Latest news with #McCluskie
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School Finance Act passes Colorado House despite state budget constraints
DENVER (KDVR) — The bill detailing the state's plan to fund public schools cleared the Colorado House of Representatives Thursday. Teachers and lawmakers alike are happy that education cuts did not happen during a tight budget. Rep. Evans speaks on first 100 days in office as constituents push for more access 'I want our teachers to know that we heard them. That we are not cutting public education and instead we are driving more dollars to them, in the classroom, making sure they have the resources, the staffing, the curriculum, the technology; everything they need to help kids learn,' said Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie. She is relieved that students in Colorado are set to see more funding next school year than they did this year. 'The legislature has really come through, and now we are at a situation where every district will get at least the same amount of funding they did last year. And many will get a little bit more. That is a much better position to be in than where we first started,' said Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association. The work started with a new school finance formula that was passed last year and will now be implemented over seven years rather than six. Districts are set to see an increase of nearly $257 million, with more than $10 billion total to fund education once the session ends. The funding amounts to over $410 more per pupil, bringing the state's average to $11,863 in per pupil spending every year. The act's passage comes after lawmakers reached a compromise on the way student enrollment averages are counted in the state. The governor had originally proposed using one-year averages for student enrollment counts in each district, sparking a huge teacher rally at the Capitol earlier this year. 'The averaging tool in our formula has just been a way to help stabilize funding for districts. The governor had proposed eliminating that tool and it would have impacted our districts by about $147 million. We have kept averaging in the bill for next year,' McCluskie said. Northern Colorado manufacturers meet with Polis to discuss Trump tariffs While lawmakers kept the four-year enrollment averaging in place, it could change to a three-year averaging mechanism if the state is in better fiscal shape. With state budget leaders already warning that bigger cuts are likely to come next year, teachers said the state needs to find a better way to fund education. 'I continually refer to our current situation as the Hunger Games. We pit really need things that citizens want deserve to have here in this state against each other,' said Vick. 'I think TABOR [Taxpayer Bill of Rights] is one of the things we need to take a look at in terms of how it is artificially restricting our ability to even grow out of negative balance situations.' Speaker McCluskie also said it is time for the state to have a conversation about TABOR. While $10 billion sounds like a lot, teachers and lawmakers alike said the state could do better. Colorado is still down about $7,000 a year in per-pupil funding compared to the national average of $18, 614 according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The bill now heads to the Senate to go through the legislative process in that chamber. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
10-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
State lawmakers prepare a war chest for Colorado to battle the federal government
After a flood of executive orders, mass firings, funding freezes and trade war -- all in less than three months -- some state lawmakers are setting up a contingency fund in preparation for the next round of whirlwind changes from the Trump administration. A newly introduced bill would create a $4 million fund in the governor's office to fight "adverse federal action". Ironically, the money to fight the feds is coming from federal dollars the state received from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. "We are moving fast to make sure we are prepared," Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie (D-Col) told CBS Colorado. She's sponsoring the bill with state Congresswoman Shannon Bird (D-Col). While it's in response to actions already taken by the Trump administration, McCluskie says it isn't about party politics but federal overreach. "All of us should be all in in protecting money Coloradans sent to the federal government and we now want back for the programming that's so important," McCluskie said. Federal dollars made up nearly 40% of Colorado's budget last year that included funding for education, transportation and health care. The Trump administration froze more a half billion dollars to the state in January. While court rulings restored much of the funding, Gov. Jared Polis's office says $69.5 million in federal public safety grants remain frozen. McCluskie worries the administration will try to claw back or block more federal dollars allocated for Colorado. "This is the way that we protect Coloradans' money -- dollars that have gone to feds that should be coming back to us through these important programs," McCluskie said. "Safety net, education environmental programming, we want these dollars back here to protect the state we love and the people that need these funds." Colorado is among the states that pays more in federal taxes than we receive in federal funding. The bill allows the governor to use the $4 million for congressional inquiries and hearings, investigations and lawsuits, legal counsel and contractors, and other expenditures that lawmakers say preserve and protect state sovereignty. "I was asked by one member why haven't we had this fund before, and should we have it ongoing? Maybe we should," McCluskie said. "This isn't about being Republican or Democrat. This is a vote for Colorado." McCluskie says the money will also help defend state employees who may be sued for enforcing state laws or policies that conflict with federal laws and policies. A statement released by the office of Gov. Jared Polis said, "The Trump administration is trying to claw back and withhold funding it legally owes and was directed by Congress to provide to Colorado. This includes bipartisan funding for health care access and public safety. The state is working to safeguard Colorado from adverse federal actions that are being taken every day, and the legal and policy environment remains very fluid. We have seen a significant increase in workload to support Colorado's efforts to safeguard funds and the state's rights, including administrative and legal needs. We believe that to properly defend the free state of Colorado from unlawful and adverse actions taken against the state, protect Coloradans and state employees, and generally prepare for the uncertain federal environment ahead, it's critical to ensure we have adequate resources to meet the moment."
