2026-09-15 BOE Work Session - Resilient Schools Proposal.pdf (21,539 KB)

This is the text extracted from the file, without its layout, tables, or images. Use the original for anything that matters.

Board of Education Work Session | September 15, 2026

Resilient Schools Proposal

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Board Decision Milestones

AUGUST

SEPT.

Presentation Board Work Session at 3 p.m.

Discussion & Public Comment Board Meeting at 5 p.m.

Q&A & Discussion Board Work Session at 9 a.m.

Discussion, Public Comment & Decision Board Meeting at 5 p.m.

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Today’s Work Session During today’s discussion BVSD staff will provide a review of the key data points and considerations that led to the Resilient Schools proposal. We will provide space to dive deeper into our rationale, the data supporting it. Our goal is to address themes from public comment and your questions.

Our Methodology How we made our decisions

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

LRAC Metrics ●

Classes/grade measures student experience ○ Below two classes/grade (rounds*) is where schools really feel the impact of declining resources ○ Most important metric

●

Early warning system for schools and the district as a system

June 2023 LRAC metrics presented to Board January 2024

April 2024 Heatherwood Engagement

October 2024 Heatherwood Program Presentation

August 2025 Heatherwood E-STEAM Launch

September 2025 Launched Enrollment Data Dashboard

October 2025 Attendance Boundary Changes

Updated EnrollmentRelated Policies

2026

Decision-making should be in the context of looking at geographic areas or multiple schools at the same time if appropriate.

First BVSD is the Place to Be Showcase

2025

Round = avg. of 25 students/class One round = 150 student enrollment Two rounds = 300 student enrollment Three rounds = 450 student enrollment

October 2023

2024

●

Percent utilization measures operational eﬃciency and helps to account for differing school capacities

April 2022 LRAC Started

2023

Student experience centered from the beginning 2022

●

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Regional Approach: October 2025 Worksession

Reports from schools regarding early impacts of declining enrollment

2024

●

2023

Looking at enrollment through the lens of the LRAC metrics, by 2030 more than half of the elementary schools in Boulder, Louisville/Superior and Broomﬁeld would be below 2 classes/grade.

2022

●

October 2025

Board directed staff to change course ○

Take a regional approach vs. school by school

Community Engagement

August 2026 Proposal

January 2026 Plan for engagement, action

Jan-May 2026 2026

○

Can no longer “make it work” by pushing additional resources into under-enrolled schools

BOE: Regional Approach

2025

●

JuneJuly 2026 Planning

Options for Discussion

Meets Goals?

Allow schools to stay “small”

✖ Does not redistribute students/resources ✖ Does not generate additional enrollment ✖ Not ﬁscally eﬃcient

Introduce or expand focus programs

● Potential to redistribute students/resources ● Potential to attract additional out of district enrollment ● Potential to improve ﬁscal eﬃciency

Grade reconﬁguration, e.g. K-2 & 3-5 or convert K-8s to elementary and middle

✓ Redistributes students ● Potential to redistribute resources ● Impact on ﬁscal eﬃciency is uncertain; options are fundamentally different

Relocate focus programs

✓ Redistributes students ● Potential to attract additional out of district enrollment and/or generate additional resources for a school (if co-located) ● Potential to improve ﬁscal eﬃciency

Consolidate two or more schools into one building (existing or new)

✓ Redistributes/consolidates students and generates more resources for the receiving school ✓ New building has the potential to retain and attract students ✓ Improves ﬁscal eﬃciency

Close one or more schools and distribute students to multiple schools

✓ Redistributes/consolidates students and generates more resources for the receiving school ✖ Does not generate additional enrollment ✓ Improves ﬁscal eﬃciency

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Community Engagement 2022

Presentations to city councils

Community survey

October 2025 BOE: Regional Approach

2025

Community Engagement Sessions

Presentations to advisory groups

2024

Elementary teacher,staff & principal roundtables

2023

34 7

Plan for engagement, action

Jan-May 2026 Community Engagement 2026

August 2026 Proposal

January 2026

JuneJuly 2026 Planning

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Enhanced Communications February 2026

March 2026

April 2026

May 2026

June 2026

August 2026

September 2026 2022 2023 2024

October 2025 2025

BOE: Regional Approach

Plan for engagement, action

Jan-May 2026 Community Engagement 2026

August 2026 Proposal

January 2026

JuneJuly 2026 Planning

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Our Consultants ● ●

Considerations for community relations work Communications team support

●

Collaborated to create community engagement session exercises for participants to consider student experience, their values and priorities

●

Collection & tabulation of feedback from engagement sessions

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Data Sources Summary Total Sample

Response Count

Response Rate

Elementary & K8 Teacher Roundtables (34 sessions)

