By Erica Breunlin | Colorado Sun
Colorado lawmakers averted the potential for serious funding cuts for schools after passing a set of modest property tax cuts during the special legislative session in August. But the relief for school districts could be short-lived.
A tight state budget forecast and competing funding priorities are stoking fears that Colorado elected leaders could drop their pledge to begin ramping up funding for schools next year.
A new funding formula — signed into law in May after three decades of little change to the way Colorado distributes money to schools — was celebrated by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a landmark accomplishment of the 2024 legislative session. The new approach added to momentum for school finance after Gov. Jared Polis and legislators pledged to fund schools to the level required by the state constitution for the first time since the Great Recession, eliminating the state’s persistent school funding shortfall.