Noticias

• Telluride School District Faces Funding Cliff
• Telluride Theatre Lives Life on the Fringe
• Finding the Way Through Wayfinding

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Telluride School District Faces Funding Cliff

The Telluride School District’s mission is to ensure that each student can achieve personal success through quality education. But Superintendent John Pandolfo says a perfect storm of funding cuts from the state will make that difficult.

“If we’re talking about $1.4 million, which is maybe realistic, that’s 15 positions. That’s 10% of our workforce. I don’t know how we provide the same quality of education with that many fewer staff,” Pandolfo said.

Last year, the Colorado State Legislature passed HB24-1448, a bill to create a new funding formula for school districts. The aim was to fund schools in a more sustainable way and provide more funding for rural districts. The bill passed the Colorado State House with 59 of 65 representatives voting in support and passed the Colorado State Senate with 27 of 34 voting in support. It was then signed by Governor Jared Polis.

While the bill had overwhelming support in Denver, Pandolfo says it will hurt the Telluride School District dramatically.

For one, the bill caps the cost-of-living factor, which is a multiplier used to determine the amount of funding a district gets based on the cost of living in a particular area.

“The Telluride School District previously, and for this year, has a cost-of-living factor of 1.595, which means we get 59.5% over some base that would be called ‘normal’ for the state. The new law has capped that new cost-of-living factor at 23% of 1.23. So that right there would have a significant impact on Telluride,” Pandolfo said.

Pandolfo says this change in the cost-of-living multiplier equals a decrease of about $1 million out of a total $13 million program funding.

But that’s not where it ends. There’s also a Locale Factor, which provides funding based on the size and ruralness of a school district.

“We, in the past, would have been classified as ‘rural remote,’ which would give us a similar factor to cost of living, but at 1.25. Because the population in the Town of Telluride went from just under 2,500 to just over 2,500 (currently 2,522), that factor would decrease from 1.25 to 1.10 because now we’d be classified as ‘town remote.’ The range to be classified as ‘town’ starts at 2,500, below that is rural, and it goes up to 50,000. So, we’re 22 people into a range that includes 47,500 people,” Pandolfo explained.

That shift means another $1 million in cuts, Pandolfo said.

Finally, Governor Polis has suggested basing per-student funding on a one-year student enrollment count, rather than a five-year average. Pandolfo says if enrollment is increasing, a one-year average is beneficial. But for districts like Telluride, where enrollment is declining, they would prefer the five-year average.

“So now, we’re talking over $3 million of a $13 million budget,” Pandolfo added.

Adding to the challenges, if state funding decreases, so will the district’s mill levy override — a voter-approved tax increase to support education. The current mill levy is 30%, but 30% of $10 million is less than 30% of $13 million.

The legislature did give school districts a chance to increase their mill levy override up to 50%, but Pandolfo is wary of going back to voters.

“That is a huge ask, in my opinion. It may be something we’re faced with, but it doesn’t feel fair by any means that the state has put that on us,” he said.

Pandolfo says the best-case scenario is a small decrease in funding, but the worst-case scenario is a decrease of $3 to $4 million. He also noted these funding cuts are separate from any federal cuts.

This bill was passed last year, but why is it coming up now?

The bill wasn’t supposed to go into effect until 2030, giving the district more time to figure out how to move forward. But now, with the Colorado legislature facing a $750 million budgetary shortfall, Governor Polis has suggested making the bill go into effect for the next school year. That means the funding cuts could come as soon as this fall.

“So, we’re looking at all things. Everything is on the table. It’s extremely painful to think about some of the things we’re thinking about,” Pandolfo said.

The future of funding for the Telluride School District remains uncertain as lawmakers in Denver continue to work on the budget. But Pandolfo and district leadership are preparing for the perfect storm.

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Telluride Theatre Lives Life on the Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival started in 1947.

“A bunch of little, independent performing arts groups just took over the main street and little off-center venues to perform weird, on-the-fringe, type of performing art pieces,” said Kevin Douglas, operations manager for Telluride Theatre.

Over the years, fringe festivals have expanded across the globe. Now, for the second year, the Telluride Fringe Festival is showcasing the talent of people from the local community.

“Every major city has a Fringe Festival: Toronto, New York, Denver, LA,” said Sasha Cucciniello, artistic director of Telluride Theatre. “I’ve been popping around this idea for years; we have so many amazing artists in town: visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, poets. Giving people space to express themselves that’s not the typical Telluride Theatre fare.”

Next week, the Fringe Festival – a production of Telluride Theatre – will be coming to the Palm Theatre with seven productions and two art installations, including the absurd.

“An experimental musical game show competition, where you are on the Baby Bachelorette and competing to be the baby of Allison Tarwater, who’s the creator and performer of ‘Will You Be My Baby.’ That’s the type of stuff you get at a Fringe,” said Douglas.

The festival will also feature a show about yacht rocking.

“This might be the dirtiest, raunchiest play I’ve directed. It’s really fun and off the wall,” said Cucciniello.

The cosmic will also be represented, with the show Constellations.

“A love story that plays with quantum physics and the multiverse. The premise is these two people and all the ways their relationship could play out based on the different circumstances in all these parallel universes,” said Douglas.

For Cucciniello, the goal is to bring as many people into the theatre as possible.

