CREATIVE

toward teacher salaries.

Superintendent Erin Kane has raised concerns with the salaries teachers are receiving, stressing the current starting salary for a teacher in the district is $43,680, which is out of touch with the cost of living in the county.

According to the U.S. Census, the median household income in Douglas County is $127,443. e average monthly cost of living is over $4,000.

While school board members are considering returning to voters again next year to ask for more funds to pay teachers, they are currently looking at the a ordable housing options.

Shea Properties, a local housing developer that built out Highlands Ranch, has proposed building on 10 acres of land owned by the school district in Meridian Village near Parker. e land was originally set aside for a new school but is too small.

Shea would then develop the property with low-income apartments.

Board members seemed receptive to the proposal.

In neighboring Arapahoe County, Cherry Creek’s school board approved salary increases to start in the 2024-25 school year. According to the Feb. 8 news release, new Cherry Creek teachers will start at $57,000 per year, around $14,000 more than Douglas County.

Cherry Creek teachers “across the spectrum of classroom experience” will also get salary increases, and additional compensation will be available for teachers and certi ed sta who further their education, according to the release. is new salary schedule was part of a compensation package approved Feb. 6 by members of the Cherry Creek Education Association, an organization that