AURORA, Colo — Aurora Public Schools students started the new school year Wednesday. This is one of the earliest districts in Colorado to go back to school.
At Hinkley High School, seniors said they're looking forward to their final year, while freshmen were just trying to get acquainted with the new building.
Senior Laila Solorzano also reflected on the past three years of hard work.
“It’s paid off especially this upcoming year because I have a lot of free time now with all the classes I’ve taken and credits, I have a lot more opportunities for other classes and other programs now,” Solorzano said.
Solorzano is one of many Hinkley students who will complete enough coursework for an associate’s degree by the time she graduates next spring.
As Aurora works to provide more opportunities for college and career readiness, the district is also facing infrastructure needs.
Tuesday night, the Aurora school board voted unanimously to send a capital maintenance mill levy and bond measure to voters this fall. The capital mill levy would generate $30 million to help pay for school building maintenance and technology upgrades. This would free up other district dollars to increase staff salaries and fund other programs, a school district spokesperson said.
The bond measure would generate a billion dollars to build a new high school and two new elementary schools, as well as update older schools.
There will be no net tax increases.
"As you know, the City of Aurora is growing and it's growing tremendously, so in our northeast corridor, we're going to need to build new schools — a new high school, a couple new P-8s to serve our students," APS Superintendent Michael Giles said. "Then also, all of our schools in the district are in great need of upgrades to security measures. We have some HVAC issues. We also need to expand some of our schools, so that we have the infrastructure for CTE programming, for support for nursing and for mental health and supports in schools. And so all of that is going to go into this new bond measure once it passes."
The district just completed renovations on the APS stadium, adjacent to Hinkley High School. The improvements will be unveiled during a middle school track meet on Aug. 17. APS is also opening a new early childhood development center in the old Sable Elementary School building, giving new life to a school that closed because of low enrollment.
