The Principles of School Finance: What is a School Finance System? For more information on School Finance, go to our School Finance 101 tab.
April 2013:
SB13-213 (Changes to the School Finance Act for 2014-15 and beyond, pending passage of a ballot measure for increased funding).
- SB13-213 Rerevised - final April 29, 2013
- Colorado Legislative Council Information - as of April 25, 2013
- CDE School Finance Information 2013-14 Adoped by Senate on April 2. (CDE>Offices>School Finance>Public School Finance funding & Payment Information>Fiscal Year 2013-14 School Finance Funding).
Proposed Initiatives for Funding Public Schools:
CSFP: 2013 Proposed Initiatives for Funding Public Schools DRAFT overview as of April 30, 2013
2013-14 Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results - Title Board - Secretary of State's Office
SB13-260 Rerevised:
Sequestration Impacts on District/BOCES 2013-14 Budgets: The Colorado School Finance Project (CSFP) is collecting information from districts and BOCES about the effects of sequestration on their 2013-14 budgets: DRAFT 2013 Sequestration Impact Survey, as of April 23, 2013. Note this is a working document/draft, we will update the information in the coming weeks.
Recent presentation materials:
- 2013 Ballot Initiatives/Proposal side by side comparison of education initiatives - The Bell Policy Center. Suggest printing on legal size paper for best results.
- Handouts from The Colorado Fiscal Institute:
March 2013:
The proposed legislation around school finance (SB13-213) and the proposed district data financial runs are available. The proposed school finance will move quickly over that next few weeks so stay tuned in.
- SB13-213 (as introduced March 8, 2013)
- CDE: SB13-213 School Funding Models Legislative Council Table (Runs) - (CDE>Offices>School Finance>Public School Finance Funding & Payment Information>Fiscal Year 2013-14 School Finance Funding). Note that SB13-213 data models are for 2014-15, pending passage of a ballot measure in 2013.
The oral arguments to the Supreme Court for the Lobato v. State of Colorado case on Thursday, March 7th, at 9:30 AM. Refer to The Lobato Case for more information.
February 2013:
The CSFP created a booklet of CSFP information to present to the House and Senate Education Committees on February 13, 2013. The booklet contains information compiled by CSFP including: history of School Finance, who/where are Colorado's students? Principles of a School Finance System, New Reforms in the Past 5 Years, Where to Begin When Changing a School Finance Formula (Legislative Role), Resource Needs, an Update on the Costing Out Model and a variety of other summary documents. Booklets from past years are available on the School Finance 101 tab or click here to go directly to the Booklet section.
A Costing Out Study works to understand the resources necessary for students/teachers/schools/districts/states to meet education standards and requirements. Studies have been done in over 20 states and they have been commissioned by Governors, Legislatures, Departments of Education and advocacy groups.
- Background information on Costing Out Studies
- Why Change the School Finance Act? Addressing questions such as: Is there a problem? What is the problem? Addressing the problem.
- Quick Facts: Costing Out Analysis for School Finance: Why do a Costing Out Study? What methods are used to cost out a school finance system?
- 2013 Costing Out Study Update report by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates
- An explanation of a Costing Out Study and the Update to the Colorado Costing Out work (pdf of powerpoint)
- This is the fourth update to the original 2003 Costing Out Study. Costing Out information is available in the Costing Out tab.
Effective School Expenditures, Research-Based Options for Education Policymaking, National Education Policy Center, School of Education, University of Colorado, William Mathis
Colorado 21: Building A World-Class Education System: Senator Johnston's Office presented to CSFP for discussion on February 8, 2013.
January 2013:
Trends in 2012 pupil membership (updated with CDE 2012 Instructional Program Counts)
- Who are Colorado's Public School Students? as of January 2013, Highlights of several population groups.
- Fall Student Counts for Gifted and Talented, Special Education, English Learners, Free Lunch, Trends in pupil membership.
- Colorado's Homeless Student Count 2005-2012.
- Free Lunch and Reduced Lunch Count, report on PK-12, 41% of Colorado's PK-12 students are Free and Reduced Lunch. Source: CDE Fall Free Lunch and Reduced Lunch Count.
- English Language Learners (ELL) and English Language Proficiency Act (ELPA), showing ELL and ELPA student count and per pupil spending trends, Data source: CDE.
- GT Students Served and Program Funding, 2005-06 thru 2012-13.
CSFP pupil membership information is available in the Student Trends tab on the left.
Education Week, Quality Counts 2013: Where does Colorado rank compared to what other states spend per pupil? Data: School Year 2009-10, Fiscal Year 2010
- Per Pupil Spending by State. Colorado ranks 42nd of 51 in per pupil spending; spending $2,518 less per pupil than the U.S. Average
- Overall Grade and Per Pupil Spending. Colorado's grade is C- and ranks 37th. Grade: Education Week's Quality Counts tracks key education indicators and then grades the states on their policy efforts and outcomes. For more information: www.edweek.org/media/QualityCounts2013_Release.PDF
- Percent Total Taxable Resources Spent by State. Colorado ranks 37th.
- Nearby States Spending More Per Pupil than Colorado. Colorado spends -$2,518 less per pupil than the national average.
CSFP information on Quality Counts is available in the Colorado Rankings tab.
How much more than Colorado do nearby states spend?
- Kansas spends $2,479 more than Colorado
- Montana $4,975
- Nebraska $4,243
- New Mexico $1,664
- Wyoming $9,508
Link to Children's Voices for information on the Lobato v State of Colorado school funding litigation.
Note: Typically this page contains information from the last 6 months. We try to "roll off" information every month to our Historical Info page. The information is in chronological order, most recent first.