TELL YOUR LEGISLATOR
FIX THE FUNDING FORMULA
The current funding allocation formula for our students is inequitable, inefficient and outdated.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 has been actively working toward building a student-centered school finance formula through the statewide taskforce. It is now 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.
Help spread the word and sign the petition to encourage legislators to fix the funding formula in 2024.
Ready Colorado's Core Principles
The touchstone of our education system must be parent choice. No one system of schooling should have a monopoly over opportunity. Parents should have the ability to send their kids to the school that will help their children thrive, regardless of type—public, private, charter, traditional, magnet, virtual, or home school.
The education system needs to focus more attention on the needs of students and families; and less on the needs of the system itself. Learning loss due to closed schools has been profound and we need to prioritize helping all kids get back on track in reading, writing, and math.
Colorado’s education system should be accountable to parents and taxpayers.
Teachers, schools, and districts must be held accountable for student performance outcomes. Parents are the backbone of our education system, but our education system shuts their voices out in favor of the opinions of central office bureaucrats and teachers’ union bosses.
True parent choice requires meaningful, comparable information about school districts, schools, and teachers. In the absence of good information about teachers and schools, school choice is just a guessing game for parents. A fair and easy-to-understand school ratings system based on a statewide assessment is necessary for informed school choice.
