Granada School District RE-1 bond to match a state grant for a school addition and renovation
School borrowingNew debt conditioned on a state grant
Authorizes $1.35 million in school facility bonds, with repayment up to $2.36 million and a tax increase of up to $120,000 a year, only if the district wins a state BEST grant of more than $23 million.
Granada School District RE-1
Kim's Recommendation
NO
Vote No on Granada School District RE-1 Ballot Issue 4A
Ballot Issue 4A would give the Granada district bonded debt it does not now carry, repaid by a new property tax, to match a $23.7 million state grant. Sewer lines that back up into a school and young children crossing a street to reach a 1939 gym are serious problems, and the state has tied its grant to this election.
The question lets the district borrow $1.35 million and raise property taxes by up to $120,000 a year, with no limit on the mill rate, and the ballot sets no final repayment year. That debt would sit beside the $2.1 million the district reported owing on a loan for its share of an earlier state grant. The grant comes from the state's BEST fund, and the state puts this project at $130,133 for each student it serves. That is a great deal of public money, and spending restraint has to hold for the state's building fund as well as for the district's levy. I oppose increasing public debt and property taxes, and a grant condition does not change what this question asks Granada property owners to carry.
I recommend a no vote on Granada School District RE-1 Ballot Issue 4A.
Kim Monson
Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026
Certified ballot question
SHALL GRANADA SCHOOL DISTRICT RE-1 DEBT BE INCREASED $1.35 MILLION, WITH A TOTAL REPAYMENT COST OF UP TO $2.36 MILLION, AND SHALL DISTRICT TAXES BE INCREASED BY UP TO $120,000 ANNUALLY, WITH THE INCREASE IN DEBT TO OCCUR ONLY IF THE DISTRICT RECEIVES A “BEST” GRANT WHICH EXCEEDS $23 MILLION IN AWARDED “BEST” GRANT FUNDS (WHICH ARE NOT REQUIRED TO BE REPAID), FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING AND EQUIPPING DISTRICT FACILITIES, INCLUDING: · EXPANDING THE MAIN BUILDING TO IMPROVE SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY BY LOCATING ALL CLASSROOMS WITHIN THE BUILDING; · REPLACING OUTDATED SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE TO PROVIDE HEALTHIER FACILITIES FOR STUDENTS, STAFF, AND COMMUNITY VISITORS; · BUILDING AN AUXILIARY GYM AND NEW VO-AG SHOP; AND · UPGRADING OTHER DISTRICT AMENITIES, INCLUDING THE MAIN GYMNASIUM, KITCHEN, LOCKER ROOMS, AND SCIENCE CLASSROOM; BY THE ISSUANCE AND PAYMENT OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS WHICH SHALL BEAR INTEREST, MATURE, BE SUBJECT TO REDEMPTION, WITH OR WITHOUT PREMIUM, AND BE ISSUED AT SUCH TIME, AT SUCH PRICE (AT, ABOVE OR BELOW PAR) AND IN SUCH MANNER AND CONTAINING SUCH TERMS CONSISTENT WITH THIS BALLOT ISSUE, AS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MAY DETERMINE; AND SHALL AD VALOREM PROPERTY TAXES BE LEVIED WITHOUT LIMIT AS TO THE MILL RATE TO GENERATE AMOUNTS, NOT TO EXCEED THE AMOUNTS SET FORTH ABOVE, SUFFICIENT IN EACH YEAR TO PAY THE PRINCIPAL OF, PREMIUM IF ANY, AND INTEREST ON THE BONDS?
A yes vote means
If the district receives a BEST grant of more than $23 million, it could issue $1.35 million in bonds and raise property taxes by up to $120,000 a year to repay them.
A no vote means
The district would not receive authority for this debt or tax increase.
A Bond Only with a State Grant01
Voters in Granada School District RE-1 will decide whether the district may issue $1.35 million in general obligation bonds, with a total repayment cost of up to $2.36 million. District property taxes would rise by up to $120,000 a year to repay them, levied "WITHOUT LIMIT AS TO THE MILL RATE." The ballot sets no final repayment year.
