FTS Investigation: Did Jeffco Schools violate campaign law?

Face The State Staff Report

A Face The State investigation has discovered the Jefferson County School District is teetering on a violation of Colorado's Fair Campaign Practices Act by using taxpayer money to print a letter warning parents of $35 million in budget reductions over the next three years. The letter comes as Jeffco voters face a proposed 4.4 mill property tax increase on the November ballot that would authorize up to $34 million for Jeffco Public Schools to be used for operating expenses.

Teachers distributed the letter, which is printed on the district's letterhead (PDF), to their students who were instructed to bring the letter home to parents. The letter advertises a series of community meetings hosted by Superintendent Cindy Stevenson “to tell an ominous story.” That “ominous” story is about $35 million in budget reductions that will include a loss of teachers, counselors, senior high bus routes and many other cutbacks.

"This letter appears to be a way to scare parents into voting for the mill levy increase," said Ben DeGrow, education policy analyst at the Independence Institute. “School administrators could instead make a fairer and bolder move by opening up the district checkbook and credit card transactions for easy public inspection, including on the Internet. Citizens then could make better informed decisions rather than get browbeaten with threatened cuts in areas they care about.”

Jeffco spokeswoman Lynn Setzer says the letter is a typical way the school district communicates with parents.

"I wrote it as part of our communications process with parents," said Setzer. "It's a way to get info to the parental community and let them know what's coming with the budget."

Setzer said a similar letter outlining budget implications for Jeffco schools is sent out every year. But she says the school district goes to great lengths to make sure teachers and principals do not violate any campaign laws by advocating political positions.

"We try to do a good job of educating teachers and principals of campaign dos and don'ts," Setzer added, while also conceding that it's hard to monitor what is actually said to students at the districts 150 schools.

While no parents have filed complaints with election officials, a similar situation played out in 2002 in Skrutch v. Highlands Ranch. There, two special districts sent color mailers to voters promoting the "Enhance the Ranch" plan, which would later become a bond proposal. The Colorado Court of Appeals later upheld the ruling of an administrative law judge who found the metropolitan districts had violated the FCPA. The courts were clear in this case that the mailers "had the effect of encouraging" voters, and that was enough to make it illegal.

"This is the next step in local governments' efforts to evade the law," said Scott Gessler, a Denver attorney specializing in election law. "They now provide one-sided arguments, perfectly timed for an election, but they don't mention a ballot measure. The goal is to publicize the arguments in favor of a tax increase, without mentioning the tax itself. We don't know yet if it's illegal. But this is definitely an attempt to use government resources to sway an election."

While Jeffco schools are claiming they need more money, this mill levy increase comes on the heels of a 2007 measure that allowed the Jefferson County schools to access restricted monies from the mill levy tab tied to CSAP performance standards. Some of the $45 million was inaccessible because the schools failed to reach certain performance standards, but by passing the 2007 measure the district was able to sidestep this requirement so they could access the money later. The district is also discussing the addition of another bond and mill levy question in 2012.