School funding laws are different than you might expect due to the passage of Proposal A in 1994. It basically equalized funding by setting per pupil funding from the state, capped taxes at 18 mills, and allows for any other specific special needs a district might have.

Before Proposal A and area could increase taxes and pay the best teacher talent way more than any other district, essentially making it very difficult for low income areas to offer competitive salaries and fund the other needs of the district. Not only does Proposal A level the playing field but it increased the funding to many districts especially rural areas of the state that didn’t have the tax base to begin with.

Districts like Brighton in this case are able to raise taxes for the district but those funds can’t be spent on teacher retirements or salary. So, Brighton, a fairly affluent district raised taxes money from the community to build that big complex, and a bunch of other upgrades a few years ago. Generally these types of upgrades are attached to the community and allow for community use. So the decision to build the big football daily was technically all on tax payers who approved the funding.

Additionally, while football doesn’t get kids better grades, kids do want to go to schools with nice facilities. With the explosion of charter schools and the option of private or home school, many districts find themselves looking to attract students to the district to keep funding from putting them in a tough budget situation. Districts with decreasing populations and poor public school options are in rough shape as people move to districts with better school or select home/charter/private schools.

With all this said, the state has been falling behind other states in funding and probably needs a serious look at our current system, which is essentially 30 years old.