Colorado Lawmakers Avoid Big Budget Cuts to Education

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat Colorado.

Colorado lawmakers avoided major cuts to K-12, early childhood and higher education funding in next year’s budget proposal despite an overall shortfall of more than $1.2 billion.

Major reductions proposed in the bill introduced Monday focus on Medicaid benefits and health care programs. The bill also cuts into the state’s reserves. Lawmakers are required to pass a balanced budget and the School Finance Act before the end of the session on May 13.

State Representative Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat and chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, said during a news conference late last week that lawmakers wanted to avoid bringing back a maneuver called the Budget Stabilization Factor, which allowed the state to withhold money from constitutionally mandated K-12 funding. Lawmakers also tried to preserve higher education funding but ended up allowing tuition increases that are higher than originally proposed.

Sirota said lawmakers didn’t want to create another education funding hole after they “worked extremely hard over the last many years to dig our way out.”

The Long Bill, as it’s called, proposes that the 2026-27 state budget would grow to $46.8 billion, an increase over this year’s $43.9 billion budget. General fund spending, or the state tax revenue used on the budget, would increase to $17.3 billion, up from $17.1 billion.

Spending on K-12 schools would increase to $10.2 billion statewide, or about $184 million more than this year.

Lawmakers would need to dip into state reserves to fund some of the increase. For example, JBC members propose using the state’s education savings fund to pay for statutorily required increases to funding for special education, English language learners, at-risk students and others.

Other Cuts to K-12 Programs

Despite avoiding serious cuts to education, the JBC has proposed smaller reductions.

These include eliminating a statewide program that helps students become teachers, reducing how often certain teachers need to be evaluated and allowing some students to skip the state’s social studies test. Below are some of the most significant proposals:

• Budget lawmakers filed House Bill 1353 to alter the state’s social studies test so it’s administered only to seventh grade public school students. The move would save the state about $303,000 a year.
• House Bill 1356 would eliminate a grant program that allows charter schools and districts to create a local accountability system that compliments the state system. The measure would save the state about $507,000.
• House Bill 1357 would phase out the state’s Teacher Recruitment Education Program, or TREP, to save about $1.6 million next year and about $3 million in the year after. The idea to eventually eliminate the extended high school program created in 2021 wouldn’t allow schools to designate any new students for the program, meaning many students preparing to use TREP would no longer be eligible.
• Colorado lawmakers want to reduce a grant fund to improve state math instruction by about $5.2 million. House Bill 1358 would leave about $3.5 million next year for the program started in 2023 with onetime funding.
• Lawmakers proposed halving spending on school bullying prevention grants to $1 million.
• The state’s School Counselor Corps Grant Program would also be reduced by $1 million, down to $11 million per year. The grant helps schools hire more counselors and supports training.
• The state would reduce adult education and literacy grants by $1 million, bringing that grant fund down to $2 million available through the 2028-29 budget year.
• The state would also eliminate the Menstrual Hygiene Grant, or a cut of about $100,000 a year. Budget lawmakers noted that the state requires most schools to provide free menstrual hygiene products for students.

Higher Ed, Early Childhood Funding Remains Stable

JBC members were also able to avoid big cuts to higher education and early childhood funding. Those budgets would only change slightly compared to this year.

JBC lawmakers proposed a slight increase to $6.5 billion in total spending next year on higher education, although a portion of the funding includes programs such as History Colorado.

This means of the total higher education budget, about $1 billion in state support, would go toward colleges and universities. Another $3 billion would come from tuition revenue, according to legislative staff documents.

The state would allow most colleges and universities to increase tuition by 3.5 percent for resident undergraduate students. The state’s community colleges would be allowed to increase tuition by 5 percent for residents. And nonresident tuition rates could increase by up to 5 percent.

The tuition changes would account for $160 million of the $164 million state higher education budget increase.

In-state tuition assistance would remain at $116 per credit hour, or $3,480 per year for a full-time, full-year student.

The state’s early education budget also wouldn’t change significantly. The state proposes to spend about $798 million on those programs, including a $14 million increase for the state’s universal preschool program.

The budget bill took longer this year after lawmakers faced a larger than expected spending shortfall that the state’s budget forecasters have warned could be as high as $1.5 billion. This is the second year that the state has faced a more than $1 billion shortfall, mostly due to increased Medicaid costs. Republican lawmakers have said overspending by Democratic lawmakers is the problem.

The release of the budget now sets up hearings in the House and Senate. Lawmakers will file amendments and debate to finalize the budget. Once both chambers finish their deliberations, the bill will be sent to Governor Jared Polis to sign into law.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education.