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Governor proposes $13 million cut to district

  • Leadership
Governor proposes $13 million cut to district

In an effort to address a $1 billion state shortfall, Governor Jared Polis’ budget proposal, if supported by the Legislature, would amount to a $13 million dollar cut to school funding in the Five Star District. 

In order to save money, the governor proposes to do away with “enrollment averaging” when funding schools. Enrollment averaging over several years reduces year-to-year pendulum swings in funding, allowing for thoughtful and informed budget decision-making. Currently, 142 of the 178 school districts in Colorado or 80% are funded on an enrollment average.

“The rhetoric is disconnected from the reality of school budgeting,” Superintendent Chris Gdowski said. “Scrapping the averaging formula will, in many school districts and schools, result in larger class sizes. It will increase the number of students without a qualified instructor in areas in which the supply of educators is especially limited, including special education, English language development, and support of students in schools with high poverty and mobility rates. And it will limit student choice through the elimination of electives and extracurricular programs with modest participation levels.” 

Tracie Rainey, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado School Finance Project was recently quoted in The Colorado Sun about the governor’s proposal. 

“It seems to me we’re having the wrong conversation,” she said in an interview with The Colorado Sun. “Instead of figuring out how we’re going to cut schools, we should be figuring out what is the revenue we need so that we don’t need to be making cuts to K-12 when we know they’re already underfunded.”

The Colorado State Legislature initiated two funding studies that were released in December. They found that Colorado needs to commit an additional $3.5 billion to $4.1 billion to adequately fund schools to fully address student learning needs. 

Act Now! Contact your legislator. 
Use this online resource to find your state Senator and Representative in the Colorado State Legislature. Then write or call them to share your concerns about legislation that would cut funding for education.

Key Dates in the Budget Process for 2025-2026

  • January 2025
    • Legislative session begins (Jan. 8)
    • Monitor and refine preliminary budget assumptions based on State Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC), state economic forecasts and Governor’s budget proposal
    • Ongoing districtwide budget work based on student needs and budget assumptions
  • March 2025
    • Legislature uses March state economic forecast to inform School Finance Act for 2025-2026
    • District refines budget assumptions based on introduced School Finance Act
    • District begins aligns funding priorities to latest budget assumptions
  • May 2025
    • Legislative session ends (May 7)
    • Board of Education receives proposed budget presentation which is also reflective of negotiations with staff associations (DTEA and CSEA)
  • June 2025
    • Board of Education adopts budget for 2025-2026