Denver Schools say lease-financing is lawful, critics say it skirts voter oversight
By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette
In a motion to dismiss filed Friday in response to a lawsuit, Denver Public Schools (DPS) defended its use of lease-purchase agreements — a financing method critics say sidesteps required voter approval for public debt that could leave students without access to their schools if the district defaults.
“This allegedly unlawful ‘scheme’ is actually a common and completely legal method of financing projects for public entities in a manner that is authorized by statute and has been repeatedly ratified by Colorado courts,” DPS officials said in their filing.
As previously reported by The Denver Gazette, DPS has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt through a controversial financing tactic that sidesteps the state’s con...
