The idea seems entirely counterintuitive: how can pausing pay raises possibly result in a bigger paycheck for employees who are already feeling the financial strain of an increasingly expensive world? For Colorado’s Eagle County School District, this very strategy is being seriously considered not as a punishment, but as a high-stakes gamble to secure its financial future and, ultimately, deliver a substantial pay increase to its staff. Facing a persistent structural budget deficit where expenses consistently outpace revenue, the district is preparing for a major ballot initiative designed to generate new funding. The controversial centerpiece of this plan involves a temporary, one-year pay freeze, a short-term sacrifice that leadership believes is the essential first step toward achieving a significant, long-term financial reward for its dedicated employees and ensuring the sustainability of the entire organization.
The Anatomy of a Financial Crisis
An Unsustainable Model
The most pressing issue confronting the Eagle County School District is a deep-seated structural deficit, a situation where annual expenditures consistently exceed incoming revenue. This financial model has forced the district into a precarious practice of depleting its reserve funds simply to cover operational costs year after year. Projections indicate a troubling trajectory, with the fund balance expected to drop by $3 million in a single school year, bringing it to just under $7 million. This rapid erosion of savings is an unmistakable signal of an impending financial crisis if a new, sustainable revenue stream is not secured. The core of this problem lies in a fundamental imbalance, as starkly summarized by Chief Financial Officer Bryson Beaver: revenue is increasing by an average of only 1.1% annually, while the district’s largest expense, staff compensation, which constitutes nearly 80% of the budget, climbs by a contractually obligated 3.2% each year. This disparity creates a widening gap that makes long-term financial stability virtually impossible under the current structure.
Compounding these internal financial pressures are significant external factors that are largely beyond the district’s control, further complicating its budget planning. In Colorado, school funding is directly linked to the “funded pupil count,” a figure determined each October. For years, Eagle County has experienced a consistent decline in student enrollment, which directly translates to reduced state funding. Financial forecasts reveal that even a best-case scenario of losing 150 students would yield only a 1.3% revenue increase. However, the reality has been harsher; the district lost 250 students in the current year, resulting in a meager 0.9% revenue bump that did little to offset the rising costs of inflation and salary increases. Adding to this challenge is a state funding system that Superintendent Philip Qualman has described as “maddening.” The Colorado School Finance Act dictates a complex formula, and the state’s final contribution figures are not released until late August. This leaves the district in the difficult position of having to build its budget and make critical staffing decisions in January based on projections rather than concrete numbers, adding a significant layer of uncertainty to an already strained financial planning process.
The Compensation Conundrum
At the very heart of the district’s financial and operational struggles is its growing inability to offer competitive salaries to its teachers and staff. With a starting base salary of just $50,500, the Eagle County School District lags significantly behind neighboring districts like Summit County and Roaring Fork, both of which offer new teachers starting salaries of $54,000 or more. This substantial pay gap has created a severe competitive disadvantage, making it exceptionally difficult to recruit new talent in a tight labor market. The district’s standing is starkly illustrated by its statewide ranking; in the 2024-25 school year, Eagle County ranked a dismal 30th in Colorado for average teacher salary, falling below the overall state average. This non-competitive position not only hampers recruitment efforts for new educators but also raises concerns about retaining the experienced, high-quality teachers who are essential to student success. The district finds itself in a challenging position where it cannot attract the necessary talent to fill its classrooms while simultaneously trying to support its existing staff.
Ironically, the root of this compensation problem lies within a salary schedule that was originally implemented approximately eight years ago with the intention of rewarding veteran teachers for their service. The system includes an automatic 3.2% “step” increase each year, a rate that Superintendent Qualman describes as “comparatively high” when measured against other districts, which typically offer annual steps between 1.5% and 2%. While this structure benefits long-serving employees, its high annual cost consumes the entirety of the district’s available funds for raises. Consequently, there has been no financial capacity to make crucial adjustments to the base salary. Over several years, this has caused the starting pay to fall further and further behind competitors, creating a system that disproportionately rewards tenure over attracting new talent. As Qualman argued, the district must “dial back the step” to free up funds for base salary adjustments and regain a competitive footing. Despite these significant challenges, the district has managed to maintain a teacher turnover rate of 14.6%, which is slightly better than the state average of 17%, suggesting that other positive retention factors, such as school culture and community support, are still at play.
