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D-49 mulls future with ERBOCES A local education service provider is facing scrutiny and losing confidence following a tumultuous year that saw the opening and closing of one of its schools surrounded by contention.The School District 49 Board of Education discussed its future with the Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services (ERBOCES) during its regular meeting Thursday night.In a presentation, board member Mike Heil raised concerns over controversies with the service provider, with which the district partners, that came up over the past year surrounding a contract school it opened in Pueblo, Riverstone Academy, touted as “Colorado’s first public Christian school.” Heil, who expressed his concerns with the school last year, noted that the school has since come under scrutiny by the Colorado Department of Education over its right to public funding as a religious school, was forced to close by Pueblo County officials over safety violations and attempted to sue the state over religious discrimination.ERBOCES would drop the lawsuit in May.He said that, although their district’s involvement with the school and BOCES is limited, they are still associated with them and part of the recent public discussions.“This has been a fast-evolving topic,” he said.Heil, along with board member Holly Withers, expressed a desire to potentially separate, since there has been little accountability or legal regard from the BOCES’ leadership in recent months.The discussion item proposed that the board move a vote forward to a future meeting to either affirm or rescind the district’s membership.A BOCES operates in Colorado to provide special-education services to two or more member school districts that are likely unable to provide them alone.Examples of these services include special education, technology support and alternative programming.According to an archived homepage of the ERBOCES’ website, D-49 was one of its founding members, along with Yuma District 1 in 2013, with an original focus on providing online education options before expanding into homeschool services and brick-and-mortar schools.ERBOCES is based in Monument, but also offers services in Pueblo, Boulder, Westminster and Colorado Springs.Following Riverstone’s sole year of operation, the legislature passed its annual funding bill for public education, the “School Finance Act,” with new caveats for operating BOCES.Namely, cooperative service providers are now barred from both starting schools or programs outside their member school districts and running brick-and-mortar schools solely through contractors.Since both apply to Riverstone, the school announced it would close permanently.Since the BOCES’ formation, D-49 has continued to operate as its fiscal sponsor, providing data to the state Education Department similar to district charter schools.At the meetings, both community members and board members raised concerns about what programming might get lost, if the membership were to end.Board member and ERBOCES liaison Lori Thompson pushed back on many of the claims in Heil’s presentation and added that full context wasn’t provided since other programs that local families benefit from weren’t mentioned.On Tuesday, the board of ERBOCES’ other member district, Elizabeth School District, voted to withdraw their membership.Board members said they concluded that their membership “was not providing sufficient benefit to justify continued participation” and added that their decision wasn’t based on “social media commentary, political pressure or outside influence.” If D-49 also were to leave, ERBOCES would be unable to continue, since it would lack the minimum members needed to continue.The only other ERBOCES member at the time of this reporting is Pikes Peak State College.Board members Thompson and Jack Ryan expressed a desire to continue the district’s relationship with ERBOCES, while Heil maintained that its leadership has lost public trust and board members Withers and Marie LaVere-Wright believed it deserved a year of grace to make adjustments following the legislative changes.