Denver Public Schools' request to raise its mill levy override limit from 25% to 29% of total program funding, starting with up to $44 million in 2026

The Denver Board of Education sent Ballot Issue 4A to the November ballot on August 13, 2026, when it adopted Resolution 5241, and the meeting's minutes record a 7-0 vote. The question authorizes up to $44 million in new property taxes for Denver Public Schools in 2026, for collection in 2027, "AND ANNUALLY THEREAFTER." The money would go into the district's general fund, in addition to the property taxes otherwise levied for that fund.

A mill levy override lets voters authorize a school district to collect property tax revenue beyond what Colorado's school finance system would otherwise allow. State law limits a district's overrides to a share of its total program funding. Resolution 5241 submits to voters, together with the tax, an increase in the district's limit "from 25% of total program funding to 29% of total program funding as authorized by Section 22-54-108(3)(B)(VI), C.R.S." Chalkbeat reported in April that DPS was already collecting the maximum override funding the old limit allowed and that state lawmakers had increased the cap two years earlier.

The question names no mill rate. It calls for a levy that, "WHEN COMBINED WITH OTHER MILL LEVY OVERRIDES APPROVED BY DENVER VOTERS FOR THE DISTRICT'S GENERAL FUND, EQUALS THE AMOUNT PERMITTED BY SECTION 22-54-108(3)(B)(VI)." The district's August 13 presentation, based on anticipated 2026-27 total program figures, puts its current maximum override revenue at $288,948,467 and the new maximum at $332,946,420, for additional revenue of $43,997,953. Chuck Carpenter, the district's chief financial officer and interim deputy superintendent, told Denver7 the new money comes to "about $525 per kid, and so if the enrollment grows, that would grow. If enrollment shrinks, that would shrink the overall funding amount."

Denver's election notice under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) traces the district's fiscal year spending from $1,466,768,935 in 2022-2023 to an estimated $1,732,617,232 in 2026-2027 without the tax, an overall change of 18.12% by the notice's count. It puts the district's estimate of the maximum increase in 2026-2027, the tax's first full fiscal year, at $44,000,000.

The question sets no end date. Section 5 of the resolution says any taxing authority voters grant "shall be deemed and considered a continuing authority," and that neither its partial use "nor any lapse of time" exhausts it. The question also asks that investment earnings on the new tax proceeds be treated as a voter-approved revenue change under Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, which is TABOR. The resolution notes that TABOR requires voter approval "for spending certain moneys above limits established by TABOR."

The district estimates the annual cost at $11.50 for every $100,000 of home value. For a home worth $624,800, which the district gives as Denver's median, that comes to about $72 a year, according to its August 14 announcement. The district describes the figure as "the estimated annual impact for a homeowner," and the question sets the levy "AT A RATE SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE" the amounts it authorizes.

The new levy would come on top of overrides voters have already approved. District figures reported by Colorado Politics on August 13 show DPS collected $369.6 million the previous year from seven overrides dating to 1988: about $267.5 million from six operating overrides subject to the statutory cap, and $102.1 million from a 2020 override that the district classifies as a special revenue levy outside that cap. "All of our mill levy overrides are still in effect and will continue in perpetuity," district spokesperson Bill Good said in an email to the paper. The same report, citing district figures, said the DPS portion of the property tax bill on a typical Denver single-family home had risen nearly 54% since 2020, from $1,480 to a projected $2,276 in 2026, and attributed the rise largely to higher property values.

Statewide, the Division of Property Taxation's 2024 annual report lists property tax revenue for all Colorado taxing entities at $7,181,354,535 for 2014 and says the total for 2024 "was certified as $15,289,354,230," with 50% of it going to support public schools.

The question authorizes the money for "EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO" increasing educator pay, offering more career and technical education courses in high-demand fields, and student mental health and special education. The district must report all spending of the new revenue in its annual independent audit published on the district's website. The district's August 13 proposal, which the ballot question does not require it to follow, divides the money: $25.8 million to raise base salaries for all staff by $1,750, prorated for part-time employees; $4 million to operate career and technical education innovation hubs; $2.9 million for student mental health; and $2 million for special education. The proposal assigns the remaining $9.3 million to charter schools, which state law entitles to a share of override revenue.

Denver voters approved $48 million in the 2024 bond to build four regional innovation hubs, which the district says will offer 35 programs in 42 classrooms once built. The presentation estimates each hub's operating cost at about $1.7 million a year, and it subtracts the hub money before calculating the charter share because charter students can attend the hubs.

A nine-member Mill Levy Override Advisory Committee drew up the plan after regional meetings this spring. In April the district's list of options included larger pay incentives for staff at high-poverty schools and in hard-to-fill roles, Chalkbeat reported. The committee settled on a flat $1,750 raise, which gives lower-paid workers a larger percentage increase, Carpenter said, according to Colorado Politics. The district's contract with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association includes a memorandum in which the district agreed to consider asking voters in 2025 or 2026 to raise taxes. The district's presentation reports that 88.6% of the staff the union represents stayed in its bargaining unit in 2025-26, up from 87.5% the year before, and that 90.7% stayed with the district.

Resolution 5241 attaches a charter for a Mill Levy Oversight Committee of 9 to 15 members that "monitors and advises the Superintendent" on how the money is spent. The charter says the committee for the 2026 override "will be in place from January 2028 through December 2029."

