An amendment to the intergovernmental agreement between the Woodland Park City Council and the Woodland Park RE-2 School Board was signed on Aug. 29. The IGA is concerning the 1.09% sales tax designated for the school district.

The matter will now be discussed and voted upon at the Sept. 5 city council meeting.

The amendment outlines the frequency and structure of how the board must report to the council concerning how the tax money is allocated. The topic dominated the Aug. 14 council meeting.

School Board President Mick Bates said that the amendment was signed as presented by the council with no changes or alterations.

“We did not do anything to change that,” Bates said. “We didn’t ask for any changes to it, so there’s no reason why this shouldn’t pass.”

Mayor Kellie Case and councilperson Carrol Harvey represented the city council in the negotiations.

“It’s been a pleasure getting to this point,” Case said. “I just know that it’s the right thing and we can actually move forward and get back to the school’s business and the city’s business.”

Also on the agenda for the Sept. 5 meeting is an ordinance to put the continuance or abolition of the tax on the November ballot. It has been expected that with the IGA amendment signed, the ordinance would be voted down, but whether that actually happens will have to wait until the meeting.

“I’m just completely relieved and pleased with the outcome of the negotiations,” Case said. “I anticipate that – although I don’t know until it happens – that it will be a vote to kill that ordinance.”

Multiple councilmembers expressed at the Aug. 14 meeting that they had been flooded with emails and phone calls calling for the ballot measure to be put forward.

“Part of our discussion was that maybe this will help with some healing of the division and get us back on the same page,” Bates said.

The signing of the amendment came on the same day that Woodland Park was greeted with good news concerning education.

Among the biggest improvements in annual CMAS test scores statewide this past year was concerning Woodland Park RE-2. In addition to improving math and English scores by nearly 10% in the spring testing cycle, the district is the latest to reach and then improve both of its 2019 benchmark scores and by significant margins. Scoring 39.3% for math and 52.6% for English Language Arts, the district also surpassed this year’s state average for both subjects.

The Courier will have a more comprehensive story on the CMAS testing in the Sept. 11 issue.