Bill vows to fully fund state’s K-12 within two years

from Golden Transcript 042723

by Colorado Community Media

PUBLIC NOTICES

raised tax dollars. State-authorized charter schools do not.

they took control of the legislature in 2018.

BY ERICA MELTZER CHALKBEAT COLORADO

is might be the last year that Colorado lawmakers hold back money from K-12 schools to fund other budget priorities.

Legislators have toyed with the idea of fully funding Colorado schools several times in recent years, but always held back amid economic uncertainty. While Colorado’s constitution requires school funding to go up each year by the rate of population and in ation, lawmakers haven’t met that requirement since the start of the Great Recession.

Since 2009, Colorado has withheld more than $10 billion from its schools.

Now the school nance act that passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee on April 19 includes a provision that would require the state to fully fund K-12 schools starting in the 2024-25 budget year. e bill also contains a provision to fund state-authorized charter schools at a level similar to other schools starting in 2024-5. District-authorized charter schools get a cut of locally e school nance act also will include even more money for 202324 than originally proposed after an impassioned appeal from Weld County Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican and bill sponsor, called these provisions the “within-striking-distance amendments.” Lawmakers could still abandon these promises next year — particularly if economic conditions change —but moving to write them into law is a signi cant step.

“It’s time for the state Senate and this General Assembly to let the governor and the rest of the state know, no more B.S., no more balancing the budget on the backs of students,” she said. “We’re going to set a priority, and it’s called education.”

Kirkmeyer, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee, pointed out that the state education fund has nearly $1.3 billion, and that Democrats have funded a host of new programs since

“We pay for people’s bus passes, we pay for people’s utility bills, we pay for people’s rent, we pay for hygiene products, we pay for business licenses, we pay for health insurance,” she said. “We darn well ought to pay for education and put our children rst.” e money to fully fund K-12 education would come from a mix of savings in the state education fund and new revenue. Colorado has so much money in the state education fund because lawmakers slashed school funding in 2020 in anticipation of a COVID-related recession that never materialized. When revenues came in above projections, lawmakers socked much of the money away.

State Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat and teacher, found Kirkmeyer’s argument persuasive. She pointed to widespread teacher shortages, salaries that haven’t kept pace with in ation, students still recovering from

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