The district's presentation lists overrides approved in 1988, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2012, 2016 and 2020, with first-year revenue ranging from $12.1 million for the first to about $65 million for the 2012 measure. The presentation notes that the 2005, 2012 and 2016 amounts "can fluctuate based on changes for inflation and AV," meaning assessed value.

In 2005 voters approved a $25 million annual override, adjusted for inflation, for the ProComp teacher pay system, Colorado Politics reported. The 2012 override paid for art, music and physical education, tutoring, counseling, classroom technology and early childhood education, and it generated $93.3 million last year, according to district figures in the same report. The 2016 override, approved at $56.6 million for school mental health staff, teacher programs, college and career programs and early literacy, generated $86.3 million last year.

The 2020 question asked to raise taxes up to $32 million in 2021 "AND BY THE AMOUNTS IN ANY YEAR THEREAFTER AS ARE RAISED FROM A MILL LEVY OF UP TO 4 MILLS," with a first-year levy of no more than 1.55 mills and scheduled increases of no more than 1 mill a year. The question also authorized levy increases beginning in tax collection year 2022 to offset property-tax refunds or abatements, or reductions in the percentage of actual valuation used to determine assessed valuation. Its revenue went into the district's Supplemental Capital Construction, Technology and Maintenance Fund, "WITH THE EFFECT THAT MORE GENERAL FUND REVENUES WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR" purposes that included mental health professionals and school counselors, school nurses, higher minimum wages for support staff and cost-of-living funds for educators. The question required DPS to publish an annual report on spending of the freed General Fund money. Voters approved it 268,413 to 102,612 in the certified results. The district's presentation says the 2020 override's revenue rose "based on board approval of 1 additional mill annually up to 4 mills."

Denver voters have approved school bond measures for three decades, the Denver Gazette reported. The 2020 bond was $795 million. In 2024 voters approved a $975 million bond, 254,078 to 84,332; its question began "WITHOUT IMPOSING ANY NEW TAX" and stated a repayment cost of $1.9 billion. The same question extended the taxes approved at the district's 1998 through 2020 bond elections and allowed the debt levy to rise "WITHOUT LIMITATION OF RATE BUT ONLY IN AN AMOUNT SUFFICIENT TO PAY" the debt. The Gazette reported in April that the override request came 18 months after the district told voters the bond would not raise taxes. Carpenter has said that had voters rejected the bond, taxpayers would have saved about $20 million a year within "five or six years," Colorado Politics reported.

The Colorado Department of Education's October 2025 count puts DPS enrollment at 89,210 students in preschool through 12th grade, down 1,240 from 90,450 the year before and below the decade's high of 92,112 in 2019-20. District officials told the board in December that they had expected to lose about 500 students and lost about 1,200, and that they project a further decline of 8%, more than 6,000 students, by 2029, Chalkbeat reported. Statewide, the count fell by 10,272 students to 870,793.

In the department's 2025 CMAS results, the share of students in grades 3 through 8 who met or exceeded expectations ranged by grade from 42.0% to 48.8% in English language arts and from 31.4% to 41.2% in math. The department called English performance "steady" and reported "notable year-over-year gains" in math in grades four through eight.

Colorado funds schools per student. "Smoothing," which averages pupil counts over three years, has temporarily propped up DPS funding despite the declines, the Denver Gazette reported in May. DPS has closed or partially closed 13 district-run schools for low enrollment in recent years, and 15 Denver charter schools have closed for the same reason, Chalkbeat reported in December. The board adopted a four-year moratorium on enrollment-based closures that allows exceptions for a substantial shift in enrollment or funding, or an unexpected emergency. In May, Superintendent Alex Marrero told the board, "We will not exhaust the moratorium."

The proposed 2026-27 budget presented in May totaled $1.49 billion and was balanced, Chalkbeat reported. A five-year forecast showed a cumulative $28 million deficit if the district took no action, which officials called unlikely in part because DPS could ask voters for a tax increase. The district laid off the equivalent of about 61 central office employees this spring and added 12, for net savings of $8.1 million, and says it has cut $12.7 million from its headquarters over two years. According to the May budget presentation, as Chalkbeat reported, the number of students who require special education services rose 1.5% while total enrollment fell, and over six years the number of paraprofessionals rose 28% while the number of teachers fell 2%. The proposed budget includes $29.1 million for 613 aides who work with students with disabilities. "We are in a good financial position today," Carpenter said at the May workshop, according to the Denver Gazette.

The state now provides about 17% of DPS revenue and local property taxes about three-quarters, according to a Denver Gazette review of district audits. The district's audit for fiscal year 2024-25 showed $4.07 billion in long-term liabilities, including about $2.5 billion in general obligation bonds and $785 million in certificates of participation and lease-purchase obligations, and a negative net position, Colorado Politics reported. A parent group, Mamás de DPS, has sued to challenge the lease financing.

Denver Together for Kids registered with the Secretary of State on August 18, 2026, as an issue committee "TO SUPPORT THE 2026 DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS MILL LEVY OVERRIDE." Its first report of contributions and spending is due October 13. The TABOR notice prints one written comment in favor, which says the measure would raise base pay by $1,750 "for all DPS educators and support staff members like custodians, bus drivers and food service workers" and calls the cost "modest and predictable." It records that no comments against were filed by the constitutional deadline. Denverite reported on September 25 that no campaign had formed against the measure. Teachers and students spoke in favor before the board's vote on August 13.