A bipartisan group of state lawmakers has proposed an infusion of more than $300 million into K-12 education that would boost several programs that lost out with the defeat of Amendment 66, while also partially restoring budget cuts from the recession.
The draft bill, expected to be introduced in the House on Monday, would take advantage of improving revenue forecasts, an education surplus and about $40 million from recreational pot taxes to address needs from kindergarten and charter school facilities to struggling early readers to English language learners.
“The proposal is one that’s trying to put more money in, deal with needs throughout our schools and one that I think will see wide support,” said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, the House speaker. “I think we have a balance here between more funding while also being fiscally responsible to long-term budget projections.”
He endorsed the effort along with Republican Rep. Brian DelGrosso of Loveland, the House minority leader. Reps. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, and Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, are co-sponsoring the legislation in the House.
But critics of the proposal contend that too little of the package — $80 million — would provide no-strings-attached money that districts could use to backfill roughly $1 billion cut from education over the past few years. They note that much of the money outlined in the bill comes with earmarks that may not line up with the needs of individual districts.
Superintendents representing the vast majority of Colorado’s 178 districts, as well as other statewide groups, have floated proposals calling for more than $200 million annually to buy down the so-called “negative factor” that allowed the state to cut education funding despite constitutionally mandated increases.
“The negative factor needs to come without strings,” said Shila Adolf, superintendent of the tiny Bethune School District near the Kansas border. “We need time to implement what has already been asked of us.”
The proposed legislation, titled the Student Success Act, would add to the state’s regular education funding legislation. In addition to the $80 million in “negative factor” funding, it designates recurring money of $20 million toward the READ Act, an early literacy program; $13 million toward charter facility funding; and $35 million toward funding for English language learners.
The recurring money from a tax on recreational marijuana, an estimated $40 million, would pay for kindergarten facilities, technology and supplement charter facilities funding.
The bill allows for $100 million in one-time dollars to support unfunded mandates such as student assessments, teacher evaluations, technology and school safety. Another $15 million in one-time money would create an improved financial transparency system and launch a new student-count mechanism.
Those dollar figures could change depending on the March revenue forecast.
“It’s been a wonderful process in terms of taking input and reacting,” Murray said. “It hasn’t been something we’ve just thrown out there and said take it or leave it.”
But critics like the superintendents and the Colorado Association of School Boards refer to the bill as “213 lite,” a reference to last session’s wide-ranging Senate Bill 213 that was the foundation for Amendment 66, the proposed $950 million tax increase. They see too many pet programs and not enough local discretion in restoring deep budget cuts.
