Skip to Content

Mass exodus from D60 bond advisory committee after members disagree with school board

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- When voters in Pueblo passed the $218 million District 60 school bond back in 2019, they did so with the knowledge that a citizens' advisory committee would be tracking how the money was spent.

Now, in a mass exodus, six of the eight people on that committee have submitted their resignation.

District 60 school board president Taylor Voss says the falling out between the committee and the board was because the advisory committee was trying to do more than just monitor projects.

"In my eyes, the committee was created to monitor how the bond money was spent, as well as monitor the progress of the various projects that we had," Voss said.

Voss claims the board and the advisory committee didn't have any strong disagreements about specific projects, but their hangup, he says, was about the committee's role.

"I think their idea of how it should be operating was to expand the role the committee had and allow it to weigh in more on the decision-making process," Voss continued. "To be able to give their input and feedback."

"I could tell that we definitely just weren't on the same page, so I saw something like this, could happen."

But the head of the committee, Ken Lane says the committee wasn't trying to overstep, and that the school board stopped communicating with them before six of the eight members resigned in early July.

"That is absolutely not true," Lane said in response. "We absolutely recognize our limited authority to monitor the bond expenditures."

Lane added that they all resigned because they weren't being clued in.

"The board did not consider the committee to be relevant to the bond expenditure process. So, when, when we collectively realized that, you know as volunteers, there's no reason to serve out on a committee if the committee is not relevant."

Lane says the school board needs to be more upfront about how it's spending the bond money and needs to remember why Pueblo voters wanted an advisory committee in the first place.

"It seems the school board thought we weren't supposed to really do anything," he said. "And we thought we were appointed for the bond language to monitor bond expenditures."

The advisory positions are appointed by the school board.

Voss says it's his goal to find people to fill the roles soon.

Article Topic Follows: News

Jump to comments ↓

Author Profile Photo

Spencer Soicher

Spencer is the weekend evening anchor, and a reporter for KRDO. Learn more about him here.

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KRDO NewsChannel 13 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content