A High-Stakes Gamble for a Better Future
The Proposed Solution
After extensive analysis of their financial predicament, the district’s leadership has reached a consensus: the only viable path to achieving long-term financial solvency and offering competitive compensation is through a voter-approved mill levy override (MLO). The current plan is to move forward with placing a maximum MLO request on the November 2026 election ballot. This initiative would ask the community’s voters to approve an additional $10.5 million in annual property tax revenue dedicated exclusively to the school district. Superintendent Qualman has framed this measure not merely as a beneficial addition but as an essential move for the “sustainability of the organization.” He issued a stark warning that without the passage of the MLO, the district will not only fail to be competitive in the regional education market but will also face “really challenging financial times” that could necessitate deep and damaging cuts to programs and personnel.
To ensure the success of this critical ballot initiative, the district has already begun a meticulous and strategic planning process. A survey of district leadership confirmed an overwhelming consensus that the primary allocation for these new funds would be staff compensation, reflecting a shared understanding that the ability to attract and retain high-quality educators is the cornerstone of a successful school system. Recognizing the complexity and importance of the campaign, the district has invested $30,000 to hire an experienced campaign consultant, Kristin Kenney Williams, to guide the effort. The strategy is designed to be inclusive and transparent, beginning with internal surveys to align all district stakeholders on the specific purpose and messaging of the MLO. Following this internal alignment, the campaign will broaden its scope to include comprehensive surveys of teachers and the wider community. This phased approach is intended to build a strong, unified coalition of support and ensure that the final ballot measure accurately reflects the priorities and concerns of the students, families, and taxpayers the district serves.
Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain
In the immediate term, before a potential MLO could provide relief, the district faces a projected $4.6 million deficit for the upcoming budget year. To balance the budget without a new source of revenue would require drastic and painful measures, including the elimination of 38 personnel positions and a sweeping 10% cut to all non-staffing budgets. CFO Bryson Beaver described this scenario as “extremely difficult,” as such cuts would inevitably lead to larger class sizes, a higher student-to-teacher ratio, and a significant reduction in educational resources and support services available to students. To avoid this devastating outcome and simultaneously underscore the gravity of the financial situation for voters, the district’s leadership is now considering a bold and controversial strategy: a one-year freeze on all salary step increases for staff. This difficult move would generate approximately $1.5 to $1.6 million in savings, a sum sufficient to preserve between 15 and 16 jobs that would otherwise be on the chopping block.
The proposed pay freeze was designed to serve a dual purpose, functioning as both a necessary fiscal tool and a powerful strategic message. Superintendent Qualman believes that implementing a freeze would send an unequivocal signal to the community, stating, “What a pay freeze shows is that we are really struggling.” The expectation was that this shared sacrifice would motivate staff and their supporters to become active and vocal advocates for the MLO, demonstrating to voters that the need for additional funding was not an abstract budget line but a real and urgent crisis affecting educators directly. The strategy ingeniously paired this “short-term pain” with the promise of a significant “long-term gain.” If the $10.5 million MLO passed in November 2026, the district planned to reward its staff with a substantial retroactive bonus, equivalent to an 8% raise. This would not only compensate employees for the forgone step increase but would also represent a major leap forward in their overall compensation. The ongoing MLO funds would then be used to completely restructure the salary schedule, elevate the base pay to a competitive level, and ensure that salaries remain attractive for years to come—a plan described as a “life-changing” shift for the district’s financial health and the economic well-being of its employees.
