Primero RE-2 Board Tackles Staffing, Insurance, and Facility Challenges

Facing teacher vacancies, a health insurance overhaul, and a backlog of building repairs, Primero RE-2's board spent its March 24 session weighing tradeoffs that will shape the district's course catalog and staffing roster heading into the 2026-27 school year.

The district runs a PK-12 program across two school sites in the Primero and Weston communities, serving several hundred students. It enters the hiring season at a disadvantage common to rural Colorado districts: applicant pools are thin, neighboring and urban districts compete aggressively for the same candidates, and budget constraints leave little room for compensation packages that might tip a hiring decision. In that environment, each open position becomes consequential, with vacancies capable of eliminating electives or straining extracurricular programs that depend directly on staff participation.

The insurance discussion added another layer of difficulty. Changes to employee benefit plans, whether in plan design or carrier, carry dual effects: they alter the district's payroll expenses and influence whether existing staff stay or begin looking elsewhere. For Primero RE-2, where retaining experienced teachers in a remote area is already a challenge, benefit adjustments require the kind of careful financial calibration that larger districts with more cushion rarely face.

Facilities Director Gerald Duran's presentation on building needs reflected years of deferred work. The board reviewed capital-improvement items that will require either a dedicated budget appropriation or success in pursuing state or federal grants. Left unaddressed, deteriorating infrastructure grows more expensive.

Superintendent Blake Byall has navigated comparable planning seasons before. The district's general fund for the current school year was set at roughly $9.16 million, a figure that includes $2 million in beginning fund balance and leaves limited margin for unplanned expenditures. Decisions finalized this spring will determine which classes appear on fall schedules, whether open positions are filled before August, and how much building work can realistically be completed before students return.