By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
The incentive structure hiding in Colorado’s UPK
I recently shared a video that went into (among other important things to know about school finance) how Colorado’s public school enrollment is dropping.
That video is linked below if you missed it before; it’s great and cheap education on school enrollment and funding.
Not too long after I put up the newsletter with that video, I had a reader send me something I thought interesting enough to share. There is a marked disparity between how much money someone gets from our Universal Pre K program for a child vs. how much they get for educating a child in K – 12.
The second link below is to the state’s UPK rate sheet. It lists the 2026-27 rate the UPK program will pay per child for 10 hours, 15 hours and 30 hours of preschool. The statewide averages are about $5K, $6K, and $11K per child.
The third link below is to SB26-023 one of the bills for the state’s budget, specifically the one dealing with school finance. I will quote the per pupil spending from the bill’s summary (note, this is the base amount subject to adjustments for a variety of factors, some geographic, some dealing with the type of student served):
“The act [s]ets a new statewide base per pupil funding amount for the 2026-27 budget year at $8,900.40”
As the reader noted in their email to me, “a 30-hour-a-week four-year-old is worth $2,200 MORE than a K-12 student. Even the standard 15-hour UPK slot brings in about 70 cents on every K-12 dollar, for a child who’s with you part-time.”
What do you suppose this incentive, stacked with declining enrollment in K- 12, means?
If you’re thinking that there will be a sudden interest by school districts in running UPK programs, you and I think alike. Matter of fact, there already is quite an interest by them.
When the government competes with private industry, who do you think’s going to win?
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-023
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
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