Voters will soon choose whether to realign Rico’s school children from attending Dolores County School District to Telluride schools.
Recently, the Kids of Rico planning committee was transitioned to an issues committee named Yes for Rico School Kids for November’s ballot. The ballot measures cover realigning Rico’s schoolchildren to secure a spot in Telluride schools instead of the Dolores County School District, which is based in Dove Creek, near the Utah state line.
Since Rico’s public school closed in 2018, the majority of the town’s 25 school-age children have attended Telluride schools, which is 28 miles away, as previously mentioned in The Journal. YRSK will detach Rico’s students from attending school in Dove Creek, which is a 75 mile commute.
As it stands now, Rico’s school kids can only attend Telluride schools under the premise that the district “choices” the students into their classrooms, in other words only if they have space for them, which is not guaranteed.
Voters who support the realignment make certain Rico’s school children will be annexed in the Telluride School District.
YRSK’s registered agent, Madeline Tanguay, said that the realignment will not increase taxes for anyone involved and that Rico would continue to pay for the 2022 Dolores County School’s bond.
She also said that this proposal has been in the works for more than a year and both Telluride and Dolores County school boards support the proposal.
“This ballot measure has nothing to do with county lines,” she said in an email. “It will only realign the school district boundaries so that Rico kids will be guaranteed a spot in Telluride school. Rico will remain a part of Dolores County.”
The ballot measures, as shown on their Facebook page, say that “Yes” on 4B supports Telluride Schools to include Rico’s students and “Yes” on 5A to detach Rico’s school children from the Dolores County School District.
