Two Rivers Community School and the Garfield Re-2 School District are currently in disagreement over the charter school bussing students in and out of Re-2 district boundaries — something with elevated stakes given how state and federal funding is allocated on a per-student basis.. 

TRCS Head of School Jamie Nims and Re-2 Superintendent Kirk Banghart met at the charter school in Glenwood Springs on Friday afternoon in an initial attempt to resolve the dispute, although Nims said they were unable to reach an agreement during that meeting.

“I want to be clear in saying that not only do we believe what we’re doing is right and just, but we also believe it’s lawful,” Nims said.

RFSD Superintendent Anna Cole and Nims received a letter signed by Banghart on Friday, Oct. 17 that laid out the position of Re-2. A column written by Banghart was published in the Post Independent on Oct. 19, with a clarification piece written by Banghart being published on the Re-2 website on Oct. 23. 

The letter demands that the charter school cease bussing students in Re-2 by Feb. 1, 2026. Failure to comply would “result in RE-2 considering all legal options.”

Nims said he had no intention of ending transportation routes in Re-2 as of Friday afternoon.

“Absolutely not,” he said when asked if TRCS was considering ceasing transportation in Re-2 for the ’26-’27 school year. 

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“It has come to my attention that TRCS is transporting students who are RE-2 residents to and from TRCS… This practice is unlawful and must cease,” the letter reads. “Charter schools like TRCS are not required to provide transportation, but if they do, they are required to comply with any applicable state rules or regulations. 

“TRCS is authorized by and located within the boundaries of the Roaring Fork School District. While RFSD is adjacent to RE-2, the RE-2 Board of Education has not consented to TRCS’ transportation of RE-2 residents.”

The letter cites state statute 22-30.5-106 (1)(m), saying “TRCS is in plain violation of the above-referenced statutes.”

Two Rivers countered by explaining that although they are administered by RFSD, charter schools are bound by separate laws — neither benefiting from the school district’s amenities nor falling under the jurisdiction of their school board. 

“I don’t agree with the position of Re-2 and its superintendent that we’re in violation of the law,” Nims said. “I believe that we’re well within our rights to legally transport students anywhere as an autonomous charter school.

“More importantly, what we’re doing is the right thing to be doing. It’s really unfortunate that they have decided to put so much of their focus and energy into this when there are enough challenges and difficulties for rural schools in western Colorado. We could be working together to solve problems and challenges and instead we are feuding with one another.”

TRCS, which has been administered by RFSD since 2022, has been open since 2014 and transporting students across district lines since 2015. TRCS takes pride in their student transportation service, as an Oct. 22 TRCS Facebook post points out. 

The TRCS contract with RFSD does not include transportation, meaning the charter school operates their transportation autonomously. 

“We have no authority over their buses,” Cole said. “It’s not part of our charter contract, so from our viewpoint, the conversation about the legality of this is really outside of our scope because it’s not within the charter contract that we have with TRCS.”

Banghart stressed that this dispute wasn’t over anything but following the law, which would allow both districts to thrive equally. 

“Part of my duty as superintendent of Re-2 is to ensure that both our district and our neighboring districts are following the laws of the State of Colorado,” Banghart said. 

“My role is to ensure that what we do as a district is to maximize all of our operations, and that means we’re ensuring the best use of resources for the taxpayers of Re-2. I’ve been tasked to look at all of our operational functions — internal and external — regarding how we operate our school district,” he continued.

The letter stipulates the school must acknowledge Re-2’s demands by Feb 1. 2026, and begin planning on ceasing transportation routes in Re-2 boundaries by the start of the 2026-27 school year. 

“Understanding that ceasing the practice immediately could cause logistical difficulties for families, we ask that you confirm that TRCS will cease transporting RE-2 residents to and from TRCS at or before the end of this school year. TRCS’ failure to confirm by Feb. 1, 2026 will result in RE-2 considering all legal options available to it, including instituting a declaratory judgment action and seeking injunctive relief,” the last paragraph of the letter reads.

“There was a breach in the law, and that needs to be resolved,” Banghart said. “That’s what I was asking for, was for discussions about how we were going to resolve this by next school year, and we set that date by saying ‘This needs to be resolved by next school year.’ I believe other people outside of Re-2 saw that differently.”

Cole explained how she could see both sides of this issue, and how this situation is a direct result of under-funding from the state legislature and how the direct correlation between student count and public school funding creates an ecosystem that breeds this type of competition. 

“I care very deeply about the success of both of these leaders and it’s hard to see state funding result in a need to come into conflict,” Cole said. “When you think about the fluidity of families across the valley, an important piece of context to look at is that the funding for our schools is not the same. If you look at the per pupil funding for a school in RE-16 compared to Aspen School District, it is vastly different in what kind of resources are coming into our school districts.”

Even as communities from Parachute/Battlement Mesa through to Aspen grow in their connections and interdependence, the funding picture varies greatly from district to district in the Grand, Colorado River and Roaring Fork valleys, Cole added.

“It doesn’t always feel fair in terms of how schools and districts are funded, especially when we live in these valleys that geographically feel very contiguous, but the range of funding available to the schools within that range is substantially differentiated.”