Speaking during the Teller County commissioners meeting Sept. 25, Dan Cummings made a request to voters in the Cripple Creek/Victor Re-1 School District.

In November, district voters will be asked to approve ballot measure 4A to support the schools, Cresson Elementary and the junior/senior high school.

Superintendent of the school district, Cummings identified himself as a private citizen and resident of Victor.

“We cannot depend on our state and local governments to fund our programs as they have in the past,” Cummings said. “They have eliminated our title funds and our after-school program.”

However, if district voters approve 4A, the measure would support the schools in this time of budget cuts.

“We would be able to vacate the bond that we’ve been paying on for the past twenty years,” Cummings said. “We’re asking voters in the district, without raising taxes, to have a tax extension that would that shift that fund into the mill and allow the school district to grow its general fund by about $500,000 a year.”

If approved by voters, the extra money would be used to supplant funding that would be lost otherwise. In essence, if approved the measure would increase the school district’s goal to be self-sufficient, Cummings said.

“We are looking at a tremendous shortfall at the state level – and they promised us they were not going to cut education- wink, wink,” he said.

Commissioners Bob Campbell, Erik Stone and Dan Williams were on board.

“The school district has unique needs,” Stone said.

While Campbell rated the district schools as “great,” Williams was emphatic about supporting the request. “We just know that if we don’t take care of our kids, we’re just wasting our time on the planet,” he said.