The Colorado Children’s Campaign is the leading voice for kids at the state capitol. We envision a Colorado where all children thrive and for 40 years have utilized data, research, and relationships to unapologetically advocate with policymakers across the political spectrum to break down barriers and improve the lives of kids in Colorado.
Our commitment to kids and families includes:
- Leading child-focused advocacy and public policy change.
- Cultivating effective relationships to raise public and political will.
- Analyzing and sharing high-quality, credible research and data.
- Strengthening and expanding the advocacy ecosystem.
Priorities
Health
Address the Medicaid Unwind: Prioritize county funding for systems and application upgrades to prevent eligible children and families from losing Medicaid coverage as pandemic-era protections expire.
Implement and Protect Recent Expansions and Existing Health Programs: Safeguard recent health coverage expansions and ensure successful implementation, including Cover All Coloradans for undocumented kids and pregnant people, to secure families’ access to essential healthcare services. Ensure sustained funding for Colorado’s health programs including Reinsurance and OmniSalud to maintain consistent access to healthcare and prevent coverage gaps for children and families.
Budget Priority: Cover All Coloradans-Insurance for Undocumented Kids As of January 1, 2025, more than 10,000 children and pregnant adults have gained access to comprehensive public health insurance regardless of immigration status. Halting, capping, or modifying this coverage would worsen issues of uncompensated care for health providers and risk increasing the number of uninsured children, resulting in a new version of the Medicaid “unwind,” this time affecting undocumented kids and families.
Budget Priority: Continuous Insurance Coverage for Babies & Toddlers The upcoming implementation of continuous Medicaid and CHP+ eligibility for children under age 3 is critical to ensuring children don’t lose health insurance during these crucial years of brain development. These are vital programs, providing essential health coverage for over 40% of Colorado’s children. This policy not only safeguards children’s access to care – it creates efficiencies for families and the state while maintaining a valuable federal funding match.
Budget Priority: Children’s Health Plan (CHP+) CHP+ ensures coverage for over 90,000 children and pregnant/postpartum individuals, serving families who earn too much for Medicaid but still face financial hardship. With its favorable federal match rate, reducing or eliminating CHP+ would leave many children uninsured and strain other state resources.
K-12 Education
Implement the New School Funding Formula: Lawmakers passed a new K-12 funding formula in 2024 (HB24-1448). Now, legislators must act to “turn on” the new formula and prioritize funds for underserved students, including those from low-income families, students with special needs, English language learners, and rural schools.
Budget Priority: New Public School Finance Formula The new school funding formula established by HB24-1448 is a powerful tool for equitably enhancing education funding. Once fully implemented, the formula will allocate an additional $500 million to schools each year, with the greatest benefits directed to those serving higher numbers of students living in poverty, English learners, and students with unique learning needs. Using the new formula to fund schools by the 2025-26 school year is imperative.
Budget Priority: Fairly Funding Students in Public Charter Schools Achieving equity in public education includes providing students attending state-authorized charter schools with the same per-pupil funding as all other Colorado students. In 2023, the state committed to fully funding these students, and it is essential to uphold this promise.
Budget Priority: Creative Solutions to Grant Funding The state’s $80 million investment in grant programs for schools has inadvertently created funding disparities. Schools with dedicated grant-writing staff are better positioned to access these funds, leaving others behind. The state must explore solutions so that all schools benefit from these grants.
Accurately Measure and Support Student Needs: Strengthen data collection on student demographics, particularly for students living in poverty, to ensure resources are accurately directed to meet students’ needs and close gaps in funding, particularly for Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA).
Enhance Positive School Climates: Utilize new school climate data to create safe, inclusive, and supportive environments, reducing suspensions and absenteeism, boosting academic outcomes, and fostering positive connections in every Colorado school. Require that restraint and seclusion data be reported for parents and policymakers.
Early Childhood
Ensure Success and Accountability for UPK and CDEC: Strengthen the Universal Preschool Program (UPK) and Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) by ensuring early childhood data systems are comprehensive, regularly updated, and provide a complete overview of programs, provider demographics, and child outcomes. Ensure the UPK and CDEC third-party evaluations fully assess their effectiveness, successes, and challenges and include actionable steps that will frame future priorities.
Budget Priority: Universal Preschool (UPK) The Governor's proposed increase for the Universal Preschool Program is a critical investment in maintaining and expanding access to preschool. This funding addresses enrollment growth and inflationary requirements. It includes one-time support for Local Coordinating Organizations (LCOs) to develop community plans and quality standards. It also funds a provider rate increase to sustain a strong and stable provider network, meeting the growing demand for preschool. The proposed funding increase for UPK should remain a priority, and upcoming statutorily required third-party evaluations should be leveraged to refine and enhance the program rather than to roll back services.
Support Child Care Providers: Sustain recent child care investments and workforce tax credits to help ensure competitive wages and benefits, reduce turnover, and enhance the stability and quality of child care for families across the state.
Improve the Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP): Ensure access to affordable child care through CCCAP which eases financial burdens on families and supports parents in the workforce. Recent federal rules will greatly affect CCCAP, leading to fewer families served without additional investments and policy change.
Budget Priority: Child Care Assistance (CCCAP) The proposed increase for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) will support low-income working families’ continued access to affordable child care. CCCAP enables thousands of low-income families to benefit from child care, allowing parents to maintain employment or pursue education. This funding will help counties manage the rising costs of new, unfunded federal requirements, which are projected to significantly reduce the number of families served. Prioritizing funding for child care assistance is crucial and should not be seen as competing with resources for Universal Preschool; both programs are vital to supporting children and working families.
Family Economic Prosperity
Measure the Impact of the TANF Program: Better collect data in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)program to assess the impact of recent policy changes and maximize spending to decrease extreme child poverty. Set Colorado up for success in anticipation of upcoming federal rule changes which will impact TANF eligibility and services.
Budget Priority: Cash Assistance for Families in Deep Poverty More than 45,000 children experiencing extreme poverty benefit from TANF cash assistance. Before considering reductions, a comprehensive evaluation of program costs and outcomes is essential to avoid further hardship for families earning less than $14,000 annually.
Budget Priority: Full Child Support Pass-Through This innovative policy allows approximately 3,000 families in the TANF program to retain their child support payments rather than redirecting them to the state. Preserving this policy will help families achieve financial stability, and any reductions would directly impact low-income families.
Support Young Children and Students Facing Eviction and Homelessness: Utilize recently reported data to improve eviction prevention efforts and supports for young children and students to reduce housing instability and improve educational and health outcomes.
Budget Priority: Eviction Legal Defense Fund Over 16,000 low-income renters have received legal support through this fund, often preventing evictions that lead to homelessness. Families with children are most likely to be evicted, and these legal services help stop evictions and save both renters and taxpayers money. Exploring creative solutions and other funding sources for these services will help families stay housed.