Charter schools run on tight budgets in Colorado, where both the per pupil revenue and the number of students enrolled determine how financially sustainable the schools will be.

Animas High School is looking good in both regards, staff told the board at its meeting Wednesday.

The budget signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper Tuesday came as a great relief, Head of School Sean Woytek said. There had been talk of cuts to education funding; instead, lawmakers were able to buy down the negative factor – the difference between the provisions of Amendment 23, which increased funding for K-12 education, and the limitations imposed on the budget by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights – by $24 million.

“It’s looking like the CSI (Colorado Charter School Institute) will be increasing the PPR by 1.2 percent for the next school year,” Woytek said about the organization that provides AHS’ funding, “but we may not know until July or August.”

Because the school had taken a conservative approach to its budget by planning for a flat per-pupil revenue, the increase may allow the school to do a few things it had to cut, board president Ann Laffaye said.

But those decisions would be made after the school learns the actual amount it will receive.

The student recruitment side is also going well, Assistant Head of School Libby Cowles said.

“We’re approaching the goal in our budget of 300 (students),” she said. “We’re doing a better job of saying who we are, who we serve and what we offer.”

Students who have signed an intent to enroll are actually enrolling, she said, and more current students are staying.

Some of that may be stem from having Woytek, who is finishing his first year at the school, at the helm, teacher Ashley Carruth said. Her one-year position to support school culture, popularly known as the sorceress of stoke, is being dissolved, in part because programs she developed have now been picked up by Woytek, Cowles or other teachers.

One of Woytek’s biggest challenges is repairing relationships within the community, he said, particularly with Durango School District 9-R.

“It didn’t take a year to damage relationships, and it may take two, three, four years, to repair them,” he said,

“Based on things a few of the coaches have said to our students, there’s work to be done. It’s not easy being a student-athlete at Animas High School.”

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Animaas High course catalogue (PDF)

AHS introduces new course catalogue with many electives

In February, Animas High School announced it was changing its daily schedule, and now it has released the course catalogue with an extensive array of electives to go with it.
“There’s a great range of options,” Assistant Head of School Libby Cowles said, “from academically rigorous STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and applied sciences courses to art offerings.”
Among the math electives are math foundations, advanced algebra, pre-calculus, calculus 1 and 2 and consumer math. The latter is taught by AHS’ Director of Finance Christine Imming and Head of School Sean Woytek.
“One of the great things is that students who want to go into careers like engineering will now be able to get eight years of math while at Animas,” math teacher Aliza Cruz said.
Teachers enjoyed the opportunity to explore some of their passions with students in elective courses, senior humanities teacher Lori Fisher said. She’ll be offering a psychology elective, including basic elements and disorders before moving on to experimental design.
Other humanities electives include creative writing, journalism, along with creating The Animas Quill newspaper, world religions and the yearbook.
“Registration took place today (Wednesday),” Cowles said. “There was a lot of buzz, particularly on the part of the younger students for having more academic choices. And the teachers are excited to diversify.”
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