The following speech was given by school board member William Dolphin on May 7th, 2026.
We have broken our social contract. More precisely, the state and federal governments have broken the social contract with public education and Widefield.
The social contract is simple: communities support public schools because strong schools create strong communities. In return, schools are expected to invest in students, support families, and provide stable, sustainable careers for the people dedicating their lives to educating children.
I’m proud of this board for standing up and fighting for better school funding. We recently sent a letter to all of our state lawmakers advocating for better funding. And specifically in support of the intent of SB 135, I will be going to the Capitol on the 12th to represent the Board as a guest of honor of State Senator Marc Snyder due to our work, and to lobby our representatives for stronger funding for Widefield and public schools across Colorado.
This community has always stood up for the district. Time and time again, our voters have supported our schools, our students, and our future. Many of our employees stood behind the mill and bond because they believed in this district and believed that support would translate into meaningful investment in the people doing the work every day inside our schools.
Now it’s time for the district to stand up for the workers.
We cannot continue asking employees to absorb rising housing costs, rising healthcare costs, and inflation while expecting loyalty and long-term retention. The people who keep our schools running — teachers, paras, secretaries, custodians, nutrition staff, transportation staff, and support personnel — deserve more than gratitude. They deserve a compensation structure that allows them to thrive in the communities they serve. That is not currently the case, many of our staff are living below the poverty line or close to it.
Our staff are not disconnected from this community. They are this community. They raise families here, shop here, volunteer here, support local businesses, pay taxes here, and reinvest their earnings directly back into Widefield every single day.
As one of the largest economic drivers in Widefield, this district has a responsibility to lead by example and do better.
We also need to look deeply at why we are not investing more directly into classrooms.
Administration salaries are, on average, 82.3% higher than Teachers and 234.4% higher than Non-licensed staff. This may have become the industry norm, but no one can convince me that these kinds of disparities are morally sustainable while many frontline employees are struggling to afford basic living expenses.
I struggle with a structure where administrative staff receive the same percentage increase as a paraeducator or frontline support employee while many of our families — and many of our employees — are barely able to cover basic needs.
That is not an attack on administrators. Strong leadership matters, and good administrators are essential to healthy schools and solving these problems. But if we are serious about retention, student outcomes, and rebuilding trust, we have to ask hard questions about priorities and resource allocation.
When paras, custodians, nutrition staff, secretaries, and classroom support personnel cannot realistically afford to live in the communities they serve, we are creating instability directly inside our schools. The reality is that the people closest to students often feel the financial pressure the hardest.
If we want to rebuild the social contract with educators and school employees, future conversations cannot simply be about across-the-board percentages. We need to examine whether our compensation structure truly reflects the needs of classrooms, working families, and the employees who interact with students every single day.
The long-term health of a school district is not measured only by student outcomes, buildings, budgets, or presentations. It is measured by whether the people serving students can afford to live.
I will be voting yes because I believe we must continue working together toward better solutions for our schools and for the people who keep them running every day. But we also need to take an honest look at where our priorities lie.
This conversation cannot end with this vote. It must be the beginning of a larger discussion about how we rebuild a compensation structure that is sustainable, equitable, and centered around the long-term health of our classrooms and our community.