Colorado education groups ask lawmakers to devise plan to boost school funding, eye 2026 ballot measure

Colorado education advocacy groups are banding together to call on lawmakers to begin more seriously examining how to close the gap between the amount Colorado spends on public education and the amount necessary to fully fund schools. 

Following the results of two recent adequacy studies that indicate Colorado is underfunding education by billions of dollars, the organizations say the time to start figuring out how to steer more funding toward schools is now, even as Colorado faces a particularly tight budget year.

“We know where we are now,” said Lisa Weil, executive director of Great Education Colorado. “We know how far we need to go. We need a structured plan to get from where we are to where we’re going. Otherwise, what we’re looking at right now is as good as it gets in terms of funding our schools.”

Great Education Colorado, a nonprofit aimed at improving education by pumping more funding into schools and higher education institutions, is leading a new campaign called “Get it Done” with a long-term goal of significantly increasing how much money flows to schools — potentially through a future ballot measure.

It’s a particularly ambitious mission, after the two studies commissioned by the Colorado legislature found that the state must give an additional $3.5 billion to $4.1 billion to school districts to fund them adequately each year. Education advocates like Weil argue that those figures, intimidating to some, should not stand in the way of state leaders coming together to hammer out initial steps to one day reach full funding.

She said the state is “morally” and “legally” obligated to create an education system that commits enough funding to schools to meet the needs of all students, urging lawmakers to take a closer look at the adequacy studies as a starting point. Those studies were designed to inform the state with realistic numbers about the true costs associated with educating current Colorado students.

“Putting it on a shelf and saying, ‘It’s just too much for us,’ it’s immoral,” Weil said, adding that the state must “keep our eye on the horizon” and plot a strategy to achieve adequate funding even as lawmakers address the budget crisis this year.

Other organizations driving the campaign include the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Colorado Association of School Boards, the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, Colorado BOCES, Colorado PTA, the American Federation of Teachers Colorado, Advocates for Public Education Policy and the Education Foundation of Eagle County.

Their immediate request is for lawmakers to convene a legislative interim committee for the 2026 session that, with help from nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff, would analyze the two studies, determine which one to follow and begin piecing together a three- to five-year plan to increase funding for schools. They also want lawmakers to meet with constituents to learn about their local schools’ funding needs and what the adequacy studies mean for those schools.

Those are the first stepping stones in devising what Weil calls the Colorado Blueprint for Student Success — the funding plan crafted by lawmakers using one of the adequacy studies. 

Their work will set up a structure for Colorado to make incremental funding progress that will ultimately ensure “all of our students and all of our schools and school districts can meet all of the requirements that the legislature has put there,” Weil said, including academic standards and safety measures.

Campaign backers recognize that the state can’t readily dole out funding to form a legislative interim committee in such a trying budget year. They propose instead that the state use a minimal portion of $1 million left over from the $3 million lawmakers set aside for the adequacy studies to create the committee.

They also understand that change will take time.

“We know in our own districts and buildings we couldn’t make big, giant changes all at once either,” Bret Miles, executive director of CASE, the group representing Colorado school executives, told The Colorado Sun. “And so we want lawmakers to acknowledge that we know what it takes to deliver on the promise of public education and it takes an increased investment and we’re a really good investment. We’re graduating more kids than ever. We’ve got more kids than ever taking college classes in high school and earning credits that their parents aren’t paying for (and) graduating with industry certificates. We’re doing more than ever and we’re a worthwhile investment in Colorado.”

Is a ballot measure coming down the pike?

School funding in Colorado has endured a sort of whiplash over the past year. A new school funding formula adopted by the legislature last year plus a commitment to fund schools to the amount required by the state constitution for the first time since before the Great Recession sent state leaders and educators into full celebration mode. 

All the excitement came to a halt this legislative session as lawmakers have been wrestling with an estimated $1.2 billion budget shortfall and contemplating cuts to schools as a result.

