have been climbing in part due to climate change, but that this year's water years record, heat and lack of snowpack was the result of another factor that played a major role.
We had an outlandish and persistent ridge pattern over the western US that prevented us from storms and kept us really warm, especially in winter, Mazarek told the Coloradoan. Why the pattern stayed for so long, we don't exactly know. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting an eighty three percent or greater chance of
Of a strong to very strong El Nino through March. Majurec said historical data shows El Nino years tend to be wetter than usual in Colorado, including snow, but that the relationship mostly corresponds to the southern part of the state. Four similar strong El Nino winters produced between a few inches and
To nearly 40 inches more seasonal snow than the average of 51.4 inches in Fort Collins, according to previous Colorado and reporting. Here they are, as reported at the city's official weather station on the main CSU campus, according to the Colorado Climate Center. 2015 to 2016, 72.8 inches.
nineteen ninety seven to nineteen ninety eight, fifty five point three inches, nineteen eighty seven to nineteen eighty eight, eighty nine point five inches, nineteen eighty two to nineteen eighty three, sixty eight inches, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Centers Seasonal Outlook published october fifteenth shows a mixed bag for Colorado snow this winter.
For November, December, and January, the map shows the state west of a line from the southwest corner to northeast corner is predicted for equal chances of below average, near average, or above average precipitation, while east of that line leans towards above average precipitation. The December, January, and February maps
Shows the line of above average precipitation expanding west, save for the northwest corner, which remains equal chances. Both maps show the entire state has an equal chance of below average, near average, or above average temperatures those months. El Nino is not a guarantee for more precipitation, but it can't get much worse than last year.
Mazarak said Proposition N what a yes or no vote would mean for Colorado by Kelly Lyle Colorado voters will decide whether they want to raise the state's revenue cap to provide an additional two percent of funding per year for public schools serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Proposition N is
Keep and spend money for education and other purposes asks voters to weigh in on requiring the state legislature to increase its allocation to local K through twelve public school districts by two percent annually over the previous year's allocation without decreasing spending on other critical state needs. The additional funding would be provided to
Through a reduction or elimination of refunds, Colorado taxpayers currently receive of excess revenue collected by the state through the taxpayers Bill of Rights or Tabor. Additional revenue provided to school districts through this ballot measure would be dedicated to increasing teacher pay and retention, lowering class sizes, and
Adding or expanding career and technical education courses. If sufficient funds still existed in the children's account that would be established to retain the dedicated revenue money could also be spent on disability services, school services, and increasing instructional hours. Provided at least half of the money collected in the account
Is spent on K through 12 education. Any remaining funds could also be used to prioritize childcare, full day preschool, and other programs that help children be successful in school, according to the 2026 State Ballot Information Booklet, also called the Blue Book. The revenue cap would remain in place beyond 10 years.
To continue funding those priorities in K through twelve education at a calculated rate, with any remaining revenue beyond that in the children's account available for the state legislature to spend for any purpose it chooses. An annual publicly released independent audit would be required to show how the money was spent. Here's a look at the ballot language and
How it got on the ballot, what a yes or no vote would mean, and how many votes it needs to pass? Election day is November 3rd. Ballot language for proposition in. Shall state investment in K through 12 public education increase 2% each year for the next 10 years with investments used to increase teacher pay and
Improve teacher retention, lower class sizes, and increase access to career and technical courses without raising taxes, but instead funded by raising the annual limit on state fiscal year spending only by the amount spent on public K through twelve education as a voter approved revenue change, and requiring an annual publicly released independent audit.
To show how the new investments are spent. Was it citizen initiated or put on the ballot by the legislature? Proposition N was referred to voters by the state legislature through the passage of Senate Bill twenty six one thirty five. What a yes vote means a yes vote on proposition in would let the state keep some or all of the
of the revenue up to the amount the state spends on public education that taxpayers would otherwise receive through table refunds with the additional money dedicated to K through twelve education programs. Additional revenue if available could also be spent on other programs that support children. What a no vote means a no vote on proposition in
Would keep existing table refunds as well as funding for K through twelve education, programs that support children, and other state purposes at current levels. How many votes does it need to pass? Propositions in in passage requires a simple majority of more than 50% of votes cast in its favor.