Aspen High School math teacher Kiffor Berg teaches trigonometry on Thursday. Aspen School District leaders want to make their teachers the highest-paid in the state. Jason Charme/Aspen Daily News

For years, Aspen School District has grappled with a high cost of living and complicated state restrictions on funding to give teachers salaries that are “fair.”

When the state of Colorado conducted its biennial study of cost of living in 2024 for its 178 school districts, it found the Aspen School District’s average cost of living was the highest in the state.

The study — which state legislative council staff conduct every two years to determine a school district’s cost-of-living factor as part of their annual budget calculation — concluded that the combination of the cost of

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