by Colleen Enos
Friday, January 16th, Day Three of the legislative session, began in a manner that seemed to promote general agreement in the Colorado House of Representatives. Since the upcoming Monday, January 19th, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a legal state holiday, the House began with a resolution recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Things went south when Representative Naquetta Ricks compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to the German Gestapo of Adolf Hitler. This was a shocking statement to make in the middle of recognizing the civil rights efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Representatives DeGraff and Bottoms brought some much-needed perspective to the conversation, in addition to Representative Bacon and Senator Coleman stressing themes of unity.
The Joint Education Committee SMART Act (State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent Government) hearing was held after the session adjourned for the day. The presentation brought out the points that education is the second largest budget item for Colorado, public school enrollment is decreasing, the birth rate is declining, and Colorado public education needs much, much more money.
Specifically, after a committee member asked how much funding it would take to be “fully funded,” a panelist replied that it would take an increase of 30–70% to consider Colorado public education “fully funded.” They preferred the old method of determining funding rather than the new method that Colorado has begun adopting, since they believe it would provide more money. The new method uses averaging of actual student counts over 2-4 years.
Responding to the comments regarding funding, Senator Cathy Kipp stated that “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things in this state.” She also rebutted the idea that marijuana money takes care of education needs by opining that all the “marijuana money in Colorado isn’t a drop in the bucket” for Colorado education. Senator Kipp clearly agrees that education is underfunded in our state and disagrees with Governor Polis’ statement that Colorado has achieved “getting rid of the Budget Stabilization Factor and fully funding our schools” (Page 43 of the House Journal).
Listen to the SMART Act Hearings from January 15th and January 16th for yourself. According to the current student numbers, Colorado is declining in enrollment, not increasing.
Between both legislative chambers on the first day of the session, 94 bills have been introduced. The Second Regular Session of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly promises to be one that is marked again by a lack of funds. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) stated in their presentation to the Joint Education Committee on Thursday, January 15th, that the shortfall was approximately one billion dollars. Consequently, legislators will be grappling with budget cuts again, instead of focusing on “fully funding” Colorado public education.
Legislators and the Colorado Governor should follow the common sense of the average Coloradan. The most prudent action, as any family knows, is to spend what you actually have wisely.
What you can do:
Call and email your state representative and state senator:
- Ask them to make wise budgeting decisions.
- Ask them to support homeschool families
In Him,
Colleen Enos
CHEC Director of Government Relations
Colleen@CHEC.org
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