Does more money mean better education?
The mission of Great Education Colorado is to act as a catalyst for improved investment in Colorado’s public schools. This means both increased investment and wise investment. Too often, discussions about investing in public education become polarized between those who seek more funds and those who believe that “throwing money at the problem” will not improve schools. The truth is better school funding is a necessary condition for making meaningful improvements in our education system—but alone, it is not sufficient.
There is broad agreement that increased individual attention, by skilled, well-prepared, and experienced teachers is key to academic success. Additionally, we want our schools to provide children with a well-rounded education, which means relevant vocational education, arts, civics, and physical education—in addition to the basic three Rs. Finally, parents rightly expect that their children will attend—at a minimum—facilities that are free of health and safety hazards, that are not overcrowded or detrimentally outdated and that provide access to the science and computer technology that is at the core of the economy our children will enter. Progress toward these goals is impossible without a significant increase in school funding, particularly in Colorado where school districts have endured years of chronic budget cuts and underfunding.
We must also recognize, that funding alone will not allow us to achieve all our goals: eliminating the achievement gap, reducing the dropout rate, and preparing all children for the 21st century. How money is used matters. In a time of budget scarcity, we are obligated to use new funds as wisely as possible—as determined by a public, democratic and representative process, informed by the best available data. That is why Great Education Colorado supports efforts such as Governor Ritter’s P20 Council and legislative efforts to think creatively and expansively about the goals of our state’s education system and how we achieve them. As Colorado comes into consensus about education reform principles, Great Education Colorado will be in the forefront of the fight to match that roadmap with the resources necessary for success.
MORE FAQs:
TABOR and Gallagher Amendments
Adequacy Lawsuit
Why is the State of Colorado being sued for not funding our schools “adequately”?
In 2006, the public interest law firm “Children’s Voices” filed the Lobato vs. Colorado lawsuit, which asserts that the state isn’t meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a “thorough and uniform” system of free public schools in Colorado. The first stage of the Lobato case was argued to the Supreme Court on June 9, 2009. You can listen to the arguments here. The suit is based on the theory that Colorado’s educational content standards (such as those tested by the CSAPs) now define what “thorough and uniform” means. Colorado’s current school finance scheme simply doesn’t meet that standard. Suits similar to the Lobato suit have been filed in 26 states around the country. So far, courts have ruled in favor of the children and school districts in more than 20 of those cases. These cases are often referred to as “adequacy lawsuits.” You can view the complaint and learn more about Children’s Voices here.
Where does the Lobato suit stand now?
On 0ctober 19, 2009, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the Lobato suit can go forward (reversing decisions in lower courts that case should be dismissed) and that the judiciary is well-equipped to determine whether the current system of school finance is constitutional under the “thorough and uniform” standard. Read the Colorado Supreme Court’s Decision here. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the District Court for a trial regarding whether the state’s funding system is rationally related to the standards the state has set for schools, districts, and children. That trial is not expected to start before the end of 2010.
What does “adequacy” mean in the context of school funding?
Imagine that you have decided to build a new home. You know that you want high-quality workmanship, reliable and safe plumbing and electrical fixtures, a certain number of bedrooms, bathrooms and square feet. Then you tell the contractor you will pay only $50,000 for the construction of the home. That’s how schools are funded in Colorado. We’ve set high standards of achievement for our children and our schools. But the amount we give our districts bears no relation to the actual cost of ensuring that all our children—including those with disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those whose first language is not English—meet those standards.
In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. Once you have provided the specifications, a contractor will cost out the materials and labor and provide a bid that approximates the actual cost of building the home. That’s what “adequacy” is all about in school finance. We wouldn’t decide on a price for building a house—or a highway—without “costing out” the job, so why should we do it for educating our children? That’s why Colorado needed an “Adequacy Study.” Link here for more background on adequacy studies.
Has an Adequacy or “costing-out” study been completed in Colorado?
