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$2,100 spent by school group

Campaign finance report shows donations at $9,000

Melinda Mawdsley
Campaign signs for Referendums 3C and 3D stand in lawns of citizens supporting the school initiatives. Yes For Steamboat Schools has raised nearly $9,000 in its campaign for the passage of the ballot issues.
Tyler Arroyo

— The committee campaigning for the passage of two Steamboat Springs School District ballot issues has raised nearly $9,000, according to a campaign finance report filed Oct. 18.

It was the more recent filing on record for the “Yes For Steamboat Schools.”

According to the same report, the Steamboat committee has spent nearly $2,100 of the $9,000 raised on such things as yard signs, advertising and candy to hand out at tonight’s Downtown Steamboat Halloween Stroll.



The “Yes For Steamboat Schools” committee is campaigning for the passage of Referendums 3C and 3D on Nov. 7.

Referendum 3C is a mill levy override that would generate an additional $600,000 in revenue that the district has said will be used to attract and retain staff and increase staff salaries.



The amount raised through the mill levy override would increase by $25,000 annually until 2015, when the tax revenue caps at $800,000.

Referendum D is a $29.7 million bond issue for the construction of a new Soda Creek Elementary school and the renovation and expansion of Strawberry Park Elementary School.

Soda Creek would be rebuilt on its existing site in Old Town.

Strawberry Park no longer has room for its current student enrollment and projected student enrollment in the years ahead, the district has said.

Strawberry Park is using modular classrooms to house the overflow in enrollment.

“We had almost unanimous support for donating the money with probably 40 people in the room,” said Shannon Lukens, Strawberry Park’s Parent-Teacher Information Committee president.

Strawberry Park’s PTIC donated $1,000, one of the largest contributions to the “Yes For Steamboat Schools” fund.

“We’ve had a lot of good explanations for the parents,” said Lukens, whose youngest daughter is a second grader at Strawberry Park. “We are educated and informed. I hope the vote goes well.”

Meg Firestone, PTIC president at Soda Creek, said a majority of the parents she represents also voted to endorse 3C and 3D.

The Soda Creek PTIC, through two separate donations, has contributed $2,200 to the committee, making the Soda Creek PTIC the largest donor as of Oct. 18.

“I just think it’s time,” said Firestone, who has two children enrolled at Soda Creek. “The fear of it not passing now is that it will be awhile (before the district could go back to voters with a new bond issue). I love Soda Creek, but if you go in there, it needs help.”

Firestone said there was some initial resistance to the decision to build on the existing site, but she said she is comfortable with the decision the district has reached. The surveys and polls the district conducted indicated a majority of Steamboat residents wanted Soda Creek to remain downtown.

In addition to the elementary schools’ PTICs, the Steamboat Springs Middle School PITC contributed $500 to the campaign.

The architectural firm Christiansen, Reece & Partners, PC, the firm that has been working with the district on the elementary school designs, has contributed $1,000 to the campaign.

Superintendent Donna Howell said “Yes for Steamboat Schools” members have been at grocery stores answering questions, and members plan to be at tonight’s downtown stroll to hand out candy and cards and answer questions.


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