Douglas County schools seek residents for new Finance Committee
Applications close Aug. 15 for a new Douglas County schools Finance Committee that will review budgets, audits and financial trends, not vote on spending.
Douglas County School District is taking applications through Aug. 15 for a new Finance Committee that the school board approved at its June 25 meeting, replacing the district’s existing budget committee with a broader advisory group.
The new committee is meant to scrutinize the numbers behind school spending, not make the spending decisions itself. Members will review financial reports, budget assumptions, fiscal trends, audit information and other major planning issues before sending recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The district wants applicants from both the Valley and Lake areas so the panel reflects communities from across Douglas County.
District leaders are looking for residents with backgrounds in finance, accounting, business operations, public administration, education or community leadership, and prior school-finance experience is not required.
Douglas County School District, Colorado’s third-largest district, serves more than 62,000 students in preschool through 12th grade. In late May, officials previewed a proposed 2026-27 budget that faced a projected $22 million deficit, along with a loss of 467 neighborhood-school students, or about 1% of enrollment.
The proposed budget would keep the fund balance near the district’s target range of 4% to 5% of expenditures. The board adopted a 2025-26 budget on June 10, 2025 that used $18.6 million of fund balance, while the revised 2025-26 budget called for more than $12 million in additional spending overall, a 2% increase, with half of that increase directed toward employees.
Terri Willoughby, the district’s chief financial officer, said the committee is a way to strengthen public trust and support more thoughtful financial decision-making. Trustee Erinn Miller said the district wants a mix of parents and community representatives so different parts of the county are heard.
The Finance Committee will sit alongside, but not above, the district’s existing oversight structure. The Fiscal Oversight Committee is charged with helping the Board of Education with budget, accounting, audit, financial reporting, banking and other fiscal matters assigned by the board, but it does not hold the board’s ultimate fiscal responsibility.
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