by Colleen Enos, CHEC Director of Government Relations

With Christmas right around the corner, we are all shopping in earnest. This flurry of activity makes us focus on our budget and how much we can spend on all that Christmas cheer. We are carefully counting our pennies, while the State of Colorado’s Budget continues to spend more each year. Governor Polis’ budget request for 2026 is over $50 billion.

Education spending is no exception. Colorado’s per-pupil spending is $18,130, an increase of 7.4% since 2020, according to the Reason Foundation. As enrollment in public schools continues to decline, funding is going in the opposite direction. Coloradans are asking, “Where is all the money going?” Staffing levels are up, even with a 4.6% drop in public school enrollment, one of the worst in the nation. However, the additional hires consist of non-teaching staff, and more funds are being spent on pensions and employee benefits than ever before. The result of the extra spending is not encouraging. We are receiving less bang for our buck as student outcomes continue to worsen.

It is no shock, then, that homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education nationwide. Over four million students were homeschooled in the United States, according to the Census Bureau and the National Home Education Research Institute. That represents almost 8% of the school-aged population. Safety, religious instruction, and a tailored educational experience are some of the reasons parents are choosing homeschooling.  Clearly, “the future is homeschooled” is a growing reality.

All of the changes in the educational landscape make Governor Polis’ decision to opt Colorado into the federal tax-credit scholarship program outlined in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill welcome. We don’t know yet how the rules for the program will be written, since the Treasury Department has recently posted a request for comments on the implementation of the new program. There is the potential for homeschool families to benefit from these privately donated funds, but until the program is fleshed out, that will remain unclear.

It would be nice if Colorado followed federal tax law like other states do, given that Colorado’s 529 investment program is one of the few states that does not allow K-12 expenses to be eligible for reimbursement. Therefore, the expansion of the 529 investment program in the One Big Beautiful Bill will not help Colorado homeschool families at all, which is extremely disappointing to discover. Only time will tell if homeschool families in our state will benefit from the tax-credit scholarship program in the future or will be overlooked.

As we head into the 2026 legislative session, which begins on January 14, we will be watching for the state of Colorado to rein in its spending and hopefully, behave more responsibly. CHEC will continue to be a presence at the state capitol, advocating for your parental and homeschool rights.  

What you can do:

 Call and email your state representative and state senator, and:

• Tell them you are praying for them in the new session
• Ask them to support homeschool families

In Him,
Colleen Enos
CHEC Director of Government Relations
Colleen@CHEC.org