Over the last several years, Colorado has emerged as a national leader in crafting innovative solutions to challenges facing its public schools and looking at new ways to provide a high-quality education to all of its students. But Colorado’s mechanism for financing its public schools, the School Finance Act (SFA), saw its last major overhaul nearly 20 years ago. From a practical perspective, this means that Colorado is still funding its schools according to formulas that were implemented before state education reform policies, No Child Left Behind, and even prior to when CSAPs became part of the state’s approach to assessing students. From a historical perspective, school financing systems are usually updated every decade, both in Colorado and across the country.
Constitutional provisions and changes in education strategies and priorities leave Colorado with a school funding mechanism that is outdated, inadequate, unequal, and unrelated to student achievement. Now is the time for Colorado to find an equitable, innovative, bi‐partisan solution to funding its schools that is aligned with goals for student achievement and, ultimately, is viable for statewide support.
Colorado School Finance Partnership: Report and RecommendationsMore Information
For more information about Colorado’s work to address school finance, please contact the Children’s Campaign’s Vice President of Education Initiatives, Leslie Colwell, at (303) 620-4534 or leslie@coloradokids.org
For media inquiries related to the School Finance Partnership, please contact the Children’s Campaign’s Communications Director, Tara Manthey, at (303) 620-4544 or tara@coloradokids.org.