The revenue shortfall was in part due to the school district underestimating health insurance costs, along with declining student enrollment. Incumbent school board member Kathryn Kuhlenberg said they've hired a demographer to get more accurate enrollment predictions, and the board is now getting regular financial updates.
"The board wasn't receiving quarterly financials. The board wasn't receiving the audit in a timely way. The finance policies were 20, 30 years outdated and didn't include accountability provisions. So that is the work that the board has done to avoid future budget cuts."
Kuhlenberg said the district could ask voters to approve new taxes and long-term loans and also advocate for more state and federal funds, but her challenger, Elizabeth Taylor, is against increasing taxes. Instead, Taylor wants to seek out funding from private education foundations and cut things like diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
"Anything that is unnecessary in our curricula and of any of the learning materials that are in there that I think are not helpful to our kids."
Taylor is on the district accountability committee and has an X account that she recently changed from DOGE the schools to DOGE the ideology. She said it's part of her mission to get rid of any waste, fraud and abuse that she might find in the schools.
For Aspen Public Radio and Aspen Journalism, I'm Eleanor Bennett.