Public education funding is a complex topic with many opinions… and much confusion. If you ask around on the subject, most people say either they think public education is underfunded or they don’t know what the right amount of funding is. Contrary to popular opinion though, education funding in Colorado is the highest it’s ever been from local, state, and federal sources.
Numbers from Common Sense Institute’s Dollars and Data report show that Colorado K-12 public education funding has steadily increased since 2020 by 9.6%, from $14.6 billion to $16 billion. In that same timeframe, student enrollment in school districts has steadily decreased. Between the peak of student enrollment in 2020 to the 2022-23 school year, nearly 30,000 students – or 3.1% – have exited their district schools. This exodus has been accompanied by languishing student academic achievement.
The latest statewide testing data shows students struggling to recover from learning loss in most learning areas. Only 12% of Black 7th grade students and 11% of Hispanic 7th grade students were proficient in math. Overall, the vast majority of students in 2023 underperformed 2019, pre-pandemic levels, which were already dismal.
What’s more, school districts continue to devote an increasing share of funding to administrator positions, whose salaries are typically significantly higher than that of teachers, rather than devote more funding to teacher pay and student resources. While spending overall has increased by 54% since 2007, average teacher pay has grown by just 29%.
Below is a chart from the CSI report that shows just how drastic the increase in the number of administrators has been compared with the growth trend in numbers of students and teachers.
If, however, you still believe education is underfunded, how should that be remedied? In Ready Colorado’s 2023 poll over 78% of voters surveyed said the state should better prioritize spending, whereas only 13% saw raising taxes as a solution. But how exactly do schools get funded?
Our education funding comes from a combination of state and local sources (and some federal funds), primarily generated through income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. The Colorado School Finance Act requires that local revenue funds public education prior to the state contributing any funds. These funds are derived from local property taxes and ownership taxes, and then the state determines what amount each district will receive.
Legislators in the General Assembly annually adjust the amount of state money available for school funding. For the past decade since the Great Recession in 2009, lawmakers have used a
“budget stabilization factor” to balance the state budget, as constitutionally mandated, and also to comply with Amendment 23, which requires the state to increase base per-pupil school funding by the annual rate of inflation. The budget stabilization factor reduces each school district’s total program funding by a percentage chosen by the legislature.
The Colorado economy is in a much different place now than it was in 2009. This past session Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Kirkmeyer and Lundeen, led the call for fully funding K-12 schools at their constitutional level pointing to the ample funds available in the State Education Fund. Sen. Kirkmeyer, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee, reminded her colleagues that the state education fund has nearly $1.3 billion in it, and rather than creating a flurry of new programs, the legislature “…darn well ought to pay for education and put our children first.”
For a variety of political reasons, Democrats blocked fully funding schools, to the protest of Republicans. Sen. Kirkmeyer remarked “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.”
Democrat lawmakers who control the state’s pursestrings have promised to fully fund schools starting in 2024-2025. We will be closely watching to see if they uphold that promise.
Beyond debates over adequate levels of funding, there are also problems with how funding is allocated to schools. The current funding allocation formula is inequitable, inefficient and outdated. In the current school finance formula, a large proportion of school funding is determined based on a school district’s size and the area’s cost of living, versus funding based on student needs (e.g. students with disabilities, at-risk students and multilingual learners). The result is that wealthy areas such as Aspen receive higher funding than areas with more poverty such as Pueblo.
Without changes to the school finance formula, it is unclear how a significant increase in state education funding will lead to desired improvements in student outcomes. Ready Colorado President Brenda Dickhoner is actively working toward building a student-centered school finance formula through the statewide taskforce. Once the taskforce sends over recommendations for a new finance formula in February 2024, it will be up to the legislature to find a way to move the policy proposal forward. We hope that our political leaders will meet the moment and fight for an improved school funding formula that will ultimately benefit our most underserved students.
