I feel responsible for providing a safe, positive learning environment for all the kids in this district.

The 4.96 mill levy cost for the average homeowner is an increase of about $6 per month. I hope you will join me and many other citizens by voting yes on the Montezuma-Cortez School District’s proposed mill levy to provide a competitive education for our kids in district RE-1.

Our kids deserve and need our support. The district recognizes and appreciates the support the community has given to the improvement of the schools, and in the future we are building for our students.

Unfortunately, to keep making progress toward greatness, it requires more funding. The mill levy override proposal will immediately give an additional $2,678,727 of funding to Cortez Schools. That money will be used to raise staff salaries to a level that would be competitive with other regional districts, replace aging buses and replace existing technology (and add new devices for grades 3-12).

The impact of this override to a family with an assessed home value of $200,000 is equal to $70, annually. These investments in our students are building citizens who will join the real-world and our local workforce after they graduate. The big question: Does the funding from the Ballot Question 3B matter? Absolutely, yes!

Dena Guttridge

Cortez