The roiling tension in Woodland Park over its charter school culminated Wednesday night when Woodland Park School District RE-2’s board of education approved a contract renewal with Merit Academy at its regular board meeting.

The new contract is set to expire in 2055 and is intended to assist Merit Academy in funding various deferred maintenance and building upgrades. The charter school has resided in the former Woodland Park Middle School building since 2023 and began renting the building in 2024.

In a presentation to the board, the school district’s attorney Brad Miller said that the decades-long contract was to guarantee that Merit could secure long-term financing commitments for its projects beyond their per-pupil revenue from the state, which is prone to fluctuation and less guarant

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