The Douglas County School District board took the next step toward a potential 2026 mill levy override (MLO) by voting unanimously last week to direct staff to continue refining a proposal.

Superintendent Erin Kane presented an overview of the developing plan, outlining several proposed areas of investment. These include funding for the district’s charter schools, as well as:

• Safety and security
• Compensation, including a proposed 4% increase for teachers and staff
• Career and technical education
• Curricular investments
• Specialized student programming
• Athletics
• Student programming

“Our schools are funded through local and state tax dollars. When we collect more locally, we get less from the state,” Kane said at last week’s Board of Education meeting, explaining how rising property values in Douglas County have reduced state contributions under Colorado’s school finance formula.

District officials highlighted the long-term decline in the district’s mill rate. In 2013, the district’s mill rate was 22.5 mills. Today, it stands at 18.1 mills. One mill is equal to $1 charged for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

“You can see that over the decade plus, our tax rate dropped dramatically and that is one of the biggest reasons our district continues to be so squeezed,” Kane said.

Kane also referenced recent voter-approved funding measures.

In 2023, voters approved a $66 million mill levy override that increased teacher and staff pay by 9%.

In 2024, Douglas County voters approved a $490 million bond, which funded districtwide improvements in areas such as career education, school construction, security, and athletics, among others.

District officials noted that DCSD’s tax rate has consistently declined over the last decade.

“Even though we passed the 2024 bond, our mill rate has been inching down,” Kane said.

Kane said the proposed 2026 MLO would help make DCSD’s financing more competitive with peer districts. The district is the top‑scoring district in the metro area based on test scores and also has one of the lowest tax rates —lower than Aurora, Littleton, Jefferson County, Denver and Cherry Creek.

This means DCSD collects less funding from combined state and local sources than comparable districts and raises fewer dollars per student through mill levies, according to officials.

“We are proposing a mill levy override that invests in both teacher and staff compensation as well as opportunities for students,” Kane said.

Starting salaries in DCSD are currently lower than those in Jefferson County, Littleton, Cherry Creek and Denver. Under the proposal, teacher and staff salaries would increase by 4%, raising starting pay to be about $1,000 higher than in Jefferson County, though still lower than in some neighboring districts.

Kane pointed to music, school security and special education as examples of areas in need of additional investment.

“Elementary instrumental music was cut back in 2012,” Kane said. “There is a lot of demand to bring it back.”

For a home with an average residential value of $700,000, the estimated tax increase would be approximately $236 annually.

The board unanimously directed staff to continue exploring options and to seek input from district and school-level committees as the proposal moves forward.