Yes. In 2002, the Colorado School Finance Project began the process of conducting an “adequacy study”—the first “costing-out” study ever done in Colorado. The Study looks at the actual cost of educating children to the level of proficiency in state standards, taking into account the additional costs of meeting the needs of English Language Learners (ELL), Special Education and at-risk kids (those eligible for free and reduced lunch). The Study also takes into account the differing per-student costs faced by school districts of different sizes (i.e., per student costs are higher in small districts, because the overhead of running a district—heating, transportation, custodial services, etc.—is split among a smaller number of students). The Adequacy Study concluded—using conservative assumptions—that for the 2001-2002 school year (the year studied) the state spent between $568 and $841 million less than would have been required for school districts to bring all students up to required standards. The adequacy study was updated in 2006 to reflect increased requirements under No Child Left Behind and increased costs, such as transportation and health care. Taking those factors into account, the 2006 study concluded that current funding is at least $630 million per year below what would be necessary to allow schools to meet current standards. You can view the summary of the Adequacy Study here. The 2006 update to the Colorado Adequacy Study can be viewed here. More information about the Study can be found on the Colorado School Finance Project website: http://www.cosfp.org/. For further background on the concept of “adequacy” as it is being used in other states, check out the website of one of our counterparts in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools: http://www.excellentschools.org/adequacy.htm.
What’s the theory of the lawsuit?
The basis of the Lobato suit is the “thorough and uniform” Education Clause of the Colorado Constitution, which reads: “The General Assembly shall… provide for the establishment and maintenance of a thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the state.” The lawsuit asserts that the General Assembly has given meaning to what “thorough” means, by enacting “standards-based education”—that is an accountability system that establishes what students should master for each year of their schooling; and that the General Assembly is required to fund schools statewide in a way that makes them “uniform” so that rural, urban and suburban districts are equally able to help their students meet those standards. Relying in part on the result of the adequacy study (see above), the lawsuit asks the Court to find that the State of Colorado is violating the Education Clause of the Colorado Constitution because its school finance scheme fails in two ways: (1) it does not provide sufficient funds to provide for a “thorough” education and (2) it does not ensure that funds are distributed in a way that provides for “uniform” (i.e., statewide) access to educational opportunities.
Why does Great Education Colorado support this lawsuit?
As public school supporters, we feel strongly that Colorado doesn’t invest enough in our schools. Our state’s lack of investment in education has been building for more than twenty years and solving it is no small task. We’ve got to use every tool available. While Great Education Colorado is fighting for improved Pre-K-12 funding with political and legislative tactics, Children’s Voices is adding a critical new tool to the battle: the legal system. Why is that good news? The legal process provides a formal, public forum to tell the story of schools and students struggling to meet standards without the essential resources they need, like appropriate individual attention, textbooks, course curriculum, equipment—or even a safe place to attend school. The suit establishes that providing essential resources for our schools isn’t just a moral duty—it’s a legal requirement. The threat of a successful lawsuit will give public school supporters (including like-minded legislators) a stronger hand in fighting for adequate Pre-K-12 funding. As noted above, lawsuits similar to this one have been filed throughout the nation and courts have ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the vast majority of the cases. In fact, in Kansas—where the issue was resolved by courts in 2006—the State Legislature convened in special session to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision by adding $148 million for Pre-K-12 funding and a total of $755.6 million from 2004-05 to 2008-09 (26% increase from the 2004-05 state funding level). ↑ back to top
Amendment 23
What is Amendment 23 and why did it pass?
Amendment 23 was passed in 2000 to reverse a decade of budget cuts experienced by Colorado school districts throughout the 1990s. During that decade, Colorado’s education spending did not keep pace with the inflation rate. Colorado is one of only five states that spent less on K-12 education in 2000-01 than in 1990-01 after inflation adjustments. The only other states are Alaska, Arizona, Florida, and New Jersey — of those four states, only Arizona and Florida had spending levels below Colorado. Throughout the 1990s, per-pupil funding for education was well below the national average. Amendment 23 requires K-12 funding to increase by inflation plus 1% from 2001-2011 and by inflation after that. Notably, even with Amendment 23, by 2007-08, per-pupil funding was almost $1,400 below the national average (consider how this affects a school of 300 or 700 students). If Amendment 23 is honored through 2011, we will finally spend as much per child in real dollars as we did in 1989.
Unfortunately, because of the economic downturn and Colorado’s resulting budget crisis, it appears that Amendment 23 will not be fully implemented through 2011, meaning that our per pupil funding may once again fall below inflation-adjusted 1989 levels.
What impact does Amendment 23 have on Colorado students and schools?
