BY FREDA MIKLIN
STAFF WRITER
As part of its plan to ask voters to approve a $30 million mill levy override and a $950 million bond in November, the Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) hopes to construct the first phase of a three-phase project to rebuild the 85-acre campus in Greenwood Village that includes Belleview Elementary School, Campus Middle School, and Cherry Creek High School (CCHS). The property also includes Stutler Bowl, a district stadium, a transportation depot, and a district administration building. The stadium and the transportation depot are expected to remain in their present locations and the administration office is scheduled to be relocated.
The portion of the $950 million allocated to new construction and renovation district-wide is $415 million, which includes the cost of rebuilding Laredo Middle School and Holly Ridge/Holly Hills School, in addition to the CCHS campus, as well as adding a swimming pool and an admissions office at Overland High School.
Scott Smith, CCSD Chief Financial and Operating Officer, accompanied by David Henderson, Deputy Chief of Operations, Derek Molnar, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Operations, and Ashley Verville from the CCSD communications team, appeared in front of the Greenwood Village City Council on July 15 after being asked by GV Mayor George Lantz to provide an update on their plans.
Two of the three schools on the CCHS campus were built 70 years ago and one was built over 50 years ago, resulting in increasingly costly repairs and maintenance, as well as outdated design and technology, leading CCSD to conclude that the time has come to redesign and rebuild. Safety and security are also of utmost importance today and these buildings were not designed with either purpose in mind, a fact confirmed to the city council by GV Police Chief Dustin Varney who said they present significant security challenges as presently configured.
The multi-building campus extends from Yosemite Street east to Dayton Street and Belleview Avenue north to Union Avenue.
Addressing the role of how property taxes impact schools in Colorado, Smith explained that schools are funded by a combination of state and local money, and that when the local share goes up because of higher property values, the state share goes down by the same amount, so school districts don’t receive more funding when homeowners’ property taxes increase. All that changes is the mix of state and local funds. Property taxes going up or down has no impact on the amount of revenue each school district receives. As evidence, he pointed out that the State of Colorado “actually reduced their contribution to K-12 schools this year,” when nearly everyone’s property taxes went up.
Another important aspect of school funding in Colorado Smith made clear is that the State provides no funding for capital construction for schools, thus, he told the city council, “Whether you need to build new schools because more kids are moving in or you have to reinvest in old schools, there is no funding from the State of Colorado. It is entirely dependent on every school district to raise that money locally (through bond elections).”
Smith talked about the experience of students attending school in highly outdated buildings compared to those in newer facilities. He said, “If you look at what our kids experience at Belleview Elementary (opened in 1954) versus what our kids experience at Woodland Elementary (opened in 2022), it is remarkably different how the culture feels and how kids want to be there…. People want to work for companies where they feel invested in, where people take care of the buildings, where they provide a sense of pride… Why isn’t that true of our little humans?”
He emphasized that CCSD is only in the very initial phase of determining how to approach the huge project at CCHS, telling the council, “We’ve hired a master planner to explore how you could rebuild that campus… We’ve looked at how you could move the buildings around to impact students the least, and that’s as far as we’ve gotten.” He continued, “The school board has made two decisions, that Stutler Bowl will not be moved and Village Greens Park, which is partly owned by CCSD, will not be used for permanent construction, though it may be used temporarily during the construction process.”
CCSD has been engaging the community to ensure the project meets the goals of the community before decisions are finalized regarding building layout, design, and traffic flow.
As an example of the challenges of this project, Smith told the council that Grandview High School is the only school on its campus and that campus is the same size as the three-school K-12 Cherry Creek campus. Additionally, Grandview has 1,000 fewer students than does Cherry Creek High School. In Smith’s words, “This is difficult. It is delicate,” adding, “We need to do this right.”
The impetus for moving forward at this time, he explained, is, “Every four years we wait, it costs another $250 million, based on construction inflation right now.”
Mayor George Lantz and City Council Member Dave Ker ber thanked the CCSD team for the presentation. Council Member Anne Ingebretsen asked questions about the history of CCSD bond elections. Council Member Donna Johnston asked about enrollment projections for the campus, which Scott answered were declining and expected to continue doing so unless residential development in the area began to include different types of housing than what exists currently. According to Redfin, 16 homes were sold in Greenwood Village in June 2024 at a median sales price of $1,720,000, a price level not accessible for many young families.