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What's on my mind this week: I've been working on the Jeffco Budget Reduction Blueprint investigation for weeks — filing records requests, waiting, pushing back, waiting again. The story published Thursday morning. But Wednesday night, less than 12 hours before it went live, Jeffco's CFO said something out loud at the board study session that the district hadn't yet volunteered publicly: 53% of the so-called central office cuts are held by people who work at schools. It doesn't contradict my investigation. It confirms it. And it changes the Blueprint story.

I didn't have time to rewrite the article. But I could write this newsletter. That's at the top of this week's issue. Two districts, two sets of consequential decisions. The thread connecting them: decisions with real consequences for kids, made in meeting rooms, disclosed on the district's timeline.

Let's get into it.

My investigation into Jeffco's Budget Reduction Blueprint published Thursday. But the Wednesday evening study session added a significant new data point that families deserve to know.

Chief Financial Officer Brenna Copeland confirmed to the board that of the 141 departmental positions being eliminated under the Blueprint, 53% are located at schools, not central offices. The district has been calling these central administration cuts, but more than half of the people losing jobs work in buildings with students, not administrators.

For context, Copeland also noted that about 75% of all departmental staff already work in schools or support student transportation. So even the "departmental" cuts the district has been counting as central office sacrifice are, by their own data, majority school-based.

There's also a new budget pressure coming that isn't reflected in the Blueprint's published figures. Starting next year, roughly $2 million in special education expenses — about 25 positions — that were temporarily covered by a federal grant will shift back to the district's general fund. Those positions haven't been part of the Blueprint conversation, but they're now part of the budget math.

The enrollment picture got worse, too. The district is now projecting a loss of 1,700 students next year, up from roughly 1,400 this year. Superintendent Tracy Dorland called declining enrollment "the biggest challenge to our revenue side of the budget."

The bottom line: Board member Tina Moenian — who has been pressing the district for a school-by-school breakdown of where cuts are landing — called Wednesday's presentation "a lot to digest" and said she would have more questions in the coming days. That request for a school-by-school breakdown is still outstanding from the district. When it becomes public, I'll report it.

Why it matters: The district's core promise under the Blueprint was that cuts would stay as far from students as possible. Wednesday's data shows the departmental cuts, when broken down by where employees actually work, are majority school-based. Combined with the school-level cuts already documented in my investigation, the total impact on schools is larger than what the district has described publicly.

📌 The full Adams 12 school closure story is now live. The district lost 1,365 students last year — 900 more than projected — and Superintendent Chris Gdowski plans to bring closure recommendations to the board in late September. No schools have been named, and the district hasn't said when families will get a chance to weigh in. Read the full story →

📌 A central claim in Jeffco's high-profile Title IX transgender case rests on a number no one independently verified. My reporting traced the paper trail, and the sourcing isn't what you'd expect for a number carrying this much legal and political weight. Read more →

📌 A Chatfield High School student faces a felony charge after allegedly threatening a teacher with a knife. Parents received the district's standard "safety is our top priority" communication. The arrest affidavit tells a more detailed story — and the gap between what families were told and what the documents show is itself worth examining. Read more →

What Jeffco's building records show

This is the same district cutting $45 million from next year's budget, and these are the deficiencies that aren't on the list of what gets fixed.

I filed public records requests for facility condition assessments, maintenance work orders and environmental testing at two older Jeffco elementary schools.

At Dennison Elementary, the district's 2025 assessment documents 90 unresolved deficiencies totaling $1.8 million, including a Priority 1 safety violation that costs $2,687 to fix.

Lead testing records at Foothills Elementary show the district permanently signed out four classroom sinks in 2023 after finding elevated lead levels. The district confirmed it has never tested the building for mold despite documented flooding.

The district's response: I sent detailed questions to Jeffco on Monday. I'll update readers when they respond, or when they don't.

📍 Marshdale Elementary's Young Writers Conference. A 30-year mountain-community writing tradition is still drawing families out on weeknights for a GT program that's quietly remarkable. I have interviews lined up with the teacher who runs it, the featured author and parents who've sent multiple kids through. That story is coming.

📍 How Jeffco spends $8.5 million on tuition-free college courses — and which families actually see the savings. Last week, the district presented that figure to its school board for the first time. I'm reporting on whether the savings are distributed equitably across schools, and why the board has never seen a school-by-school breakdown.

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I can't be everywhere, but you are. If something's happening in your district or school that doesn't add up, I want to hear about it. A policy that makes no sense. A budget line that vanished. A question no one will answer.

You can stay anonymous. I protect my sources.

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