{"id":23335,"date":"2025-02-28T22:06:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T05:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-school-board-and-community-split-over-proposed-affordable-housing-project\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:34:15","slug":"mancos-school-board-and-community-split-over-proposed-affordable-housing-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-school-board-and-community-split-over-proposed-affordable-housing-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos school board and community split over proposed affordable housing project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Mancos school board listened to feedback from the community regarding their conceptual housing plan before discussing it themselves at their Monday night meeting. (Screen capture via YouTube)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Mancos RE-6 school board saw mixed feedback from residents and division on board after recent talks of a conceptual affordable housing plan for the district. It then voted to halt discussion until after the November election.<\/p>\n

This conceptual plan<\/a> included housing units built by the district\u2019s bus barn that could be rented by teachers, staff or parents of students who couldn\u2019t afford housing in Mancos.<\/p>\n

Some residents said they felt the board plan could jeopardize the proposed mill levy and bond in November and put the district in a \u201cfinancially risky position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not in the business of real estate or investing money,\u201d a woman identified as Teresa said. \u201cThe asset of your school is students \u2026 we should invest in what we need here, now. \u2026 You guys are here to teach the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another questioned why housing was a priority, in light of the \u201cbattle to pay teachers\u201d and repairs needed on campus.<\/p>\n

One teacher supported the need for affordable teacher housing, saying he was offered \u201ca lot\u201d more money for a job, but he chose the Mancos school district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose this place because I believe in y\u2019all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When he first came to Mancos, he said, he and his wife couldn\u2019t find a place in their budget, at first. He thought they might need to commute from Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to get teachers in the door,\u201d he said. \u201cTeacher housing will give us an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another staff member said the district needed to raise teacher and staff salaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking for a salary increase, not houses we can\u2019t afford,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After citizen comments, the board discussed their view on the proposed housing plan.<\/p>\n

Rachel McWhirter said the board\u2019s No. 1 one priority was staff pay, and the community and board should focus on the \u201cuphill battle\u201d in passing the bond.<\/p>\n

Victor Figueroa echoed McWhirter, saying that competitive wages would help teachers afford housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very concerned \u2026 it may bring our school district to the brink of bankruptcy, in all honesty,\u201d Figueroa said. \u201cThis is a risk I\u2019m just not willing to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, he suggested the district focus on keeping facilities in good condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not in support of a housing project that has left teachers and the community with more questions than answers,\u201d Figueroa said. He said the plan was \u201cfinancially reckless and irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Hunter followed up, saying that if there weren\u2019t staff who needed to rent the affordable housing units, then they could rent them out to people in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not meant to be forever homes,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cThey\u2019re supposed to be a chance for people to make it in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the $350,000 couldn\u2019t be allocated for teacher salaries if it wasn\u2019t used for the housing project and a \u201cyes\u201d vote would be a \u201cgo ahead\u201d for the district to continue \u201cdue diligence\u201d on the project plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing is crucial right now,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cThis opportunity will never rise again. Even if it\u2019s just a few staff members, it\u2019s a benefit to our school district for a few staff members to have a place to live so they can teach our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Craig Benally said he thought the project was \u201cvery innovative\u201d but that there were so many moving parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they\u2019ll stay because they have a roof,\u201d he said, referencing future teachers. \u201cIf may be only one or two bedroom, but maybe that\u2019s all we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business manager Chrissie Miller shared concerns about the budget, noting there were more expenditures than revenue. Miller also expressed that it may be best to wait until the district knows the result of the mill levy and bond questions, sharing that the district is down 21 students since January.<\/p>\n

Because the state pays the district $13,000 per student, that is a loss of $273,000.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Todd Cordrey favored the housing project plan, saying he wanted affordable housing options to be available to those who need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll work out. I feel very confident of that fact,\u201d Cordrey said.<\/p>\n

Board President Emily Hutcheson-Brown rounded out the board discussion on housing, voicing her favor for moving forward like Hunter and Cordrey. She reminded those listening, however, about the language of the vote and the fleeting nature of a grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vote will be \u2018Should we move forward to continue to pursue,\u2019 not vote to pay $350,000 (tonight),\u201d Hutcheson-Brown said.<\/p>\n

She added that the risk in waiting would be \u201cevaporating\u201d the chance the district could provide housing in the near future and the nearly half a million dollars in grant money that is being considered for the project.<\/p>\n

Hutcheson-Brown expressed concern for teachers and staff who aren\u2019t able to live in town, close to the school, because of the high cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur own superintendent is not living in our town limits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Following other items, the board moved to action items where they voted on whether or not to move forward with the housing plan.<\/p>\n

When it came time to vote, McWhirter moved to table the housing grant vote until after the district knew the results of the bond and mill levy election in November.<\/p>\n

McWhirter said if the district still wants to move forward at that time, they could apply in the first quarter of 2026 when there would be a \u201clarger amount of grant money to be awarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

McWhirter, Figueroa and Benally voted in favor of tabling discussions until after the November election, while Hutcheson-Brown and Hunter voted against.<\/p>\n

With the majority vote, further discussions will be tabled.<\/p>\n

The next board meeting is Monday, March 17 at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to hold off on discussions until after election in November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,28,83,392,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-mancos-school-district-re-6","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78075,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23335\/revisions\/78075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23335"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}