The question allows the debt "ONLY IF THE DISTRICT RECEIVES A “BEST” GRANT WHICH EXCEEDS $23 MILLION IN AWARDED “BEST” GRANT FUNDS (WHICH ARE NOT REQUIRED TO BE REPAID)." BEST, for Building Excellent Schools Today, is the state's school construction grant program, run by the Colorado Department of Education. The program is funded from state trust land revenue, marijuana excise taxes, Colorado Lottery money and interest.
A Grant Awaiting This Election02
On May 21, 2026, the state's Capital Construction Assistance Board approved its list of grants for 2026-27; the State Board of Education approved it in June. Granada is 10th on it, recommended for a cash grant of $23,736,341.24 toward a "K-12 Addition and Renovation" project costing $24,985,622.36. The district's share is $1,249,281.12. The list marks the grant "contingent upon a November 2026 Bond Election." The district's August 21 mailer says in its headline that the district "HAS BEEN AWARDED" the grant; its cost section says, "If the grant is awarded, the State would provide the majority of the project funding."
The state's formula set Granada's minimum share at 27% of the project. The district applied for a waiver and offered 5%, saying the full 27% would take it beyond its debt capacity of $3,637,059. In that request it said that, if awarded a waiver, it would ask voters for a $1.25 million bond. The ballot asks for $1.35 million. The district's mailer says that amount includes the estimated cost of selling the bonds directly to a bank.
The application form states: "Failure to secure matching funds by a deadline prescribed by the board may result in forfeit of an awarded grant." The application plans completion by July 28, 2028.
The Estimated Yearly Tax03
The district's mailer, using figures from its financial advisor, estimates the tax at $42.00 a year for each $100,000 of a home's market value and $160.84 a year for each $100,000 of commercial property. The estimates assume a $1,350,000 bond over 20 years at 5.00% interest, a 5.96 mill levy and the district's 2026 assessed value. The mailer says the ballot question assumes a rate of up to 6.00% and that the tax will be determined when the bonds are issued.
An Existing Loan but No Bonds04
The district has no outstanding bonded debt and has held no bond election in the last 10 years, according to its application for the state grant. Its 2025 levy of 27.061 mills included no bond levy. In the same application it reported owing $2.1 million on a loan it took out, instead of asking voters for a bond, to pay its share of an earlier BEST grant; it budgets $147,000 a year to repay it. The state's figures put the new project's cost at $130,133 for each of its 192 pupils.
Every Classroom in One Building05
The Granada campus dates from 1967 and includes the main Pre-K-12 building, an industrial arts building, three modular classroom buildings and a gymnasium left from the 1939 school, which elementary students use for physical education. That gym sits nearly a quarter mile away, across East Grooms Avenue, which students cross several times a day.
The ballot names four groups of work: expanding the main building so all classrooms are inside it, replacing outdated sewer infrastructure, building an auxiliary gym and a new vocational agriculture shop, and upgrading the main gym, kitchen, locker rooms and science classroom. The grant application calls for an 11,112-square-foot addition and renovation of 49,264 square feet. It also adds a fire sprinkler system throughout, which the application calls the district's most severe safety deficiency, along with new electrical wiring and security systems. The modular classrooms and the vocational agriculture building, whose block walls are cracking as it settles, would be torn down, as would the detached Cleary building, built in 1995 for high school English classes. The district reports sewer backups "sometimes weekly"; the plan upsizes the main waste line from 3 inches to 6 inches.
The source is a Granada School District RE-1 news page dated August 21, 2026, titled as announcing that the district was awarded a Capital Construction Best Grant.
A Granada School District RE-1 paid flyer (OCR text) saying the district won a $23.7M state BEST grant, that the district must provide a partial match, and that voters will decide the funds in the November 2026 election.