328

Community Engagement Feedback Packets (7 sessions)

643

568

88%

Community Engagement Follow-Up Survey

583

Source

140

24%

Resilient Schools Survey

Staff

6110

1700

28%

Parent/Guardian

32966

2936

608

Community Survey Total

Total Response Count:

6,280

5244 11

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Top Priorities RESILIENT SCHOOLS COMMUNITY SURVEY Items selected as most important (Maxdiff) (N = 5244) ● ● ●

Small Class Sizes Equitable Funding Neighborhood Proximity

● ● ●

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS Experience Cards (N= 106)

Advanced Academics FT Art, Music, & PE FT Math & Literacy Specialists

Must-Haves (N = 5244)

ROUNDTABLES (N=30)

Small Class Sizes (90%) ● PT Staff Challenges (66%) ●

12 12

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Community feedback regarding top priorities COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS Top Shift Rating: Consolidate Schools (N= 503) ●

ROUNDTABLES Top Shift Rating: Consolidate Schools (N= 252)

I believe this action is a move in the right direction to solve the challenges of under-enrolled schools.

13 13

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Our Methodology Resident student population is the starting point Every student is guaranteed a seat in the neighborhood school in their assigned attendance area.

●

Colorado law allows parents to apply to attend another school only if there is available space and programmatic capacity.

●

Resident student population and housing stock data is less variable and more predictable than parent choice.

●

Choice enrollment

●

Choice enrollment outside the boundaries

Open enrollment is the valve that we can use to ﬁll space in a neighborhood school once we account for resident students.

Attendance boundary for residentially assigned students

Choice enrollment outside the boundaries

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Data Sources ●

BVSD Student Records Student-level CDE veriﬁed data that can be aggregated as resident students, enrolled students or any category tracked by BVSD.These are speciﬁc records not estimations or extrapolations. Includes current and historic data. Uses: Past trends, Projections, and Student Yields.

●

Colorado Department of Health and Environment Birth Dataset Taken from birth certiﬁcates and provided in geographic format. Can be aggregated for any geography including school attendance areas. Historic data available. Uses: Past trends, projections (kindergarten)

●

Boulder/Broomﬁeld County Parcel Records Geographic data that includes real estate information including housing types and counts. Uses: housing analysis and trends, projections, student yields.

●

Other Information Development referrals from local governments (projections) and BVSD building ﬂoor plans (Capacity). Census, State Demographer Oﬃce, Colorado Dept. of Education, and DRCOG used as needed especially for comparison and calibration.

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Enrollment Projections ●

Cohort survival method is the principal technique (standard for most school districts).

●

Cohorts based off of resident students rather than enrollment to capture inherent trends.

●

Model includes direct inputs for open enrollment ﬂow (in and out), new housing development, and birth rates.

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Resident Students

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Resident Students Capacity 2030 Projected resident students 2 classes/grade Attending neighborhood school Attending a different school

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Enrolled Students Projected 2030 Capacity 2 classes/grade Attending neighborhood school OE-In from different school Out of District enrollment

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Enrollment & Utilization Mesa and Bear Creek Current

Projected*

Bear Creek

Mesa

Capacity: 492

Capacity: 418

2025-26 Resident Students: 275 Enrolled Students: 312 Utilization: 63%

2025-26 Resident Students: 228 Enrolled Students: 224 Utilization: 54%

Consolidated School Capacity: 492 2027-28 Projected Resident Students: 473 Enrolled Students: 392 to 445 Utilization: 80% to 90% 2030-31 Projected Resident Students: 522 Enrolled Students: 403 to 462 Utilization: 82% to 94%

*Projected enrollment ranges dependent on number of resident students from the sending school attending the receiving school

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Levers to Manage Enrollment: Choice Enrollment Choice Enrollment

Attendance boundary for residentially assigned students

Choice Enrollment

Residential Enrollment

Choice Enrollment

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Levers to Manage Enrollment: Classroom Usage Reading Area

Maker’s Space

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Summary ●

Student experience centered from the beginning: one key metric is classes/grade because it indicates the level of ALL staﬃng for a school — not just classroom teachers—which creates the student experience

●

Engaged the community to gather data regarding values and priorities

●

Developing the Resilient Schools plan: analyzed resident student populations and where students live compared to school locations, enrollment trends, building capacity, facility conditions and long-term student needs

Discussion 24

Our Resources Reallocating to meet student needs

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Reinvesting in the Student Experience RECURRING ANNUAL SAVINGS TOP TWO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRIORITIES

$3.5M - $4.0M Estimated funding redirected to support the student experience every year

Smaller Elementary Class Sizes

Increased Student Access

Providing students with increased differentiated supports and access to art, music and PE teachers

