Helping break the cycle of nicotine

teacher’s pocket in the public school system, how can that not be a win?” e measure wouldn’t really a ect Colorado’s budget in years where the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights cap on government growth and spending is exceeded. It would, however, lower the amount of money available for taxpayer refunds.

In years when the TABOR cap isn’t exceeded, the measure would reduce the amount of money legislators have to spend on other priorities.

“Public education needs to be funded by the public, and our education system in Colorado has fallen way behind from where it was,” Marshall said.

“ is has been an ongoing issue for 50 years where they shouldn’t have been paying out of their pocket for these expenses,” he added.

Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, has seen rsthand how much educators sacri ce so their students have what they need to learn. Soper, another lead sponsor of the bill, watched as his mother, who taught in Delta Public Schools for 40 years, and two great aunts took part of their pay and put it back into their students, despite not seeing pay increases.

“ ey didn’t even think twice, and it was all about putting the kids rst,” Soper said.

He noted that income tax credits are a way to thank teachers and boost the money they receive when lawmakers are limited in how much they can directly in uence teacher pay across the state. In line with

Colorado’s focus on local control, individual school boards set their own educator salaries.

“We can’t just pass an educator funding bill in Colorado and actually have it hit the back pockets of teachers because so much of our education is localized and based on the local school boards,” Soper said.

Sen. Janice Rich, R-Grand Junction, is also a lead sponsor of House Bill 1208 after running a separate teacher funding bill earlier this legislative session that was rejected. at legislation sought to reimburse teachers for classroom expenses up to $500, but not for continuing education.

“Sometimes teachers can’t wait for special books or special needs for some of their students, and so they go ahead and they expend some of their own money to help their students,” said Rich, who also comes from a family of teachers. “So I think that they should be compensated for that.”

Marshall said he has received pushback from some public education advocates who are more narrowly focused on paying down debt the state has owed to schools since 2010, when it implemented a budgeting tool known as the budget stabilization factor during the Great Recession. e tool allows the General Assembly to allocate to schools each year less than what they are owed. For the current school year, legislators owe schools $321 million.

Making more dents in that debt has been a priority of Gov. Jared Polis, which he cited in his State of the State address in January.

“Anything that distracts from that they don’t like,” Marshall said.

Other opposition has come from public education advocates who are wary of tax credits altogether, he said.

Marshall is adamant that the income tax credits would make a signi cant di erence for teachers, particularly since money would be funneled directly to them.

“It goes straight to them,” he said, adding, “Get the money in the teachers’ pocket. at’s the bottom line, right?”

‘Our educators are hurting’ e Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, backs the legislation so that more money can ow to educators, some of whom purchase more than paper, pencils and other supplies for their students, reaching deeper into their pockets to buy food, winter coats and shoes for kids, said CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert.

“Basic survival things,” BacaOehlert said, “so it goes beyond basic classroom expenses.”

Medical professionals aren’t asked to buy their own equipment to tend to patients, she noted.

Neither should teachers, she said.

“Our educators are hurting,” Baca-Oehlert said. “We’re seeing it play out in so many ways from the educator shortage to the high stress and low morale that our educators are saying they’re experiencing. And so when we can do things at the legislative level to alleviate those pressures, to provide some relief to our educators, we should.”

Squire, of the Highlands Ranch elementary school, has stretched her creative side as much as possible to avoid straining her budget, crafting bulletin boards out of fabric that she can wash and reuse instead of making them with paper or cork. She has stitched together her classroom library book by book, buying a couple hundred on her own, inheriting many from a teacher who transitioned into a di erent position, swapping books with other educators and using points from publishing company Scholastic to get new books and add to her collection.

“We don’t make a whole lot of money, especially compared to the amount of work that we do, the hours we put in,” said Squire, whose entire teaching career has unfolded at Copper Mesa Elementary School. “If you were to compare our hours and our workload to people in the business world or other professionals, I think we de nitely drew the short stick. It should be better. It should be better set up so that we have all the resources we need to support our kids.”

Squire has also completed college classes to meet state requirements for renewing her teacher’s license. She earned nine credit hours last summer and is currently pursuing another six credit hours. Each three credit hour class costs $400.

“ at adds up very quickly,” Squire said.

Squire has paid upfront and received tuition reimbursement through her district, Douglas County School District. e income tax credit in House Bill 1208 would also cover those tuition costs.

She supports the legislation so that personal funds she would otherwise divert to her classroom and profession can go toward her family instead.

“If you put your money with the people,” Squire said, “won’t you have a better impact?” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

House Bill 1208 is scheduled to get its rst hearing in the House Education Committee on March 23.

Sta writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.