- Thanks to improving state revenues, the 2012 legislature stabilized K-12 school funding for 2012-13. Many districts, faced with escalating costs of pensions, utilities and other items, still are making cuts. See what the 2012 School Finance Act means for your district’s per-pupil funding.
Tough times: Consecutive cuts drop per-pupil funding to lowest since 2006
Colorado spends the single biggest chunk of its state operating budget on K-12 education but state lawmakers, responding to the nation’s economic ills, have chopped school spending for two consecutive years.
The result – School districts have slashed hundreds of jobs, closed and consolidated schools, and raised student fees in attempts to bridge the gaps between growing expenses and shrinking revenues.
For 2010-11, total program funding for K-12 education was cut 2.6 percent, dropping the state’s average per-pupil funding from $7,078 to $6,813.
For 2011-12, total program funding was cut another 4.2 percent, dropping the average per-pupil funding another $345 to $6,468. That’s the lowest state average since 2006-07.
Meanwhile, enrollment in Colorado schools continues to grow and is projected this year to surpass 800,000 students.
Efforts to improve the state’s education funding continue. Voters soundly defeated a statewide ballot measure Nov. 1, 2011, that would have increased state taxes to generate $3 billion for schools over five years. But on Dec. 9, 2011, a Denver judge found the state’s system of funding schools violates the Colorado constitution, a ruling that could mean billions more for classrooms. The governor is among those appealing the decision. (More on those efforts.)
Figuring out Colorado school finance
For 2011-12, state lawmakers appropriated $3.3 billion in tax dollars for K-12 schools – or 40 percent of the state’s $7 billion operating budget.
But that’s only the state share of K-12 funding. The local share – in the form of local property taxes and vehicle registration taxes – adds another $1.9 billion for a total appropriation of $5.2 billion this school year.
That’s down from $5.4 billion in 2010-11 and from $5.6 billion in 2009-10.
Colorado’s school finance formula creates a single base per-pupil funding amount for every school district – $5,635 in 2011-12. The formula then increases the base for each district based on factors such as cost-of-living, size of district and numbers of students in poverty.
Per-pupil allocations range this year from $6,129 for the Julesburg School District in northeastern Colorado, with an expected 2,100 students, to $14,232 for the 92 students projected in the nearby Pawnee District in Weld County. The average is $6,468.
In 2000, the state’s voters approved Amendment 23, which required legislators to increase education funding by the amount by the rate of inflation plus 1 percent through 2010- 11. Starting this year, the “plus 1 percent” requirement is dropped.
Former Gov. Bill Ritter and many state lawmakers substantially narrowed the interpretation of Amendment 23 in recent years as the state’s economic woes worsened. They say it applies only to base per-pupil funding and not the other factors, allowing them to spend less on schools.
Current Gov. John Hickenlooper also appears to embrace that definition.
Other funding sources include federal grants, local tax increases
In Colorado, total program funding – the combination of state and local shares – is the basic building block for district budgets. It’s used to pay staff, operate buildings and cover daily operations.
But many districts also tap other revenue sources, from federal funds to offset the costs of educating poor children to state dollars for specific needs such as transportation to local tax increases for building schools or boosting instructional programs.
Consider that in 2009-10, the most recent data available, Colorado school districts reported total revenues from all sources of $9.46 billion and the statewide average per-pupil was $11,983.
That compares to total program funding that year of $5.6 billion and a state average per-pupil – of total program funding alone – was $7,078.
How much individual districts receive from those other sources varies widely.
For example, in 2009-10, Denver Public Schools received total revenues of $17,098 per student from all sources while Douglas County, its southern neighbor, received total revenues of $10,725.
The districts are not dissimilar in size – DPS is the state’s second-largest, with 72,000 students that year, while Douglas County is the state’s third-largest, enrolling 56,000 students. But their demographics differ greatly.
DPS, with a poverty rate of 72 percent, received federal grants equating to $1,811 per student. Douglas County, with a poverty rate of 8 percent, received federal funding equal to $274 per student.
DPS also received $3,800 per student in bond sale proceeds and $1,056 per student for an operating tax increase. Douglas County had zero per student in bond sale proceeds and $582 per student for an operating tax increase.
Some notes on funding for colleges and universities
Colorado colleges and universities receive only about a quarter of their funding from the state. The majority now comes from tuition, fees, federal funding and grants.
For 2011-12, higher ed system leaders requested $555 million in state funding. Gov. John Hickenlooper recommended $519 million and that’s the amount approved by state lawmakers.
That amount is $125 million below current-year funding and $187 million less than the most recent high – $706 million in 2009-10.
Total higher ed spending of $2.2 billion in 2011-12 will be down modestly from the current level.
Interactive Charts & Resources
EdNews coverage of efforts to increase state education funding – voters say no, a judge says yes
- Lobato vs State funding lawsuit – A Denver District Court judge on Dec. 9, 2011 ruled in favor of plaintiffs who claimed Colorado’s spending formula for K-12 schools does not meet constitutional requirements for a “thorough and uniform” school system. Gov. John Hickenlooper and the State Board of Education, by a 4-3 vote, are appealing the ruling. Latest Lobato stories.
- Proposition 103 – Colorado voters on Nov. 1, 2011 soundly defeated the only statewide tax ballot measure, which would have increased state income and sales tax rates for five years to raise about $3 billion for education. Proposition 103 stories.
Resources on Colorado school finance
- School Finance in Colorado – A 27-page report from the bipartisan Legislative Council staff explains the state’s school funding formula, complete with charts. Released April 2012.
- Understanding Colorado School Finance – A 17-page booklet from the Colorado Department of Education, updated July 2011, explains in detail how the state funds its schools.
- Joint Budget Committee Appropriations Report 2011-12 – A huge PDF but its section on education, starting on page 77, offers surprisingly clear explanations of recent trends in school funding in Colorado, with graphs and charts.
- Colorado Department of Education Public School Finance homepage – This link takes you to an index of finance data from the CDE, including these spreadsheets showing district-by-district school finance formula data for the past ten years.