“I am a huge fan of new work. I’m a huge fan of artists. I’m a huge fan of people coming with their crazy ideas and saying ‘yeah, we can make that possible for you. Here’s a little bit of money, here’s some space, here’s some support,’” said Cucciniello. “For people who don’t get that experience of a full production with lights and sound, it’s really a cool thing we’re providing.”

The Telluride Fringe Festival will run at the Palm Theatre Tuesday, March 4, through Sunday, March 9, with a different show every night. Tickets are available at telluridetheatre.org with a pay-what-you-can option.

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Finding the Way Through Wayfinding

A sign on the shack on the edge of town. Small wooden street signs with white lettering. A cacophony of parking signs, all with different information. The wayfinding in the box canyon is just as funky. Now, the Town of Telluride is looking to clean it up.

“We want to develop a sign program that’s intuitive, cohesive, and on brand. Reduce the sign clutter, design for longevity, clear up confusion, and improve the experience. It considers accessibility for all,” said Kevin Fromet, with Guide Studio, a branding and wayfinding firm.

“And then, most importantly, we want to make it authentic to the town.”

Fromet and Guide Studio have been working with the Town of Telluride for several months to map out what a new wayfinding program could look like. He said their goal is to create a program that’s historic, welcoming, and beautiful. Active, unique, awe-inspiring, and even funky, eclectic, and wild west.

The wayfinding program is more than just the signs themselves, Fromet said. It’s also about determining where the signs should go and what the town needs to make wayfinding accessible for those who are on foot, on bike, or in a car.

According to Fromet, there are some easy ways the town could clean up its current program.

“We think just improving your street signs. They’re really small, and they’re worn and faded. Just doing that would improve the wayfinding so much for someone coming into town,” he said.

This week, Fromet presented to the Town Council, who had some clear opinions.

“I would agree that our street signs are not as effective for wayfinding, but they are nostalgic. I think that’s going to be the hardest thing for us in this project — bridging nostalgia and the things that people are familiar with, with more information,” said Councilmember Ashley Von Spreecken.

On the whole, the Council is supportive of the direction — creating a program that makes it easier for people to find their way through town. But they do have concerns with some of the design elements.

The proposed concepts — which are only concepts and no final decisions have been made — feature, at times, large standard signs. Some Councilmembers, like Meehan Fee, believe these could be used everywhere.

“It feels very uniform, and I think it’s easy for people driving in from different locations to be able to identify these signs right away, and that is fantastic. But to me, they felt a little not special, a little cheap, if you will. It could be any tier-three city, versus a luxury, high-end resort community,” said Fee.

The largest contention came from the idea of a place for pause — a welcome area at the barricade pullout just before the town roundabout. Fromet envisions a place where visitors can see the mountains, get maps, and figure out their next step before heading into town.

The drawing — which was only an idea, not reality — is a tall picture frame structure with the Telluride logo.

“We kind of wanted to give someone a pause point to get their bearings. They can park here, they can get out. The idea is it’s a framed picture using the logo, so it’s also an Instagrammable moment,” Fromet said.

Council is not on board.

“The Valley Floor and the mountains are Instagrammable as they exist. They don’t have to create an extra gimmicky thing there,” said Von Spreecken.

“I don’t like the frame. I think it’s a great spot for information and for a pullout and for people to take pictures. It just needs to be more lowkey. I do like the idea of having benches there, and I wonder if benches could be the thing that brings our branding into it. Maybe the bench has a relief that has our logo mountain, but I think this is too intrusive,” said Councilmember Elena Levin.

On less controversial topics, Fromet suggests cleaning up parking signs to make them more succinct and clearer.

The Town of Telluride is still working on the design, with no set plan for implementation, but plans to prioritize street signs and parking. Bigger projects, like a welcome area, will be in the years to come.

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Community Conversation at Wilkinson Library

The Wilkinson Public Library is hosting another of its Community Conversation series next week to discuss various important topics, including mental health, substance use disorder, sex education for parents, advocacy against sexual assault, community diversity, equity, inclusion, and LGBTQIA+ conversations.

The conversation on March 4th will focus on harnessing parent networks to foster youth wellness. It will cover strengthening communication, setting boundaries, and creating family plans.

The event will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Wilkinson Public Library. Dinner and childcare will be provided.

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Mountain West Voters Concerned About Water Supply

A recent survey of voters in the Mountain West found high levels of concern about the region’s water supply. According to Colorado College’s Conservation in the West poll, 88% of respondents said inadequate water supply was a serious problem, with Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona showing the highest levels of concern.

When it comes to solutions, there was strong bipartisan support for nature-based initiatives to improve water quality over man-made infrastructure.

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Peoples’ Union USA Calls for Nationwide Economic Blackout

The Peoples’ Union USA, a new national movement organized by Illinois-based activist John Schwarz, is calling for a nationwide economic blackout on Friday. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KDNK’s Amy Hadden Marsh has more.

Story begins at 15:02.

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Rocky Mountain Community Radio Report on Public Lands and Housing

Some Western lawmakers have expressed interest in using public lands to build affordable housing. Housing costs have risen across the Rocky Mountain West, while millions of acres of public land remain available. However, some public lands advocates warn that using public land for housing is a “Trojan Horse.”

Ben Long shares his thoughts on this topic in the Writers on the Range series, presented through Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

Story beings at 17:48.