It guarantees minimum per pupil funding increases. Amendment 23 requires that the state legislature annually increase K-12 funding by “inflation +1 percent.” It requires funding for special education and transportation to increase by inflation +1 percent, as well. This is designed to restore the cuts experienced by public schools in the 1990s. It allows additional K-12 spending at the discretion of the legislature. Amendment 23 authorizes additional spending (on top of the “inflation +1″ increases) on other K-12 programs, such as textbooks, class size reduction, early childhood education, and teacher performance incentives. As a result of the current economic and budget crisis, it is virtually certain that school funding levels will go below Amendment 23 minimums in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Amendment 23 has a finance mechanism. It earmarks .33% of Colorado’s income tax for deposit into the “State Education Fund.” These funds are exempt from all TABOR limits. In order to ensure that the Legislature would not simply use the State Education Fund to substitute for funds it has historically spent on education, Amendment 23 requires the Legislature to increase general fund spending on K-12 by at least 5% each year before it can dip into the State Education Fund to meet the inflation +1 requirement. Notably, during both the post 9/11 economic downturn and the current budget crisis (for the coming 2010-11 fiscal year) the Legislature has taken advantage of a provision in Amendment 23 that gives the Legislature some leeway when state revenues drop. As a result, during those years, the State Education Fund has been used to help balance the rest of Colorado’s very tight budget.
How did Colorado education funding fall so far below the national average?
The falling red line on this graph documents how Colorado’s per pupil funding compares to the national average from 1972-2007. With conventional wisdom in and around the Capitol that K-12 funding is “fine” and has been protected – perhaps too protected – by Amendment 23, this graph tells the real story of Colorado’s 30 year history of disinvestment. The downward trend started with the Gallagher Amendment in 1982 and continued to decline with the passage of TABOR in 1992. Even with a slight increase following Amendment 23, Colorado continued dropping to new lows relative to the national average. In 2007, Colorado was $1,397 below the national per pupil funding average.
In the 1980s, Colorado invested more per student than the national average, even during the energy bust. In 1982, we passed the Gallagher Amendment (the vertical green line on the graph) – which started eroding the local property tax base by continually reducing the assessment rate (the percent of the value of a home that is taxed). From 1982-1992, school districts were able to somewhat stabilize local revenues by floating mill rates up.
In 1992, TABOR was passed (the vertical orange line) and took away the ability of districts to float their mill rates without a vote of the people and limited the state’s ability to backfill the hole left by declining property tax rates (because of a 6% spending limit imposed on spending from the State General Fund). The result: Colorado’s tangle of restrictive budget laws prevented the legislature from even keeping up with inflation in per pupil funding.
The good news is that in 2000, Colorado voters passed Amendment 23 to plug hemorrhaging P-12 budgets (the vertical purple line). Estimates indicate that if Colorado did not pass Amendment 23, average spending per student would have dipped down an additional $500-1,000. As the graph indicates, per pupil spending in 2000 was already nearly $700 per pupil below the national average. At the time it passed, Amendment 23 was intended to be a floor and not a ceiling.
The bad news is that since 2000, Amendment 23 has become a ceiling and not the protective floor it was originally intended to be. The other bad news is that the measure of inflation used in Amendment 23’s inflation + 1% for K-12 funding is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and is not weighted to reflect the kinds of things that school districts buy like health care, pensions, and energy.
As you track the red line where Colorado falls relative to the national average, you can see that at one point, Colorado increases relative to the national average. During the post-9/11 economic downturn in 2003, Amendment 23 protected Colorado’s schools more than those in the rest of the country. But when the economy recovered, other states took action to remedy temporary cuts made in tough times. In essence, while other states said: “finally we can invest in our kids again”, Colorado took a different path and funded schools barely above the minimum required by Amendment 23.
Consequently, Colorado’s per pupil funding has fallen off the chart over the past several years — a phenomenon that will only get worse in 2011, unless we work together to prevent “the Cliff.” (In 2011, Amendment 23 and Referendum C sunset, and the federal stimulus dollars that are currently propping up education funding will dry up.)
What can you do right now? Take the Great Futures pledge to invest in kids, because great futures start with a great education. Let’s match our resources with smart, sustainable reforms to impact all Colorado students.
How does the “inflation + 1 percent” in Amendment 23 work?
Amendment 23 guarantees K-12 funding by requiring an “inflation + 1″ increase in “base per pupil funding” beginning in 2001 for ten years. The base is run through a complex formula that includes variables such as school district size, local cost-of-living and the number of “at-risk” kids. These variables are called “factors” and they substantially increase average per pupil funding received by school districts. The factors exist to address the increased per pupil costs that result when, for instance, a high percentage of pupils are from at-risk populations or when the necessary costs of running a school and hiring staff are divided among a small student population in a rural district. Each year, the factors increase Colorado’s total school spending by several hundred million dollars.