ONE-TIME TRANSITION COSTS

Facility Modiﬁcations

School Transition Support

$7.5M - $10.0M

$5.0M - budgeted, FY27

Some offset by savings from Bond projects

Transition staﬃng, moving costs, transitional support

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Summary of Estimated Recurring Annual Savings Position

FTE

Savings

-8%

+4%

Principal & Assistant Principal

4.5

$ 0.9M

$ 0.8M

$ 0.9M

Clerical Support

8.3

$ 0.7M

$ 0.6M

$ 0.7M

Food Service Operations

3.4

$ 0.2M

Custodial Support

7.5

$ 0.6M

$ 0.7M

Subtotal Fixed Operational Savings

23.7

$ 2.4M

$ 2.2M

$ 2.5M

Teachers

6.8

$ 1.0M

$ 0.9M

$ 1.0M

Counselors

0.5

$ 0.1M

Paraeducators

6.6

$ 0.4M

$ 0.3M

$ 0.4M

Subtotal Classroom Savings

13.9

$ 1.5M

$ 1.3M

$ 1.5M

Total Savings

37.6

$ 3.9M

$ 3.5M

$ 4.0M 27

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Other signiﬁcant investments Item

FTE

2026-27 Budget

School Safety Advocates

11.0

$ 1.9M

Elementary Librarians

20.0

$ 3.0M

Art/Music/PE elementary specialists (per subject area)

26.0

$ 3.6M

Apex (Career & Technical Education)

25.8

$ 3.3M

Interscholastic Athletics Subsidy

N/A

$ 2.9M

Intramurals and Extracurricular Activities

N/A

$ 1.7M

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

34.4

$ 4.8M

Elementary Counselors

24.5

$ 3.8M

School Food Project Subsidy

N/A

$ 2.5M

District Wide Electric Utility Expense

N/A

$ 4.5M 28

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Reinvesting in the Student Experience RECURRING ANNUAL SAVINGS TOP TWO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRIORITIES

$3.5M - $4.0M Estimated funding redirected to support the student experience every year

Smaller Elementary Class Sizes

Increased Student Access

Providing students with increased differentiated supports and access to art, music and PE teachers

ONE-TIME TRANSITION COSTS

Facility Modiﬁcations

School Transition Support

$7.5M - $10.0M

$5.0M - budgeted, FY27

Some offset by savings from Bond projects

Transition staﬃng, moving costs, transitional support

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Facility Modiﬁcations School

Description

Low End Estimate

High End Estimate

Kohl

Special Education Facility Improvements

$500,000

$750,000

Birch

Preschool (if needed)

$350,000

$800,000

Monarch PK-8

Middle School Conversion

$3,000,000

$3,500,000

Superior

Facility Improvements

$300,000

$350,000

Whittier

Special Education Facility Improvements

$100,000

$150,000

Bear Creek

Special Education & Other Facility Improvements

$1,750,000

$2,000,000

Community Montessori

Preschool / Kindergarten Facility Improvements

$1,500,000

$2,450,000

$7,500,000

$10,000,000

Total

Based on the 10-year projected capital expenditures, there could be a potential savings of ~$44.8M due to not investing in the schools that will be closed over the next 10 years. The actual savings will be dependent on the future use of the buildings once the Board takes action.

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Reinvesting in the Student Experience RECURRING ANNUAL SAVINGS TOP TWO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRIORITIES

$3.5M - $4.0M Estimated funding redirected to support the student experience every year

Smaller Elementary Class Sizes

Increased Student Access Providing students with increased differentiated supports and access to art, music and PE teachers

ONE-TIME TRANSITION COSTS

Facility Modiﬁcations $7.5M - $10.0M Some offset by savings from Bond projects

School Transition Support $5.0M - budgeted prior to plan development/ﬁnalization Transition staﬃng, moving costs, transitional support

Discussion 32

Student Experience Providing the outstanding education our students deserve and the opportunities our families expect

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Elementary School Programmatic Impacts Three Round (~450)

Two Round (~300)

One Round (~150)

Multi Grade

6 grades X 3 classes/grade

6 grades X 2 classes/grade

6 grades X 1 classes/grade

(<1 class per grade level)

Grade 1

●

ABC Specials rotation

●

Instrumental music

●

Ideal for programming

●

Dedicated counselor, Specials teachers, Teacher Librarians, & Special Education teachers

●

Traveling teachers

●

Scheduling complexity & limitations

●

Programming limitations

●

Limited teacher collaboration

●

Lack of ﬂexibility to shift students

●

Grade 2

●

Yearly change

●

Complex planning for teachers

More programming limitations

Current class size maximum - BVEA Negotiated Agreement Grades K-1 = 26

Grades 2-3 = 29

Grades 4-5 = 31

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Specials: traveling teachers & split positions School Year

