School district gets creative to keep teachers

A ordable housing considered

BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

While the Cherry Creek School District approved salary increases to recruit and retain teachers, the Douglas County School District is forced to be more creative in addressing the ongoing issue.

During the Feb. 7 meeting, school board members considered the option to partner with developers to create housing options for teachers who cannot currently a ord to live in Douglas County.

Laydon opposed measure

BY ELLIS ARNOLD AND HALEY LENA EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In Douglas County, three people make the decisions that a ect roughly 370,000 residents. Often, those choices come from the major- ity of two commissioners.

Now, a bill in the state legislature could change that, expanding the number of members on a county’s board of elected leaders to ve. e bill would a ect several Front Range counties with large enough populations, including Douglas County, where the board has become known for its bitter con icts.

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“To me, it is a simple good governance issue, but there is pretty much united bipartisan opposition from county commissioners who would be impacted,” said state Rep. Bob Marshall, a Highlands Ranch Democrat and one of the bill’s top supporters.

Despite being one of the state’s largest school districts, Douglas County has struggled to compete with other districts in teachers’ salaries, and the results of the November election did not help.

Voters rejected a mill levy measure, which was slated to go directly

SEE CREATIVE, P4 SEE EXPAND, P5