Thanks to a voter-approved property tax increase, Harrison School District 2 (D2) will receive about $9 million every year for the next decade. The top priority; increasing teacher pay."Easy yes," said Southeast resident, Kimberly Gold.For Gold, voting for this mill levy override was a no-brainer."My kiddo doesn't even go to school in D2 but I'm happy for my property tax revenue to go towards D2 because when we fund education and we invest in students . . . we're investing in workforce development, we're investing in Colorado Springs," said Gold.The district's assistant superintendent of support services, Mike Claudio, said this money will help attract and keep teachers in D2."We know that some school districts are already paying brand new teachers $50,000 a year, we've got to be able to meet or beat that," said Claudio. "We have the most diverse student population in the city, and so our teachers really have to come in and understand and be able to teach and connect with each one of these students, to do so we have to attract the best," said D2's chief financial officer, Cory Arcarese.229 D2 classroom teachers did not return for the 23-24 school year, according to the latest data from the Colorado Department of Education. That resulted in D2 having the highest turnover rate of any school district in Colorado Springs.Right now, Claudio said they need 30 to 40 teachers."We're not feeling the impact of that, because they have been so supportive in getting substitute teachers in our classrooms when we don't have someone to fill them," said Claudio. D2 offers scholarships to graduating seniors to go to Pikes Peak State College. Without this new funding from voters, Claudio said teacher pay would have suffered to keep that program going."That would have been disastrous for the district," said Claudio. "The general fund account that we get to pay our staff, that would have taken from there, which would have minimized salary increases for the next several years.""We have to do more with $1 than other districts do. We don't charge for transportation or other things like that," said Arcarese.Gold told me she is proud of her community for passing this mill levy override."We want to keep as much as our money as we can, but if we're thoughtfully and strategically increasing what we give so that we can have a better community, we all win," said Gold.The mill levy override also requires the district to have a committee of about a dozen community members. They will hold the district accountable for how it is using its tax dollars.Applications to become a committee member will soon be posted on d2's website.________Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.