Special to the HT
This month, school buses are back on the roads in House District 26, and thousands of Colorado kids are heading back into the classroom. As a former teacher and now chair of the House Education Committee, back-to-school season has always been important to me. It is a reminder of why I ran for office in the first place — to strengthen our schools and our investments in our students.
How We Got Here
In 2000, Colorado voters passed Amendment 23, which required the state to increase per-pupil funding every year and set minimum funding levels for public schools. That promise held for less than a decade. When the Great Recession disrupted our revenue streams, lawmakers created what was first called the negative factor, later renamed the budget stabilization factor, to legally withhold Amendment 23 money from schools.
It was meant to be a temporary stopgap. Instead, it lasted 15 years, diverting nearly $10 billion from Colorado classrooms between 2009 and 2024.
On top of that, the formula used to calculate school funding had not been substantially rewritten since 1994. It was built around district-level characteristics rather than the needs of individual students, which meant it often shortchanged the students who needed the most support, including English learners, students with disabilities and students from low-income families, as well as small and rural districts like those on the Western Slope.
Turning the Corner
In 2024, we fully eliminated the budget stabilization factor through the School Finance Act, ending a budget maneuver that had undercut schools for a decade and a half. That same year, we passed House Bill 24-1448, the first major rewrite of Colorado’s school funding formula in more than 30 years.
The new formula puts individual student needs, including at-risk status, English learner status and special education needs, at the center of the calculation. Importantly for the Western Slope, it adds new factors that direct more funding to small, rural and underserved districts. Our schools had waited far too long for a formula that reflects the challenges our communities face, and these changes were a marked step in the right direction.
Building Momentum
Eliminating the budget stabilization factor was an important milestone, but the work did not stop there. The 2025 School Finance Act provided $256.7 million more for Colorado’s public schools and began phasing in the new formula. It also created the Kids Matter Fund, a step toward protecting per-pupil funding in the long term. The 2024 act also created the first ongoing funding stream dedicated to rural school districts.
This year, I sponsored the 2026 School Finance Act, which directed another $180.79 million to public schools and increased per-pupil funding by $449 despite our state’s budget shortfall. We brought the statewide average to $12,325 per student.
Looking ahead, I was proud to sponsor Senate Bill 26-135, which created Proposition NN, a ballot question Colorado voters will decide this November. If approved, it would allow the state to retain a modest share of revenue above the TABOR cap and invest it directly in students, teacher pay, smaller class sizes, and career and technical education — all without raising taxes.
Investing in our future
As I watch kids head back into classrooms this month, I am reminded that investing in our students is one of the most important things we do at the Capitol. In just a few years, we have eliminated a funding mechanism that shortchanged Colorado students for a decade and a half, rebuilt the formula that determines their support from the ground up, and directed billions of new dollars into classrooms across the state.
There is still important work ahead. Colorado still ranks near the bottom nationally for teacher pay and retention, and many districts remain underfunded relative to what it actually costs to educate a child. But I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished so far, and I remain committed to finishing the job.
By MEGHAN LUKENS