Historically, the Legislature has protected the factors as part of the Amendment 23 mandate. However, it appears that the Legislature will adjust the factors for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years, in order to reduce school funding by 6.12% so far. Great Education Colorado believes that reduction is a violation of the voters’ intent in passing Amendment 23 in 2000.
Is Amendment 23 sufficient to fund K-12 adequately?
No. A 2006 study by the School Finance Project found that, in order to meet the requirements of Colorado’s school reforms, including CSAPs, and the federal “No Child Left Behind” Act, Colorado schools would need an infusion of funding far beyond that required by Amendment 23. Amendment 23 was not designed to fund schools “adequately.” Rather, it was designed to reverse cuts imposed over a decade because of Colorado’s constitutional budget constraints, which are generally recognized as the most restrictive in the nation. (See FAQs regarding TABOR and Gallagher). Amendment 23 requires “inflation + 1” increases, but the base funding levels upon which those increases are based are simply not sufficient to meet the needs of children.
- At-Risk Students: While school finance experts estimate that it generally costs 20-58% more to bring an at-risk child to academic proficiency (as compared to a child who is not at-risk), Colorado gives districts only an additional 12% per at-risk child.
- Special Needs Students: Although experts estimate that it costs as much as twice as much to educate a child with moderate special education needs, the State generally provides districts with less than 20% of the funds necessary to meet those needs.
- English Language Learners: Even with Amendment 23, the State provides districts with less than $300 per year to bring non-English-speaking children to English proficiency.
School Districts have to make up the difference by diverting funding from the rest of their budgets. And with schools facing significantly greater expectations for progress and proficiency, it is simply not enough to meet Amendment 23’s goal of catching up with 1989 inflation-adjusted spending levels.
If Amendment 23 is guaranteeing funding increases, why is my school facing cuts this year?
Amendment 23’s “inflation +1” takes into account the consumer price index (CPI), which consistently underestimates inflation in the things that school districts buy. For instance, the CPI doesn’t give enough weight to increases in health care, energy, transportation and pension costs, which all tend to rise much faster than the CPI. In addition, “declining enrollment” (i.e., a reduction in the number of district students) has made matters much worse for many districts (less students, less money). This is because a district’s costs usually do not decrease as much the loss of funding (for example, a school still needs to keep the same number of teachers, although it may have lost a few kids).
Due to the severity of the current economic downturn and significant decline in state revenue, it appears that the Legislature will almost certainly fund K-12 schools at a level that is significantly below the requirements mandated in Amendment 23. While the legal and moral basis of such cuts is debatable, it is irrefutable that the cuts will negatively affect all of Colorado’s K-12 students.
For the latest on Amendment 23 and the effect of the current economic downturn on K-12 funding, visit our blog: http://blog.greateducation.org/.
Funding Q&A — Ballot Initiatives
Will fixing our school funding crisis require action at the ballot?
Yes. After almost two decades of tax cuts and TABOR, Colorado’s state budget simply is not large enough to fund public schools, colleges, and universities adequately, while making appropriate investments in other parts of the budget: higher education, health care, transportation, and other critical state services. Because TABOR requires voter approval before any tax increase can be implemented, there can be no solution to our budget crisis without a vote of the people. There are multiple discussions going on among state leaders, advocacy groups, foundations, community leaders, and other interested parties about how to raise revenues, how those funds should be used, and when (i.e., in what year) the resulting ballot initiative(s) should be put before Colorado voters. Great Education Colorado has been convening and participating in these conversations and will continue to work to ensure that voters have the opportunity—as soon as is pragmatically and strategically possible—to vote on long-term funding solutions that will allow Colorado to invest wisely and adequately in the education of our children. ↑ back to top
Funding Stabilization
What is the “mill stabilization plan” that Governor Ritter proposed and the legislature passed in 2007?
The short answer: SB07-199, proposed by the Governor and passed by the Legislature fixed a 1994 state school finance law that had the effect of automatically cutting local school property taxes (“mill levies”), even though local communities in most school districts had rejected such mill levy reductions by voting to allow the district to retain all revenues above the TABOR limit collected by those districts. The plan stopped the decade-long erosion of local financial support for public schools, and freed up state funds for education and other priorities.
