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Quick Clicks to current reports:

2010-11 District Budget Charts 3/3/10 Update.

Timelines: School Finance Timeline 1980 - 2011 and School Finance Related Events

English Language Proficiency Act (ELPA) Charts & Data

Colorado School Finance Project: Fifteen years of research and analysis of school finance.

March 2010: Presentation on school finance to the League of Women Voters as part of a School Finance Panel Discussion along with Aurora Public Schools, Cherry Creek School District, and Littleton Public Schools. Click here for the Colorado School Finance Project's School Finance Timeline.

Chart capturing school district budget conversations as reported by Colorado media. Also available in "Quick Clicks" in the column to the left.

February 2010: View The Decline: The Geography of a Recession by LaToya Egwuekwe, Unemployment rates by county. FY 2007 map of the United States created by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) illustrating average state funding for K-12.

January 2010: Updated information:

• English Language Proficiency Act and English Learners, 15 years of ELPA student count and per pupil spending trends
• Quality Counts 2010: Line graph indicating how much more nearby states spend more than Colorado and bar graph comparing Colorado and nearby states per pupil spending with the national average.

Link to The Bell Policy Center's preliminary analysis of Proposition 101, Amendment 61 and a summary of Amendment 60. Link to The Bell's county-by-county impact of Proposition 101.

Link to Children's Voices for information on the Lobato v State of Colorado school funding litigation.

December 2009: The CSFP participated in two presentations at the CASB Conference. Delivery of Services/Consolidation with Augenblick, Palaich & Associates and the State Budget Update Presentation/Discussion with newly elected (Freshman) Board of Education members. "Colorado Hills" is the name of the fictional district whose budget had to be cut. After considering and evaluating items for the budget reductions, the Freshman BOE members made reductions that are tabulated here.

November 2009: CAP4K (Colorado's Achievement Plan for Kids) Costing-Out Analysis study was awarded to Augenblick, Palaich and Associates (APA). The Colorado School Finance Project (CSFP) will support APA with the study. As per Senate Bill 08-212, there will be 3 phases of this work with reports presented along the way, one due March 15, 2010, another due October 1, 2010, and the final report due October 1, 2011. APA's overview of the process is available here.

July - Oct 2009: CSFP, along with Augenblick, Palaich and Associates (APA) presented our report: An Exploration of District Consolidation at the CASE Conference, to BOCES representatives, CSFP Advisory Committee, and at the CASB Fall Conference. A PDF of the Power Point is available here. One of the tables in the Power Point is available here.

September 2009: CSFP update to our annual K-12 Students Under the English Lanuage Proficience Act (ELPA) and a new report on K-12 Students Served by GT Programs and Services Under the Exceptional Children's Education Act (ECEA). Both reports use data from CDE.

CSFP gave presentations to the School Finance Interim Committee and the Long-Term Fiscal Stability Commission in July. Links to both groups are on the right side of this page.

CSFP's School Finance Interim Committee Power Point. We also gave the Committee our 2009 updates of CSFP's annual State Profile data.

CSFP's Long-Term Fiscal Stability Power Point and School Finance Timeline. We also gave the people on the Commission a copy of the CSFP Report we gave to the School Finance Interim Committee in June.

Profile Data: Annually, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) prepares reports on the state of education in Colorado. CSFP and Augenblick, Palaich, and Associates (APA) use the CDE data to further analyze and report on K-12 public school funding in Colorado creating the Colorado State Profile reports. Following are the reports from CDE's 2009 release, comparing 2007-08 data to 2007-08, 2006-07, 2002-03 and 1992-93:

• Table 1 - Enrollment in K-12 Public Education includes all students, Special Education, Free Lunch, ELL
• Table 2 - Number of Teachers and Teachers per 1,000 Students
• Table 3 - Average Teacher Salary
• Table 4 - Per Student Current Spending & Revenues
• Table 5 - Relationship Between Local Revenue for K-12 and Personal Income
• CDE: Profile Data, Table A (formerly named Changes Over Time in Enrollment, Expenditures and Revenue).

Colorado Profile Data: 2009 Highlights was compiled by APA using data from CDE. This one page document highlights areas of concern for K-12 funding.

CSFP's Characteristics of Colorado's School Population: Charts document Colorado's total enrollment from 1992-93 through 2007-08. A second chart illustrates the the number of students receiving Special Services from 1992-93 through 2007-08. Special Education, At-risk (free lunch) and ELPA students are included in the chart.

June 2009: The CSFP and Augenblick, Palaich & Associates (APA) Exploration of School District Consolidation:

• APA report: An Exploration of District Consolidation: Status and Research. June 2009
• School District Organization Highlights - helpful to read with the power point below
• School District Organization: Status and Research (APA), power point presentation and Table 3 referenced in the power point, included in research report.
• Colorado's Enrollment Trends 2004-2008 (Did You Know?)
• Colorado County & District Data Snapshot
• Student Count Change (CDE 2004-2008) by County and School District
• Student Count, Districts in County, square miles, people per square mile: Counties in CDE Regional Service Areas (RSA) Summary
• Student Count, Districts in County, square miles, people per square mile: Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) Region

School Finance Interim Committee: CSFP letter read at June 4, 2009 meeting and CSFP Report presented to the members of the Interim Committee.

March 2009: CSFP Interactive District Budget model and how to use the model.

February 2009: Maximizing the Stimulus, Removing the Arveschoug-Bird Provisions by Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute. Balancing Taxes, Education Funding and Long-Term Economic Development by Dr. Richard G. Sims, Chief Economist, National Education Assocation.

A CSFP report, using data from several years of Education Week, Quality Counts data, How Much More Per Pupil? do nearby states invest in K-12 education.

The Education Commission of the States (Michael Griffith, policy analyst) published several reports about Changes in Per-Pupil Education Spending from 1981-2002.

• Map of US indicating illustrating state spending in 1981-82 and 2001-02 and the % change.
• Map of US indicating illustrating state spending in 2001-02 and the % change from 1981-82 spending.
• Alphabetical listing of states comparing state spending changes between 1981 and 2002.

Brief overview of the School Finance Formula - Rational and Perspective

January 2009: CSFP's Presentation to House and Senate Education Committees.

Using data from Education Week Quality Counts 2009 report, CSFP created several reports/charts. A report indicating how much money nearby states expend more per pupil than Colorado and a school finance report with two charts: comparing Colorado per pupil expenditures with nearby states and comparing Colorado to states engaged in school reform.

The Relationship Between Allocation of Finances, Amount of Finances and Student Achievement: A spring 2008 study funded by CSFP found close links between funding specific, systemic student education initiatives and increased student achievement. Read the Executive Summary and Key Points of this study, performed by APA for CSFP. View APA's powerpoint (pdf) for CSFP analyzing the relationship between the allocation of finances, amount of finances and student achievement.

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Jan. 2010 Update: How does Colorado rank in K-12 spending?
Colorado spends $1,919 less per pupil than the national average. In 2003 Colorado spent $551 less than the national average. As Colorado has invested in education, other states have invested more.
Neighboring states and the amount they spend more per pupil than Colorado:

• Kansas $2,285
• Montana $3,786
• Nebraska $3,265
• New Mexico $1,452
• Wyoming $7,748
  

Source: Ed. Week, Quality Counts 2010, data for 2007-08.