District 49 Administrators made $2M error before $1.8M in staff layoffs

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - District 49 Board of Education members approved approximately $1.8M in cuts in this February 12 meeting. This includes the elimination of 50 positions.

It comes after the district declared a financial crisis at the beginning of the year.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Teachers, students throw Hail Mary in attempt to overturn cuts eliminating D49 teachers, programs

Months before that, in 2025, an audit by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) found that District 49 had incorrectly reported how many students were full-time due to errors with the bell schedule. It led to District 49 being paid $2,658,286.56 in additional funds.

You can read the full audit here.

After the district appealed, the CDE approved a 60% reduction to the portion of audit adjustments related to student schedules in the most recent four-year audit of D-49. They lowered the amount owed by $618,157.70. 

A CDE spokesperson tells KRDO13 a key piece of what they check in their audits is the bell schedule, the daily class timetable, which, combined with the school calendar, shows how many instructional hours students receive.

They say those scheduled hours determine whether a student qualifies for part-time funding (more than 90 hours in the fall semester) or full-time funding (more than 360 hours in the fall semester), so schedule differences can affect funding. Funding is based on what students are scheduled to receive rather than what they actually receive, according to the CDE.

The state education department says it’s common for audits to find some differences, and outcomes vary widely. In 2025, they say, 120 audits resulted in about $9.8 million in net recoveries, with some districts returning funds and others receiving additional funding based on the findings. District 49 made up around a fifth of that recovery, $2 million.

According to the CDE, District 49 repaid its full audit liability of $2,040,128.86 on June 26, 2025.

D49 teacher David Jung says he wishes there were accountability for these errors.

"Hey, you know, we all make mistakes, and we own up to the mistakes that we've made instead of protecting and hiding away. Oh, these mistakes were here, and we need to keep that person protected. Let them stand up and say, hey, I made a mistake. You know, these are the areas that we could have done better. These are the ways that I've got to improve," explained David Jung. He continued on about a program they use at his school, "We use a program called Boystown, and one of the skills that we talk about with the Boystown is how to make a proper apology. And that's to say what you're sorry for, and say how you're going to fix your behavior in the future. I have yet to hear any of that from our district. What I've heard a lot of is that we are done talking to you. We are not going to answer your questions."

Jung said at this point he isn't even trying to save his job; he said he wants to ensure the programs, such as the greenhouse at his middle school, will continue for the students and generations to come.

"We talk about being a place to lead, a place to learn, a place to be able to work, and bring our community together. And yet we don't show that to our students. Instead, what we tell our students is that money is more important. And so, in order to protect the money of our upper administration, sorry kids, you have fewer classes available to you. You have a greater number of peers per class, so you have fewer opportunities to be able to talk with your teachers. D49, that is not the way to go. We need to put our students first," stated Jung.

We reached out to the teachers' union for the district, the Falcon Education Association (FEA), about this. Here is their response:

When the D49 administration mismanaged instructional time and was handed a $2 million fine by the state, not a single administrative job was lost. The district managed to absorb that multi-million-dollar penalty using carryover Mill Levy Override (MLO) funds—money that can be rolled over year after year.

Yet, when the district recently faced a projected budget gap of $9 to $11 million, their first instinct was to target frontline educators. Out of that entire deficit, the administration only required a 'fiscal exigency' declaration for $1.8 million. That is the exact dollar amount they needed to legally bypass contracts and fire our veteran, tenured teachers.

If the district can creatively navigate a $2 million penalty caused by administrative errors without firing anyone, they can certainly find a way to cover $1.8 million to keep highly qualified, dedicated teachers in our classrooms. Our students deserve leadership that holds itself accountable for its financial mistakes, rather than forcing teachers and students to pay the price.

-Jordan Martin, VP of the Falcon Education Association

KRDO13 has reached out to District 49 and the District 49 Board of Education for comment. This article will be updated with the responses we receive.

A spokesperson for District 49 sent this response:

Auditing bell and individual student schedules is a normal part of enrollment reporting and accounting. D49 made a one-time repayment to comply with CDE’s retroactive analysis of four years of scheduling data (Confirming 99.9% of schedules and correcting 0.1%). That reconciliation of enrollment status is normal practice and has zero bearing on the ongoing financial constraints that affect all Colorado school districts.

Because the exigency and some related questions are included in the list you provided, I would direct you to three separate board of education meetings in which district leadership addressed the budget and resulting reduction in force before the BOE, most recently on February 12.

-District 49 spokesperson

The spokesperson pointed to these meetings:

Feb. 12

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/OhSo2HwGQVg?si=d0qso6Av7nwr58et&t=7721

Agenda Item 9.2

26-27 Cost Reduction OverviewDownload

Jan. 16

Video:

Agenda Action 7.12:

Regular Board of Education Meeting - Jan 16 2026 - AgendaDownload

Dec. 4 

• Agenda https://go.boarddocs.com/co/d49/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DNXQ6Y67D7E3 

Video:

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