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When Rifle High School teacher Adam King thinks about helping freshmen feel like they belong, he remembers a mountain.

Just five days after arriving at his high school, King said, staff loaded the new students onto a bus and told them they were going to climb one.

Years later, he still talks with high school friends about the relationships built while students who might not otherwise have become friends struggled up the same trail together.

“You look at it now, and the bonds built through those experiences are what you remember and keep you connected,” King said.

RIFLE, Colo. — Following months of community conversations and long-range planning, the Garfield Re-2 Board of Education voted unanimously at their regular August 26, 2026 school board meeting to place a bond measure and mill levy override before voters in the November 3, 2026 election.

The two measures address different needs facing the district. The mill levy override would provide additional local funding for staff salaries. The bond would extend the district’s current bond, without imposing a new tax, to address school facilities, learning spaces, staff housing, early childhood education and technology infrastructure.

Board member Cassie Haskell summed up the distinction during Wednesday’s discussion.

“I just wanted it to be very clear: the mill levy override is for salaries. The bond is for buildings and infrastructure,” Haskell said. “We can’t use the bond for salaries.”

The Board’s action places both questions before voters. Voters will decide each measure separately in November.