Colorado Gov. Jared Polis backs off plan to change how students are counted after backlash from school leaders

CBS News

04-03-2025

K-12 schools in Colorado will lose $50 million instead of $150 million under a new deal reached by Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie and Gov. Jared Polis.
The deal comes after backlash from many school leaders over the governor's budget request, which changed how students are counted.
School districts are funding on a per-pupil basis. While most states look at a school's current enrollment to determine its per-pupil allotment, Colorado looks at schools' average enrollment over several years.
Less than a year after striking a deal with school districts to overhaul the School Finance Formula while gradually changing how students are counted, Polis released a budget that called for ending rolling averages abruptly and instead basing funding on current enrollment, which for most districts is declining.
Speaker Julie McCluskie says a billion-dollar budget shortfall changed everything.
"I want to fully implement everything that we made a commitment to last year. We are in a different budget reality," she said.
The state is facing a budget shortfall of $1.2 billion. State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer -- who sits on the Joint Budget Committee -- fought for an amendment to the new School Finance Act last year that called for pausing the original deal if there wasn't enough money. She says that is what needs to happen.
"How do we take this seriously? This new school finance formula was just done in the last session and here we are six months later and they're reneging on deals that were cut. They're cutting education funding which we said we weren't going to do," Kirkmeyer said.
Scott Smith, the Chief Financial Officer for Cherry Creek Schools, says his district would lose $17 million next school year.
"We have 65 schools and I'm projected to lose 250 students next year. So that's basically four kids per school. Where do I save that money?" Smith said. "There's no school to close. There's no teacher to lay off."
Smith says small rural districts would be hit hardest.
"I don't think you achieve more equity in this state by cutting some of our most impoverished districts the most," he said.
He says lawmakers and the governor talk a big game when it comes to school funding, but they don't walk the talk.
"Why should we trust that any deal we reach now will be honored in the future?" Smith said.
McCluskie worked with the governor's Budget Director Mark Ferrandino on a new budget proposal that keeps enrollment averaging for three more years and implements only 10% of the new School Finance Act. In exchange, BEST grants for school construction would be capped and there would be no state match for mill levy overrides.
"We've heard from our districts. We're responding. We are fighting to keep that averaging in for the moment," said McCluskie.
The deal still needs backing from the legislature. Meanwhile, school districts are right now making decisions about staffing and pay for next school year.