So far, two school funding approaches are on the table, with Gov. Jared Polis proposing a budget that would strip about $147 million from schools next year and House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, recommending an alternative option that would pour more money into schools than the governor’s proposal next year but still would not shield all districts from funding cuts.

One solution to generate more state funding for education could come in the form of a statewide ballot measure next year — a possibility that organizations behind the Get it Done campaign are considering. They are in the early stages of ironing out what a ballot measure asking voters for more money for schools would look like.

“Voters aren’t going to say yes until things get really, really bad,” Weil said. “Things are really, really bad.”

There are two ways measures get on the ballot.

The legislature can refer a statutory initiative by passing a bill with a simple majority of support in each the House and Senate. It can also refer a measure to the ballot that would amend the constitution by passing a resolution with the support of two-thirds of the members in each the House and Senate. The latter route is unlikely to be a politically feasible option, as Democrats don’t have supermajorities at the Capitol and Republicans almost certainly won’t support a tax increase.

There is also a citizen initiative process in Colorado. Submitting a ballot initiative to Legislative Council Staff is the first step. Proposals then must be vetted by the state’s Title Board. Then, proponents must gather some 125,000 voter signatures to make the ballot. For measures amending the constitution, those signatures must include at least 2% of the total voters in each of Colorado’s 35 state senate districts.

It costs millions of dollars to collect all of those signatures.

Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected initiatives that would raise revenue for schools, with voters striking down three attempts at tax increases to bring in new funding for public education since 2011. The last attempt was in 2018, when voters rejected Amendment 73, which set out to collect $1.6 billion for public education, in part by upping taxes for people earning more than $150,000.

Weil isn’t deterred by that poor track record. She said organizations supporting the campaign are trying to push people’s mindsets past “the learned helplessness of, I know we need more money for schools, but it’s just too hard.”

Leaders of the groups tied to the campaign say they are prepared to fan out across the state, recruiting ambassadors who can explain to local communities what the specifics of a proposed ballot measure would mean for their schools and how the state would use new funds.

“Every district has their own different culture within its community and especially in our small districts the school district has such a solid relationship with the community,” said Lindley McCrary, board president of CASB. “And I think that we’re going to need to partner with and empower our locally elected school board members and school districts to help have that conversation with their constituents about what the proposed changes would be and what impact that would make and why it’s important.”

Kallie Leyba, executive director of AFT Colorado and a former teacher, knows firsthand how much additional funding would prop up schools to better serve their students. Key examples: More dollars could lead to manageable class sizes for elementary teachers so they are able to hear every one of their students read every day and understand kids’ individual struggles in math. More money could also enable schools to offer advanced courses and electives, which are often the classes that motivate kids to show up to school.

Leyba said state leaders must be transparent about the funding cuts they’re making to schools — and schools must be clear about how that lost money will affect their staff, programs and buildings.

“Everybody cares about kids,” she said. “The vast majority of voters value teachers and believe that teachers should be paid more, but if they don’t know that we have a problem, of course they’re not going to want to raise their own taxes on themselves. So this starts with being honest with the voters about the state of education funding in Colorado. It’s not going to be easy, but there’s no reason that we can’t get a lot of smart people in a room and start figuring out what we need to do to solve this.”

Those leading the campaign have started briefing lawmakers on their goal to better fund Colorado schools, including state Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat and former school board member. Kipp said she doesn’t want to see the state simply waste the time and money devoted to the adequacy studies.

“Our schools have been told for years and years and years that they need to do more with less, but there’s a breaking point there,” Kipp said. “So really if we don’t do this, we’re just going to continue on a spiraling path downward. Now that we know what it takes to adequately educate our kids, if we don’t move down this path we’re just going to be a state with substandard education.”

And without a stronger focus on securing more money long term for schools, education advocates like McCrary and Weil predict it will only become harder for educators to meet the needs of all their kids — at a time schools are already strapped with challenges, including declining enrollment and an increase in mental health struggles among youth.

“You just can’t build a system on martyrdom,” said Weil, of Great Education Colorado, “although we kind of have.”

Staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.