In Woodland Park, nestled on Pike’s Peak’s north slope, liberals push to repeal a sales tax supporting Woodland Park Schools while anti-tax conservatives defend it. The political landscape feels upside down.

In an unusual move in 2016, Woodland Park’s voters — rather than the school district’s — approved a 1.09% municipal sales tax that generates $3.2 million annually for teacher salaries, facilities, safety, technology and innovative programming. Under the arrangement, the city turns over the revenue to the district, helping fund the school board’s 16% boost in teacher pay and covering the yearly $720,000 cost of servicing the debt for the construction of a local elementary school.

In March, the city council secured an updated intergovernmental agreement with the school board, reinforced by an August addendum requiring monthly reports detailing sales tax revenues and expenditures starting in January 2025.

At a Sept. 5 meeting, the council voted 4-3 to refer Ballot Question 2A to voters — scrapping the tax and threatening this financial lifeline just as the district’s students achieve meaningful academic success.

The district now ranks in the top 10% of Colorado’s districts, with elementary and middle schoolers meeting or exceeding expectations in math and English — a year-over-year increase of 9.8 and 7.6 percentage points, respectively.

“We couldn’t be prouder of our Woodland Park principals, teachers and students, who have worked together to achieve an academic leap forward this past year,” Superintendent Ken Witt said, noting the College Board reported a 21-point increase in the mean SAT score for the 2024 graduating class.

When a school district delivers real progress — a rarity in Colorado these days — why terminate a vital funding source?

I emailed the four council members who referred 2A — Mayor Pro Tem Catherine Nakai, Teri Baldwin, Jeffrey Geer, and Steve Smith — asking their reasoning. Three responded.

Smith, speaking on the phone, wouldn’t provide a clear answer. “When more people of my community came to me about giving it back to the voters, that’s why I did what I did,” he said. “The community voted that tax in; they should take it away or keep it.”

Pressed for specifics, he deflected: “I understand why they wanted it back to the community for a vote.” Rather than explain what convinced him to risk school funding, he insisted I find 2A supporters while simultaneously claiming to “speak for the majority because it’s my job.”

Baldwin agreed her “constituents wanted to have a voice” and wants more transparency. Her email cited her remarks at the Sept. 5 meeting, claiming the district ignored or heavily redacted open records requests, and she alleged “deficit spending” and reductions in district reserves to $1 million.

School board President Mick Bates counters the board deliberately allocated some $2 million from reserves on long-overdue building maintenance and $1.5 million toward teacher pay.

Baldwin claimed the district’s only charter school, Merit Academy, disproportionately benefits from tax dollars more than traditional schools — an unsubstantiated charge pushed by teachers unions. She accused district leadership of being “disruptive, destabilizing and divisive” and “systematically dismantling public schools.”

Hold up: What’s more “disruptive” and “destabilizing” than cutting 11% of the budget overnight — especially when the district charts #18 in Colorado?

Nakai emailed me her remarks, which admitted recent test scores and the agreement with the city “would justify keeping the tax” while revoking it “will not necessarily” improve transparency. “I don’t want to revoke the tax, but I need to listen to my constituents,” she said.

“They never show who their ‘constituents’ are,” said Michael Perini, representing the Woodland Park Schools Community Coalition opposing 2A. “There is another group of constituents,” Perini added, who feel just the opposite.

Let’s be real: Perini is right. You don’t get to dodge responsibility just because you “put it to the people.” The district deserves an “opportunity to make good” on its agreement with the city, as Councilwoman Carrol Harvey suggested. Alas, fairness goes out the window when politics are at play.

The district has faced political battles since a conservative-leaning majority won the school board in 2021. The reform-minded board approved Merit Academy, boosting district enrollment and test scores.

Critics claim they stifled civic engagement by adopting American Birthright standards, a traditional social studies approach grounded in government fundamentals and rejecting the hyperpolitical “action civics” opponents favor. At a May council meeting, Geer alleged his son was assigned to defend “why not all slavery was bad” — an incendiary claim debunked by a district investigation.

Geer, who didn’t respond to me, called at the Sept. 5 council meeting for “something better” if 2A passes. Something better? Like what? The district already agreed to every city demand, including for greater transparency.

This arrangement between Woodland Park and the district is unique. Colorado schools are overseen by independently elected boards, not cities.

“Why did we go through that exercise if this was going to be the final result?” Bates lamented. “We aren’t the ones being punished — it’s our students and teachers.”

Although he’s no fan of taxes, Bates believes this sales tax is “one of the best returns on investments” for tax dollars. If 2A passes, the district will face significant cuts — jeopardizing teacher pay and sabotaging competitiveness.

“This is about putting kids first,” Perini said. “We have parents, veterans, business owners, seniors. It’s all hands on deck.”

With school funding on ballots statewide, Woodland Park Schools is teaching voters a fundamental lesson about getting a return on their tax dollars. We shouldn’t throw money at education because it feels good; voters and taxpayers must demand better outcomes. That’s what they’re getting in Woodland Park. Why fix what isn’t broken?

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.