FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2022
CONTACTS:
Tracie Rainey, CO School Finance Project
Raineytracie@gmail.com 303-941-1633
Krista Spurgin, Stand for Children CO
KSpurgin@stand.org 303-888-8824
Lisa Weil, Great Education Colorado
lisa@greateducation.org 720-217-6239
Great Schools Thriving Communities Coalition Files Measures to Help Districts Attract, Retain and Compensate Teachers, Without Raising Taxes
Citizens’ initiatives would give Colorado voters the opportunity to unlock current state revenues that cannot be used for public education without their permission
DENVER – Calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity,” representatives of the Great Schools Thriving Communities coalition today filed four ballot initiatives that would direct significant, sustainable resources to Colorado schools without raising taxes. Under the proposed measures, local districts would be able to use these newly available funds to address chronic shortages in teachers and student support professionals that have only worsened as a result of the COVID pandemic.
“Right now, because of the combination of a hot economy and formulas in the Colorado constitution, the state is collecting almost $2 billion more than the legislature is allowed to spend on underfunded services like public education this year,” explained D.J. Anderson, a Poudre School District parent and school board member and one of the initiative’s two proponents “Only we the voters can unlock those funds so that teachers can afford to live where they teach.”