The longer answer: In 2007, the legislature enacted a plan (S.B. 199) proposed by Governor Ritter to correct a flaw in the 1994 School Finance Act that has had the effect of slashing local support for public schools for well over a decade—despite votes in 175 out of 178 school districts to prevent exactly those cuts. The story starts with TABOR, which places strict limits on the amount of revenue a school district can keep. If a school district’s revenue exceeds its TABOR limit (perhaps as a result of rapid population growth or property values), the school district has to reduce its “mill rate” (i.e., the rate at which property is taxed), unless district residents vote to allow the district to retain all revenues above the TABOR limit (Such votes are known as “de-brucing”). In 175 of Colorado’s 178 school districts, the voters did vote to allow the district to keep all the revenue they raised under the mill rates at that time in order to maintain local support for their schools. Unfortunately, the 1994 School Finance Act had a provision that ignored and reversed all 175 local elections to “de-Bruce.” In effect, the Act “re-Bruced” those districts, requiring them to cut their mill rates in direct contradiction of the people’s will. That is, even though the people in 175 school districts asked to maintain local support, the state’s School Finance Act took away their right to do so. This School Finance Act flaw has had drastic and lasting effects:
- The state had to spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars just to replace the loss of the local share of school funding. As a result, although an ever-increasing portion of the state budget was being spent on school finance before passage of SB 199 (leaving fewer dollars available for other critical state programs), schools had little to show for it. The additional state funds were only replacing lost local dollars, and the schools didn’t even tread water.
- According to analysis done by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, Colorado has lost $3.1 billion annually in local property tax relief since 1994 (if our property tax rate were the same rate as 1994 levels).
Governor Ritter’s plan simply gave effect—finally—to the will of voters who sought to freeze their mill rates several years ago. Notably, the stabilization of local mill levies only froze rates at their current levels—which, in many cases, were as much as 50% lower than they were when citizens voted to freeze them. As noted above, the mill rates in a number of districts actually dropped, under SB199.
For example, in Park County School District, mill levy rates are half of what they were in 1996: 
After being challenged in a 2008 lawsuit, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in March of 2009 that the mill levy stabilization legislation was constitutional, rejecting arguments that SB07-199 violated TABOR. The Court ruled that the 170+ local “de-brucing” elections satisfied TABOR’s requirement that tax increases be approved by the voters, and no statewide vote was required to freeze the mills as was accomplished by SB07-199. ↑ back to top
P-12 or Higher Ed? Both!
Which is more important: funding P-12 public schools or funding Colorado’s resource-starved system of higher education?
The quick answer: “Both.” And, as a state, we shouldn’t have to choose. Colorado’s public schools have been chronically under-funded for years—with detrimental consequences like high teacher-student and counselor-student ratios, outdated technology and textbooks, limited vocational education options and high dropout rates.
Nonetheless, K-12 funding has (at least until recently) been protected from wholesale cuts by Amendment 23’s mandatory minimum annual per pupil increases. Higher education, on the other hand, was not protected during the early years of this decade, when the post 9/11 recession forced deep cuts in funding for community colleges and state universities. These cuts left Colorado an estimated $832 million behind peer states in higher education funding. Some have blamed Amendment 23 for those cuts. [Falling mill levy rates are a more direct cause, as is discussed in a related FAQ]. It is, to say the least, a short-sighted and ill-conceived policy to force a state to choose between funding K-12 or institutions of higher learning.
In fact, Colorado’s zero-sum budget game has placed us at a competitive disadvantage with surrounding states that have chosen to fund both more adequately than Colorado. Without a strong P-12 system, colleges and universities face tremendous remediation costs. Likewise, the state suffers if graduating high school students do not have quality higher education institutions to attend. Moreover, Colorado’s economy simply cannot thrive or compete without the kind of highly educated workforce and robust R&D institutions that attract and retain 21st century businesses. Great Education Colorado believes that “great education” requires adequate funding for educational opportunities from pre-school through post-graduate degrees and everything in between. Colorado’s students and economy will continue to suffer if we fund one level of education only at the expense of another. ↑ back to top
Public School Funding
How are public schools funded in Colorado?
K-12 public schools in Colorado are primarily funded through a combination of local property taxes and state revenues. Historically, local property taxes have made up the majority of funding. However, since property taxes have decreased and will continue to do so based on the impact of the constitutional Gallagher Amendment (see TABOR/Gallagher FAQs as well as the Mill Levy Stabilization FAQ), the state has been required to fill in the amount that property taxes used to cover. During the post 9/11 economic downturn, state revenues fell dramatically and the state contributed the bare minimum legally required by Amendment 23 (Colorado spends $1,397 less per pupil than the national average.). Until 2011, the amount of funding Colorado’s public schools receive is based on the formula: inflation + 1%. The intention of this formula is to allow K-12 schools to keep up with price increases (inflation) while adding the 1% to slowly bring the funding level up toward the amount we spent in 1989 (inflation-adjusted) and toward the national average. This modest formula was an integral piece of Amendment 23, approved by Colorado voters in 2000.
Annual State Funding Increases: 2005-06: 1.1% | 2006-07: 3.1%
The Consumer Price Index upon which Amendment 23 is based does not adequately take into account some of the items that are most important to school districts such as: energy costs for gasoline or electricity, pensions and health care insurance—which have experienced double-digit inflation for the last few years. Just like it is more expensive to heat our homes or pay for family health insurance, schools have to deal with these skyrocketing costs, while receiving low, single-digit increases in funding (Even these modest increases are now in jeopardy).
How do schools cope? Since they must provide transportation for kids, heat the buildings, and provide benefits to their employees, most school districts are forced to make cuts that affect the classroom: cutting programs and course offerings, increasing class sizes, deferring text book purchases, letting teachers and/or paraprofessionals go, and freezing their pay. To hear first-hand how schools are coping, explore Great Ed’s Interactive School Stories Map here.
Are there other ways school districts can raise revenues?
School districts can raise additional revenues through local bond (capital) and mill levy (operations) elections up until a specified level, but the economic vitality of many communities cannot support money raised through local bonds and mills. On the other end of the spectrum, wealthier school districts bump up against maximum spending caps that limit the local ability to support schools—caps that were designed to prevent massive inequities between low-income and affluent districts.
Additional funding for public schools comes from private fundraising, primarily at schools in higher income communities – functioning as an additional “tax” on these families and further heightening equity concerns. Such fundraising efforts are increasingly being outstripped by funding cuts at the state and district levels.
What is the State Education Fund?
The State Education Fund was created by Amendment 23 in 2001 to help schools buy textbooks, reduce class sizes and retain critical staff, and to ensure that the State would be able to keep up with the mandatory Amendment 23 per pupil increases in later years. A small percentage of Colorado’s income tax (.33%) is deposited into the State Education Fund. However, the State Education Fund was raided in the post 9/11 budget crunch in order to support general operating expenses (see Amendment 23 FAQs).
Why do districts face budget cuts even though K-12 funding has been taking an increasing portion of the state budget?
As noted above, total state funding of K-12 funding will actually decrease in 2010-11. However, in past years, schools were facing budget cuts even though state K-12 funding was increasing and was taking an ever-increasing portion of the overall state budget. Here’s why:
- More students in the State. Some of the increase in state funding comes from increases in the student population. In 2008-09, an additional 15,804 children are attending Colorado schools than in 2007-08. While an increase in students results in more state dollars to a district, it also brings more costs.
- Fewer students in some districts. Much of the growth in the student population in Colorado is centered in a few districts. Many other districts—rural, urban and suburban alike—are experiencing declines in student enrollment. With each less student, the district loses in excess of $6,000, but the district’s costs don’t decline by that much. For example, a loss of five students will cost a district well over $30,000—the cost of a district teacher. That district may have to cut a teacher slot, even though the remaining kids still need that teacher just as much as they did the previous year.
- Backfilling falling local property tax revenues. Colorado schools are funded primarily by a combination of state funds and local property taxes. Because of the interplay of the TABOR and Gallagher constitutional amendments and the School Finance Act until 2007 (see related FAQs), the local share of funding has been falling steadily for about 25 years. In fact, for most of the last two decades, the local share of school finance declined automatically in two ways: mill levies were cut (until mill levy stabilization was passed in 2007) and the assessment rate (the percent of property value that is subject to property taxes) has decreased most years. As a result, each year, tens of millions of state dollars went toward replacing the support once provided by local property taxes, rather than increasing total school funding. Put another way, the state spent tens of millions more each year—not for improved schools, but for property tax relief. As a result, the relative share of local and state contributions to per pupil funding has been shifting dramatically over the past 25 years.
- As noted above, per pupil increases do not keep up with the costs incurred by districts. So, even though state expenditures are increasing, district costs (especially health care, transportation and energy) are increasing faster.
Referendum C
Did Referendum C fix Colorado school funding problems?
