Initiative 195 offers Colorado a chance to invest in students without forcing public schools to compete for an inadequate pool of funding
By Juan Ramirez, Jr., Superintendent, Crowley County School District RE-1-J
In rural Colorado, our schools are more than places where children attend class. They are the heart of our communities. They are often among the largest employers in town, a gathering place for families, and a source of opportunity for students who may live hours from resources that families in more populated areas can reach much more easily. When a rural school loses funding, the impact does not remain inside the schoolhouse. The entire community feels it. That is why I support Initiative 195, the Protect Colorado’s Future measure, and why the Crowley County RE- 1-J Board of Education adopted a resolution in June supporting the effort to place it on the November 2026 ballot.
Initiative 195 would replace Colorado’s flat income tax with a graduated system. It would lower rates on taxable income below $100,000, maintain the current rate between $100,000 and $500,000, and raise rates only on income above $500,000. The measure is projected to generate between $2 billion and $2.7 billion annually for public education, health care, and early childhood education. These are investments that strengthen children, families, and communities across our state.
Every Colorado school district could benefit from this new revenue, but the difference may be greatest in rural communities. Declining enrollment is affecting districts across Colorado. In a small rural district, however, the loss of even a few students can mean a significant loss of funding. Our costs do not decline at the same pace.
We must still operate buses across long distances, heat and maintain aging buildings, provide required services, keep students safe, offer academic and extracurricular opportunities, and employ qualified teachers. There is no smaller version of a school counselor, science teacher, special education program, or safe transportation system that can simply be purchased when enrollment falls.
Rural districts also begin with more limited access to many resources and supports. We have fewer applicants for specialized positions, less access to mental health providers, limited local tax capacity, and greater distances from colleges, training programs, and community partners. If declining enrollment continues to reduce financial resources without a new, sustainable source of state investment, Colorado will deepen—not close—the equity gaps that already separate students’ access to a high-quality education.
For Crowley County RE-1-J, the most recent estimate provided by Great Education Colorado projects approximately $304,962 in added revenue in the first school year, or about $822 per student. That estimate assumes that 35% of the initiative’s new revenue would be allocated through the School Finance Act, so the final amount would depend on decisions by the General Assembly. Even with that important qualification, the estimate shows what meaningful new investment could look like in a district our size.
Those dollars would help us protect the people and programs that serve our students. They could help cover salary costs so that rural districts can retain strong teachers instead of losing them to larger districts that can offer higher compensation. Just as importantly, they could reduce the likelihood that small districts must eliminate positions—not because the staff members or services are no longer needed, but because the money is no longer there. In a rural school, one eliminated position often means losing multiple services because employees routinely carry more than one responsibility.
Additional funding would also help us strengthen career and technical education. Colorado’s new “Big Three” framework calls for students to graduate with meaningful postsecondary and workforce preparation: 12 college credits, an industry-recognized credential, and a work-based learning experience. I strongly support those goals. Rural students deserve the same access to college credit, credentials, modern equipment, skilled instructors, and work-based learning as students anywhere else in Colorado. But expectations must be matched with resources. Initiative 195 could help districts like ours sustain and expand CTE pathways that
connect students to good careers, further education, and the future of their own communities.
For too long, Colorado has asked public schools to compete against one another for an inadequate pool of dollars. Rural districts compete with larger districts for teachers. Districts compete for limited grants to meet needs that are neither temporary nor optional. Communities are asked repeatedly to determine which essential service can be delayed and which student opportunity can be reduced. That is not a sustainable education system, and it is not an equitable one.
This should not be framed as rural schools versus urban or suburban schools. Students in every part of Colorado benefit when the state invests adequately and consistently in public education. Our shared goal should be to expand opportunity, not redistribute scarcity. A child’s access to an excellent teacher, a safe school, advanced coursework, career training, or needed support should not depend on the size of the district or the ZIP code in which that child lives.
I have devoted my career to rural public schools because I know what they make possible. I have watched educators take on extraordinary responsibilities, communities rally around their children, and students succeed despite limited resources. Rural schools are innovative, resilient, and deeply connected to the people they serve. But resilience cannot become the state’s funding strategy. We cannot continue asking rural educators and communities to fill every financial gap through sacrifice alone.
The Crowley County RE-1-J Board of Education took a public stand in June because our members understand
what is at stake. We stand with Great Education Colorado and the Protect Colorado’s Future coalition in supporting the effort to qualify Initiative 195 for the November 2026 ballot. We want Colorado voters to have the opportunity to consider a sustainable investment in public schools, health care, and early childhood education.
Initiative 195 represents a chance for Colorado to decide that every community matters and that every student
deserves genuine opportunity. For rural schools, this is not simply a discussion about a tax structure. It is about whether we will have the teachers, programs, and resources necessary to keep the promise of public