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Framed as education, but tied to TABOR: Measure to keep surplus revenue advances
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Framed as education, but tied to TABOR: Measure to keep surplus revenue advances

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s fight over spending limits is back at the Capitol, and this time it could end up in front of voters. The Senate Finance Committee voted 6–3 on March 12 to advance SB26-135, teeing up a 2026 vote on whether the state can keep revenue above the TABOR cap instead of sending it back as refunds. It comes down to a basic question: should that extra revenue go back to taxpayers, or stay with the state? What follows is less straightforward. How the bill works The proposal does not rewrite TABOR itself. Instead, it puts that decision to voters—whether to allow the state to keep and spend money that would otherwise be refunded. If voters sign off, the state could retain revenue above the cap, up to an amount ...
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Colorado Senate Panel Advances Bill To Redirect TABOR Refunds
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Senate Panel Advances Bill To Redirect TABOR Refunds

By: Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–Couched as a state education funding effort, legislation to siphon off overcollected revenue that would otherwise be refunded to Colorado taxpayers passed out of a Democrat-controlled Senate committee on Thursday. Senate Bill 26-135, “State Public K-12 Education Funding,” refers a question to Colorado’s November ballot to increase K-12 education funding by 2% annually for the next ten years. According to the bill, the money is intended to go towards teacher pay increases and retention, lowering class sizes, and technical career programs. Along with raising education appropriations, the bill allows the state to keep and spend excess revenue collected above the limitations in the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). ...
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Democrats Push Plan to Eliminate TABOR Refunds For The Next 10 Years
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Democrats Push Plan to Eliminate TABOR Refunds For The Next 10 Years

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado voters could decide this fall whether billions of dollars that would otherwise be returned as refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights should instead go to public schools under a ballot measure unveiled Thursday by Democrats. Supporters say the proposal would address chronic underfunding in K-12 education, while critics argue it takes money away from taxpayers and amounts to sidestepping the state’s constitutional spending limits. Supporters have insisted that schools are underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars, while one study says revenue and spending by schools have significantly grown in the last few years, with a noticeable shift toward non-instructional spending. Under the proposed ballot measure, the am...
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Colorado’s immigration folly: Taxpayer dollars fueling a broken system
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s immigration folly: Taxpayer dollars fueling a broken system

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As the state representative from House District 22 in Colorado Springs, I see daily how federal immigration enforcement and state policies affect families in El Paso County. President Trump’s 2024 reelection brought a secured southern border after the Biden era’s chaos, when 8 to 11 million people entered illegally—the largest surge in U.S. history.  That influx overwhelmed communities nationwide, including Colorado. While federal policy now prioritizes removing criminal aliens, Colorado Democrats have enacted legislation that rewards illegal immigration with generous taxpayer-funded benefits, all while ignoring the burden on law-abiding citizens. Deportation data from 1993 to 2022 show enforcement is bi...
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TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Note the “won’t someone think of the children?!” framing I don’t think there are any specifics yet, but as of last week, there were plenty of rumors about the Democrats taking another stab at TABOR, this time in conjunction with their paymasters the teacher’s unions. If you read the Sun article linked first below, you’ll see one possible form this effort could take: some way or another, tying lifting the TABOR cap to directing money into education. Doing so would obviously enable supporters to frame opposition as being cold hearted: won’t someone please think of the children? I have discussed framing before, and the best way to counter it is to be aware of the framing, presenting counter...
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Colorado Teachers Union Pushes Ballot Measure Targeting TABOR Spending Limits
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Teachers Union Pushes Ballot Measure Targeting TABOR Spending Limits

By: Blair Miller | Denver7 DENVER — The largest union of Colorado educators rallied outside of the Capitol on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to refer a measure to the ballot that they believe is a solution to funding struggles plaguing schools in the state. The measure that the Colorado Education Association (CEA) is spearheading is centered upon the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), which voters approved in 1992. TABOR limits the amount of money the state government can keep and spend, while requiring voter approval to keep excess funds collected. Without that voter approval, extra revenue is refunded to Colorado taxpayers. The CEA would like voters to decide if they would like to raise the TABOR spending cap, which was called "outdated" several t...
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‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Friday, January 16th, Day Three of the legislative session, began in a manner that seemed to promote general agreement in the Colorado House of Representatives. Since the upcoming Monday, January 19th, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a legal state holiday, the House began with a resolution recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Things went south when Representative Naquetta Ricks compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to the German Gestapo of Adolf Hitler. This was a shocking statement to make in the middle of recognizing the civil rights efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Representatives DeGraff and Bottoms brought some much-needed perspective to the conversation, in addition to Rep...
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Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises
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Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises

By: Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information? It certainly looks that way based on a recent Joint Budget Committee (JBC) hearing on the Department of Education’s budget request for the coming fiscal year where some enlightening information was revealed about the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program (the relevant discussion began at the 9:38 am mark).  Background on ‘free’ school lunch As I previously explained, HSMA, also known as the “free” school lunch program, was created via Proposition FF in 2022 and was quickly recognized as financially unsustainable in just its first year of operation.  The legislature responded by asking voters to save the program by de-TABORi...
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Governor Polis Pushes Record $50.7 Billion Budget Amid Fiscal Concerns
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Governor Polis Pushes Record $50.7 Billion Budget Amid Fiscal Concerns

By: Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–Governor Jared Polis recently proposed his more than $50 billion Colorado state budget, requesting a flood of money to education and public safety while acknowledging Medicaid spending has gotten out of hand. The 2026-27 spending plan was presented to the Joint Budget Committee on Oct. 31, three days ahead of schedule. Polis’ total request stands at $50.7 billion, with $18.6 billion being General Fund (or discretionary) money. The plan dedicates an additional $167 million to school finance, as well as reallocating remaining revenue from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund to the education fund , while increasing universal pre-school funding by $14.3 million. The state will then issue $2 million for the evidence-based math accelerator program, $...
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Colorado buys the socialist sandwich: Free lunches and fewer freedoms
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado buys the socialist sandwich: Free lunches and fewer freedoms

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Colorado Politics If you’re a fan of limited government, personal liberty, or educational choice, Tuesday night’s election results were a downer, just another one in a long line of depressing elections that has made Colorado more California than California. However, if you prefer a controlling elite deciding your fate, debt, class envy and teacher unions, it was just another victory in a decade’s long win streak. I’m curious how multi-billionaire nannyist Michael Bloomberg felt about his out-of-state investment. He put $5 million toward convincing Denver voters adults must stop buying Swisher Sweets cigars (which contains flavored tobacco, the new fentanyl). As adults drive by marijuana shops selling flavored edibles, liquor stores selling peach-inf...
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