First and foremost, the passage of Referendum C prevented deep and irreparable cuts not just to public schools, but to colleges, public health programs, and other critical state services as well. What Referendum C did not do is address the underlying causes of Colorado’s inability to fund schools adequately. Referendum C did make possible some modest investments in public schools above and beyond the funding required by Amendment 23 (the citizen initiative passed in 2000 that requires minimum annual increases in per pupil spending). In 2007, for instance, the Legislature added some funding above the Amendment 23 minimum to expand early childhood education and increase reimbursement for special education costs.
Unfortunately, Referendum C did not address Colorado’s underlying constitutional budget knot formed by TABOR and Gallagher, nor did it expand Colorado’s revenue base. As a result, it served only as a fiscal band-aid, and Colorado now faces an even worse budget outlook than when Referendum C was passed in 2005.
Tabor / Gallagher
What is TABOR?
TABOR is the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, passed in 1992. TABOR prohibits any tax increase without a vote of the people. In addition, TABOR places strict limits on how much revenue the state can keep and how much it can spend. TABOR limits are the strictest revenue and spending limits in the nation. Any revenue collected in excess of TABOR’s revenue limits must be refunded to the taxpayers. [This provision of TABOR has been suspended at the state level for five years as a result of the passage of Referendum C.]
TABOR was popular because it forced legislators to come to the people when they wanted to raise taxes, but most voters were not aware of the strangling effect TABOR would have on basic government services. Those detrimental effects were felt in K-12 funding, when the strict limits prevented the State from providing per pupil increases that even kept up with inflation during the 1990s. As a response, Amendment 23 was passed by the voters in 2000, in order to make up some of the ground lost during those years.
The post-9/11 recession of 2001-2003 intensified the need to address the restrictions of TABOR. This economic downturn required deep cuts in already bare bones state services. Even worse, TABOR’s so-called “ratchet effect,”—which locked in TABOR’s revenue limits at their lowest point—prevented the state from restoring cut services when the economy improved. In response to this crisis, a bipartisan coalition referred to the ballot Referendum C—basically a five-year time out from the most harmful provisions of TABOR—and the voters of Colorado approved it in 2005. Had Referendum C not passed, the State would have been forced to make deep cuts at the same time it refunded hundreds of millions of dollars to taxpayers. During this five-year Referendum C “time out from TABOR,” the State is allowed to keep all the revenue it brings in from Colorado’s tax rates (among the lowest in the nation). After the five years, however, TABOR’s strictest-in-the-nation revenue limits will be put in place again. In addition, TABOR’s requirement that any tax increase be approved by the voters remains in place.
What is the Gallagher Amendment?
The Gallagher Amendment, passed in 1982, was designed to maintain a constant ratio between the property tax revenue that comes from residential property and from business property. To simplify a set of complex formulas, the effect of Gallagher was to reduce the assessment rate (the percent of property value that is subject to taxation) whenever statewide total residential property values increased faster than business property values. As a result of the Gallagher Amendment, the assessment rate for residential property has declined by more than two-thirds over the years because of Colorado’s population growth and because of increases in residential real estate values. The net effect has been a marked decline in revenues collected from property tax, which prior to Gallagher, provided the majority of school funding.
How do TABOR and Gallagher combined affect public schools?
Schools are funded by a combination of local (property) and state revenues. The Gallagher Amendment formula has limited local revenues by cutting the residential assessment rate by two-thirds since its passage in 1982. From 1982 until 1992 districts could make up for the lower assessment rate by increasing their mill rate. In addition, the state had the flexibility to increase state spending to make up for losses in the local property tax contribution. But with the passage of TABOR in 1992, a combination of budget formulas made it increasingly difficult to fund schools: TABOR’s revenue limits automatically cut mill rates in districts across Colorado at the same time TABOR limited the state’s ability to prop up school funding with state dollars. As a result, total per pupil funding didn’t even keep up with the Consumer Price Index during the 1990s – even though Colorado’s economy was booming. Note that the combination of Gallagher and TABOR has shifted the burden of school funding from local property taxes to the State General Fund. Thus, the State’s General Fund provides more than 60% of school funding whereas it used to be less than 40%. This explains the dramatic increase in the portion of the General Fund now spent on schools.
To learn more, read this blog post and view the presentation below titled “Four Things You Should Know About Colorado’s Fiscal Challenges” (Bell Policy Center, the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, and Colorado Strategies)
