Douglas County’s school district will return $2.03 million to the state after a final agreement in a nearly year-long dispute over student seat time.
The state had after a routine audit of student’s schedules revealed several had spent less time in class than is necessary for the district to get full-time dollars for enrolling them.
Many students were enrolled in full-day schedules and fell short after the district had rearranged class periods during budget cuts.
In the agreement, announced in a joint news release Tuesday night, officials said they are acknowledging that minutes spent in a class seat do not mean as much as whether a student learns.
“I’ve spoken with numerous lawmakers about our shared desire to move our state’s funding model toward a competency-based system that measures student outcomes,” education commissioner Rich Crandall said in a news release. “Our school finance department does an excellent job with student count audits, but the way education is funded needs more focus on outcomes and less on seat time.”
The Douglas County School District’s school board agreed to pay the adjusted amount within 60 days using contingency funds that won’t change school budgets.
The district’s dispute had started with former commissioner Robert Hammond in June.
Douglas County School District superintendent Liz Fagen, in a letter in June had accused the state department of “retaliation,” noting the district was often at odds with the department.
provides dollars to school districts based on how many students are enrolled. Hammond had noted funding isn’t proportional — “students are either considered full-time or part-time.”
Even with the agreement, Fagen stated in a letter to parents that the district disagrees with the state’s calculations, insisting “these students were indeed full time, missing the mark by only minutes.”
The Dougco district took the dispute to court, against the state education department in November. The case was dropped earlier this month.
“I look forward to working with the Commissioner to change the way we account for student time in school,” Fagen said in a news release. “We all know that learning is not about minutes in a chair, it is about the skills and understanding gained. In this day and age — a leading state like Colorado needs a better strategy for funding its students.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles
