Lawmakers pass budget, complete with $1.2B in cuts

Good morning, Colorado!

School budgets might not sound thrilling over your morning cup of coffee — I get it — but they shape everything from class sizes to counselor availability for Colorado students. And right now, Colorado’s education funding is at a major crossroads.

The good news? Last year, state leaders made serious strides: paying off long-standing debts and revamping the decades-old formula that determines how schools get their money.

The not-so-good news? A budget shortfall is threatening to undo some of that progress — and once again, Colorado’s public schools are caught in the middle.

Join education reporter Erica Breunlin on April 29 (one week from today) for a free, virtual discussion with lawmakers, school finance experts and education leaders about what comes next, and whether Colorado can keep its promise to students, even when the budget says otherwise. (Please RSVP here!)

We’ve got more on the state budget in today’s Sunriser, plus an update on tree-eating pine beetles and other insightful Colorado news.

Olivia Prentzel

Reporter

THE NEWS

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Colorado legislature passes $43.9B budget that cuts transportation, social programs to fund rising health care costs

Lawmakers came into this year’s legislative session with a $1.2 billion sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. After months of wrangling, penny pinching and creative workarounds, lawmakers passed a budget that managed to avoid deep cuts to health care and education. Brian Eason walks us through how the budget was balanced — and why next year’s cuts are already looming.

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• Colorado immigration protection bill clears Senate vote. The Colorado Senate passed a bill that would put data protections in place for immigrants and limit places ICE can physically access.
  — Colorado Newsline

CLIMATE

Colorado’s tree-eating pine beetles are surging back after a prolonged dry spell

The number of headlines about the ravages of beetle-kill in the 2010s was topped only by the sheer number of gray, ghostly trees that appeared in the high country’s verdant forests. But after some wet seasons gave the trees the strength to resist the mountain pine beetle and spruce budworms, Michael Booth reports that the recent dry spell is helping the pests expand their infestation.

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Caught between state and federal budget cuts, Colorado’s local government programs are at risk

Between lawmakers wrestling with the state’s budget crunch and the president launching a slash-and-burn campaign through federal programs, the city and county governments of Colorado are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Brian Eason digs into the programs that could feel the pain, from Head Start to utility bill help to bike lanes.

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• Denver judge to decide fate of accused Venezuelan gang members facing deportation to prison in El Salvador. ACLU Colorado wants a federal judge to order class-action status, which would protect hundreds of detainees from deportation.

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Perfect brownies baked at high altitude are possible thanks to Colorado’s home economics pioneer Inga Allison. Turns out, people in Colorado didn’t just spontaneously learn how to bake in the state’s complicated high-altitude environment. Early in the 20th century, a Colorado State home economics professor applied the scientific method to create techniques to keep your brownies from resembling hockey pucks.
  — The Conversation
• She told Trump the Smithsonian needs changing. He’s ordered her to do it. Broomfield native and Miss Colorado USA third runner-up 2010 Lindsey Halligan is the only person mentioned by name in a Trump executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” When asked to define the “improper ideology” she would be attempting to expunge from the Smithsonian, she told The Post, “We don’t need to overemphasize the negative to teach people that certain aspects of our nation’s history may have been bad.”
  — The Washington Post
• $600M Zyn factory goes vertical. By the end of the year, tobacco giant Philip Morris’ 800,000-square-foot campus near DIA will be churning out their signature nicotine pouches as one of the anchors of a rash of new industrial development near the airport.
  — BISNOW.com ????
• A bunch of starlings were hanging out on the back of a molting bison. Is it news? No. Is it a great picture and a brief respite from the rest of the world? Yes and yes.
  — r/Denver

???? = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COMMUNITY

• Legislators have the power to ensure the integration of Coloradans with disabilities in our communities. House Bill 1017 would ensure critical programs remain accessible even if funding gets cut in the future.
  — Adie Bendickson, Masters of Social Work program at Colorado State University

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

SunLit

REVIEW

From “Save Me, Stranger,” a cancer patient takes on an odd mission

In this excerpt from the short story “Eat My Moose” from Erika Krouse’s new collection, “Save Me, Stranger,” one particular stranger “saves” terminal patients by helping them die — an exercise that inexplicably reverses symptoms of his own terminal cancer. The themes of strangers and rescue find various forms throughout her pieces, and the story of the character Colum, an Army veteran and “professional euthanizer” who offers his service to clients in the Alaskan wilderness, provides a fascinating take.

READ AN EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. Krouse explains how a friend’s suicide, and her subsequent guilt and remorse, shaped the title story as well as the collection’s theme.
  

Section by Kevin Simpson | Writer

Remember, you can find all of The Sun’s upcoming events and RSVP, here. Have a great Tuesday.

— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun

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Corrections & Clarifications

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