When it comes to school funding at the Capitol this year, the watch words – or the words to watch out for – are “fully funded.”
Maybe you saw the Chalkbeat headline: “Gov. Jared Polis promises to fully fund Colorado schools within four years.”
While it’s a positive development that the governor is committed to ending the “Budget Stabilization (BS) Factor,” (which has been used since 2009 to balance the budget by cutting schools), meeting that goal should never be confused with “fully funding Colorado schools.”
Consider:
- Our schools have lost $10 billion in funding over the past 13 years as a result of the BS Factor;
- Colorado is 50th in teacher wage competitiveness;
- Eliminating the BS Factor will add a welcome but modest 3.4% to school budgets and return Colorado to 1989 inflation-adjusted per pupil spending.
When Colorado schools are losing teachers to better-paying states and school staff to better-paying jobs in the service industry, our students need us to do more than “stop cutting”.
Watch our newsletters and social media for easy ways to help us make sure our leaders understand that “full funding” is more than an absence of cuts. It means providing every student with the programs, curriculum, support and teachers they need to thrive. Find out more at February’s Advocates Network meeting!