Fox News
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
‘A birth is more expensive than an abortion': CO Dems argue fiscal virtues of liberal health care bill
The speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives argued in a recent committee hearing on a new "pregnancy-related services" bill that "averted births" could lead to cost savings for the state and its Medicaid program. Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, seated as a bill-sponsor witness during a Health and Human Services Committee hearing in Denver last week, was pressed on her argument that the bill would "decrease costs for our health care policy and financing department [and] Medicaid expenditures." "[T]he savings from averted births outweigh the cost of covering reproductive health care for all Coloradans," McCluskie said, adding the bill will require abortions to be state-funded so as to avoid "potential interference" from the feds. McCluskie claimed the bill is a response to voters approving a 2024 ballot referendum that repealed a state constitutional amendment banning public funds for abortion procedures and instead recognized the operation as a right. Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Lone Tree, questioned McCluskie's cost argument from a pro-life perspective, and lamented the fact Colorado allows abortion up until the day of delivery. Bradley countered that McCluskie's cost-centric position ignores the high price of third-trimester abortions, which she calculated to be as much as $25,000, and asked General Assembly nonpartisan fiscal analyst Bill Zepernick to weigh-in on official figures. "So help me understand: From a fiscal point of view, you say there's a decrease of $1.7 million from federal funds — but if there are no federal funds, you would say there's no money coming from federal funds," Bradley asked McCluskie. "Can you walk me through why it just says a decrease, and not that there's zero money coming from federal funds, because if there is, the Hyde Amendment covers that," she said, referring to the practice of adding such a rider to health care appropriations bills since the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., first did in 1976 to prohibit abortion funding via federal dollars. McCluskie responded that the savings she referenced comes from "averted births that will not occur because abortions happened instead." "So, a birth is more expensive than an abortion," she said. "So, the savings comes in Medicaid births that will not occur — since both federal and state general funds are used through Medicaid for other health care services." Meanwhile, Bradley pressed McCluskie on the mental health and substance abuse complications some women who undergo abortions may develop. Bill co-sponsor Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Westminster, chimed in, calling Bradley's concern one that "assumes misinformation" and instead claimed women denied abortions are at risk of suffering longer-term mental health complications. Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Cimarron Hills, rejected Garcia's claim. "You know that that definitely isn't misinformation," he said. "CDC and NIH both — I stated these statistics three weeks ago, but they were ignored. Those statistics are wrong. Suicide goes up drastically, specifically second and third trimester. As I mentioned, if they have an abortion, as mental health issues goes up quite a bit." A pro-life obstetrician later told the committee it seemed proponents of the bill "are saying that if more babies die by abortion it will be cheaper for the state." Fox News Digital reached out to McCluskie, Bradley and House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, R-Colorado Springs, for comment. The full audio was posted in a legislative hearing depository.
