Strong Start, Student-Centered Accountability Program (S-CAP), District Finances and Construction, and Parent Education & Family Resources.
Strong Start. It is hard to believe October is upon us. We have already held secondary parent teacher conferences, homecoming is taking place, and the end of the 1st quarter is only two weeks away. We have had a fantastic start to the school year. Our attendance across the district continues to be strong with the elementary sitting at 95%, middle school at 96%, and high school at 92% attendance rates. We have excelled in this area over the years, with last year’s district attendance rate at 93.6%. During the 25-26 school year we once again exceeded the state average of 91.5%. I genuinely believe regular and routine attendance is one of the most important starting places of academic success for a student. Simply put, we cannot educate students when they are not here. Our high attendance rate is one example of the strong community support, partnership, and belief in the education system we have at Platte Valley School District.
That belief in the quality education system we have at Platte Valley School District is known across Northern Colorado. We have a strong reputation known for focusing on educating students, strong academics, and high expectations. It is not uncommon for me to hear from people across the state, or extending into Wyoming, the positive reputation we have as a school district. It is why we are a beneficiary of the state’s open enrollment and have approximately 26% of our student population choice into Platte Valley School District. That strong reputation has allowed us to maintain our enrollment, while many districts across the state are facing declining enrollment and cutting programs. No different than any business, in order to provide programs and services we need customers. Students are our customers. While our reputation is strong, we will always work to continuously improve our student outcomes every day and every year.
S-CAP. I mentioned above we work to continuously improve student outcomes. Our focus is and always will be on educating students. We also believe our students are more than a singular test score. Student assessments and test scores are an important piece of the pie, but not the whole pie. We look at a variety of measures to assess how we are performing as a district and focus on the whole child, which was a major impetus to our Success Skills. That focus on educating the whole child has led us to the Student-Centered Accountability Program (S-CAP).
S-CAP is a collaborative, grassroots network of small, rural Colorado school districts that have built a local and meaningful accountability and improvement system -- together. Founded in 2015 by five districts (Buena Vista, Buffalo, Kit Carson, La Veta, and Monte Vista), S-CAP now includes 23 member districts across the state and is guided by the Center for Practice Engaged Education Research (C-PEER) at the University of Colorado Denver. S-CAP’s core aim is to align accountability, improvement, and instruction for deeper learning in rural schools.
S-CAP is guided by four core values:
- Emphasize every student and the whole student
- Accountability means continuous improvement
- What gets measured and reported gets done
- Accountability impact increases with local stakeholder investment
S-CAP will review Platte Valley School District in four research-based framework areas that include: (1) Curriculum and Instruction; (2) Learning Climate and Dispositions; (3) Leadership and Vision; and (4) Professional Learning. Please be watching for a survey to be sent out at the beginning of October for Platte Valley families and community members to provide feedback on the district.
Transitioning to the operations and financial side of the district, we have recently completed our annual financial audit with Lauer, Szabo, and Associates out of Sterling.
District Finances and Construction. The District has recently completed its annual financial audit with Lauer, Szabo and Associates out of Sterling. The audit went well and the District continues to be in a strong financial position. Highlights from the District’s year-end financials are provided below for your reference:
- General Fund (10). We finished the year with an approximate $260,000 increase to the general fund. This is right within the 1% range of either side we aim for, knowing we want to use our dollars for this year’s students to the best of our ability. We also have to be conscientious about the oil and gas revenue we receive, which we view as one-time dollars. It can be a difficult balancing act.
- Bond Redemption Fund (31). We had an increase of approximately $820,000 to our fund balance in this fund. We now have just over two years of reserves to take care of our bond payments and address the fluctuations in the oil and gas industry.
- Building Fund (41). We drew this fund down by approximately $57.5 million as we worked through our construction projects. Our year-end fund balance sits at approximately $36.6 million remaining.
- Capital Reserve Fund (43). We also drew this fund down during the course of the year while completing the work associated with the central office. Total expenditures were $5.2 million and the fund balance decreased $4.6 million down to $12.59 million in fund balance.
The District’s operating fund balance increased by $267,217 in the 2025-2026 year, bringing the District’s operating fund balance to $11,040,089. This represents just over six months of operating reserves for the District. Auditors recommend a minimum of three months in reserves. We work hard to be thoughtful about the use of our dollars while ensuring we provide the necessary resources to support our students and the programs necessary to provide the best education possible. Community members can view all of our financial information, including the updated audit after it is published and presented to the Board at our October 13th meeting.
Preliminary Assessed Value. We also recently received our preliminary assessed value at the end of August, which came in at just over $2.45 billion. This is an 8.6% decrease from our official assessed value in December, 2025. We will receive our official assessed value from Weld County in late November or early December, however the preliminary has historically been very close to what we receive for our official.
Construction Update. We opened the new middle school with great fan fair in August and the new building has been a significant improvement. Students have space to move around and are no longer shoulder-to-shoulder with their peers in the hallways during passing periods. There is natural light throughout the building and we no longer have sewage leaking into classrooms. The improved learning and working environment is significant and is a source of pride for our community.
While over 95% of construction is now completed, we still have minimal site work remaining. A state inspection found additional asbestos in the final phase of the remaining middle school. The abatement company had to return and this created a three-week delay in our demolition and remaining site work schedule. The delay has impacted the timing and potential completion this fall for the additional elementary parking and student drop-off on Clark Street in addition to the completed middle school field work. These two items will be completed this fall if weather cooperates or may have to be finished in the spring.
Parent Education & Family Resources. We are in the second year of our partnership with the Cook Center and ParentGuidance.org., a non-profit organization that works to provide resources to families to help guide their children through all of the issues they will be confronted with as the grow up. These issues include dealing with social media, anxiety, body image, grief and loss, divorce, and much more. The resources are specific to parents and guardians and is being funded for two years through a grant with the Weld Trust. Please see the information below on how to access the resources available to our families.
Yours in Education,
Jeremy Burmeister, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools
“Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline”. Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great and the Social Sectors.
