- May 27, 2022
- Posted by: Bastion team
- Category: World News
Per-pupil spending will increase 6% from this year, special education funding will increase nearly 40%, more high school students will have access to free college courses, and school districts with low property wealth will get more state money under a series of education bills signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Thursday.
The most significant of the bills is also the most mundane. The school finance act is the only bill — other than the budget — that Colorado legislators are required to pass. It lays out how money already allocated in the budget will be distributed to schools. In recent years, lawmakers have used the school finance to set in motion complex property tax changes, give districts more money for English learners, and wade into disputes about school governance.
This year’s school finance act sets what’s known as total program, the base budget for Colorado K-12 schools, at $8.4 billion. The state is responsible for a little more than $5 billion, a 7.6% increase, and local school districts for roughly $3.3 billion, a 2.3% increase. Average per-pupil spending for 2022-23 will be $9,559, up 6% from this year, though the actual amount varies considerably by district.
This represents a record investment by Colorado lawmakers just two years after they made drastic cuts during the depths of pandemic-related…