Denver Public Schools voters will decide on a $44 million mill levy override this November. The DPS Board of Education voted unanimously on August 14 to put the measure on the November 3 ballot, and if you own a home in Denver, it’s worth understanding what you’d actually be voting on and what it would cost you.
What a mill levy override actually is
If the term is unfamiliar, a mill levy override is a request to raise property taxes above the district’s standard rate, earmarked for a specific set of uses and requiring voter approval under Colorado’s TABOR law. It’s different from a bond, which districts use to borrow for buildings and major construction and pay back over years. This measure is the override version, which means it's recurring revenue for operating costs, not a one-time construction fund.
What the money would fund
DPS has been explicit that this money is meant to stay in the classroom rather than go toward construction. The $44 million breaks down roughly like this:
•$25.8 million for staff raises — $1,750 per full-time employee
•$9.3 million for district charter school funding, which is state-mandated
•$4 million for career and technical education programming, equipment, and transportation
•$2.9 million to expand student mental health support
•$2 million for special education services
What it would cost homeowners
DPS estimates the override would add about $71 to $72 a year in property taxes for the average Denver home, valued around $624,800 — roughly $6 a month. That’s the number to have in mind heading into November, separate from whatever else is on your ballot that year.
Why the district is asking now
DPS hasn’t gone back to voters for a mill levy override since 2020, when a $32 million measure passed to help fund raises, counseling, and special education staff. Since then, the district has been dealing with declining enrollment and rising healthcare and utility costs, even as it serves roughly 89,000 students on a $1.5 billion budget. Interim Deputy Superintendent Chuck Carpenter connected the dots on how enrollment ties to funding: “It’s about $525 per kid, and so if the enrollment grows, that would grow.”
Retention has been part of the pitch too. Thomas Jefferson High School teacher Amber Wilson put it plainly: “DPS can recruit talented educators. The problem is retaining them.” Special education teacher Erica Atchison framed it in similar terms: “Teachers deserve a living wage. We deserve to live in the area that we serve in.”
How the district got here
This wasn’t a decision the board made in isolation. DPS ran a Mill Levy Override Advisory Committee made up of community volunteers, alongside six regional community meetings held between late April and mid-May, to gather input before recommending whether to move forward. The committee presented its recommendation to the board in June, and the board’s August vote followed from that process.
Students weighed in too. Abraham Lincoln High School student Joshua Cardenas made the case from the classroom side: “When students have the support they need, they have a better chance to learn, participate, and thrive.”
What this means if you’re voting in November
A roughly $6-a-month increase is a small line item next to everything else on a Denver property tax bill, but it’s still worth knowing what you’re saying yes or no to — and why the district is asking now rather than waiting. If you’re weighing a home purchase in a DPS boundary this fall, this is one more thing that could show up as a small increase on next year’s tax bill, not something that should change your decision on its own, but worth having in your back pocket when you’re budgeting.
Colorado runs elections by mail, so ballots will land in mailboxes in mid-October ahead of the November 3 date — plenty of time to read the fine print yourself rather than rely on any single summary, mine included.
I’ll follow this one as it gets closer to November and update if anything changes before ballots go out.
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