Traveling Teachers

Schools with Traveling Teachers

Split Positions (no home teacher)

2024-2025

2025-2026

2026-2027

Current Projections without Resilient Schools Proposal 2027-2028

Current Projections with Resilient Schools Proposal 2027-2028

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Specials: what is the impact? When teachers are traveling, it impacts: ● ● ● ● ●

Efficiency Continuity Flexibility Collaboration Student experiences

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Beneﬁts for Special Education Special Education Services K-5 ● Increased service providers ● Increase of resource teachers ● Peer grouping availability ● Special Education staff collaboration ● Increased on-site support

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Family Support with School Age Care (SAC) Increasing capacity and staﬃng to address demand ● Increase licensed spaces ● Increase number of qualiﬁed child care staff ● Set expectations on school facility use and child care

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Family Support with School Age Care (SAC)

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Preschool All preschool locations for the 2027-2028 school year will be announced on October 1, 2026. Additional complexities Adjusting preschool locations has additional complexities that require more time. Individualized family support Maintaining preschool in each region is a priority, and our preschool community liaisons will work directly with individual returning preschool families who are impacted to support with next steps. 40

Board of Education Work Session | Resilient Schools Proposal

Transportation Eligible students will receive transportation to their assigned neighborhood school. Eligibility is based on BVSD policy: ● Elementary: 1.5+ miles from assigned school ● Middle: 2+ miles from assigned school ● High: 2.5+ miles from assigned school Transportation required by a student’s IEP will continue. Families who choose a school outside their assigned attendance area are responsible for transportation; students may use an existing bus stop if space is available. Measurements for determining eligibility for bus transportation are made along the shortest normal and safe walking route from home to school. Measurements are made from the main entrance of the school to the property line of the student’s residence that is closest to school on the route traveled. If there is a safety hazard along the route beyond those experienced by other students of similar age walking under similar circumstances, an exception to the above distances may be made. Exceptions due to hazardous walking conditions are determined by the Transportation Department.

Kohl Adjustments ● Students east of Main Street will receive transportation Bike/Walk Assets: ● Traﬃc light with crossing signals at Main/Eagle & Main/136th ● New traﬃc light at Main/Miramonte ● Crosswalk at Main and 14th

Eldorado Adjustments ● Students north of Coalton Road will receive transportation. Bike/Walk Assets: ● Underpass at Bell Flatirons/Rock Creek Pkwy ● Underpass at Coalton Rd., east of McCaslin ● Traﬃc light with crossing signals at Coalton/Rock Creek Pkwy.

Superior Adjustments ● Students north of Vista Corridor Trail will receive transportation. Bike/Walk Assets: ● Underpass at McCaslin & Coal Creek Trail ● Hwy 36 bikeway ● Extensive path system in Superior ● Challenge of a steep hill from Old Town to Superior Elementary

Fireside Adjustments ● Students south of Dillon Road and east of 96th will receive transportation. Bike/Walk Assets: ● Powerline trail with direct access to Fireside with enhanced crosswalk at Cherry St. including pedestrian activated light ● Underpass at Dillon Road and Coal Creek Trail

Monarch Middle Adjustments ● All students who currently receive transportation to Monarch 6-8 will continue to receive transportation except Bell Flatirons, Shamrock and Reliance neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are within the middle school walk distance but were receiving bus transportation with elementary students. ● Students south/west of McCaslin Trail will receive transportation. ● Students south of Coalton Road, west of McCaslin, and northwest of Cherry will receive transportation.

Coal Creek Adjustments ●

●

All bus-eligible Douglass students affected by the boundary change will continue to receive transportation services. Students in the Paul Nor neighborhood (six total) who were within the walk zone for Douglass, will receive bus service.

Heatherwood Impacts ● Douglass elementary students moving to Heatherwood will continue to receive bus service under the revised boundaries.

Eisenhower Impacts ● All Douglass Elementary families currently receiving bus service will continue to receive service. Bike/Walk Assets: ● Families who live near Platt can utilize the Centennial Path with the underpass at 55th to bike to school.

Foothill Impacts ● All Flatirons families currently receiving bus service will continue to receive service under the revised boundaries.

Whittier Impacts ● All Flatirons families currently receiving bus service will continue to receive service under the revised boundaries. In addition, all students within the Flatirons walk area south of Canyon Boulevard will now be eligible for bus transportation.

Bear Creek Impacts ● Transportation eligibility will remain unchanged for Mesa students currently receiving service; in addition, students residing in the southern end of the Shanahan Ridge neighborhood, south of Longwood Avenue, will now be eligible for transportation. Bike/Walk Assets: ● Safe Routes to School project on Lehigh including updated bike lanes, crossing treatments, and new path across Bear Creek Park.

Discussion 53