Up until Thursday, the measure outlining the finances for schools appeared to be on a smooth path to the governor’s desk.
And then House Bill 1320 got in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
And a bit of chaos erupted.
Notably, the committee adopted changes against the sponsors’ wishes.
The 2025-26 School Finance Act started off easy enough, with an amendment from co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village. The amendment dealt with putting $7.6 million into the Building Excellent Schools Together or BEST fund — money that will come from BEST’s public school capital construction assistance fund, created in 2008.
That fund gets tapped from time to time for budget-balancing purposes, although that didn’t happen this year.
After that amendment was adopted, Sen. Chris Kolker, D-Centennial, sought an amendment to create the “Kids Matter Fund,” starting in the 2026-27 fiscal year, so it didn’t have an impact on the upcoming year’s budget.
The proposal would take all state revenue collected from an existing tax of three-quarters of 1% on federal taxable income of every “individual, estate, trust and corporation” and then deposit into the Kids Matter Fund.
The dollars would go to base per-pupil funding.
“So, what won’t be funded in next year’s budget?” asked Sen. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, the appropriations chair and also a Joint Budget Committee member.
“That’s to be determined,” Kolker replied.
The amendment received the support of fellow JBC member Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, who said it simply would ensure the state would fund education next year.
“If we are going to pass legislation that increases expenditures to education, it is our goal to ensure the funding is there and that we do not return to a budget stabilization (BS) factor,” she said, adding the only way it impacts the budget is if the legislature goes back to a BS factor, referring to the tool lawmakers adopted in the past to effectively reduce state aid to schools.
She noted the school finance act includes an increase of $150 million in the 2025-26 budget. She said capping the BEST program saved $45 million, part of moving money around to fund education. Kirkmeyer said Kids Matter proposal had been in front of the JBC but didn’t have the committee’s support.
Bridges said there is a lot to like in the Kolker amendment but argued the amount is too high; he’d prefer the amount at 0.6% and that the money ought to go into the state education fund, instead of into the proposed Kids Matter Fund.
School Finance Act co-sponsor Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen of Monument sought a “no” vote on the amendment, saying they should continue that conversation, which apparently had been ongoing for several weeks.
Kirkmeyer responded that they would move forward with the amendment anyway.
As for Bridges’ 0.6% counter offer, Kirkmeyer said it wouldn’t be enough.
At 0.75%, it would bring in $220 million to $250 million.
“This is to fully fund education” and the way to do that is to put a “marker” down at 0.75%, she said.
And putting it in the state education fund doesn’t work, either, she said, because money gets moved around in that fund, and she worries about its solvency to begin with.
“This is our chance” to start making up the billions of dollars cut from education over the last 15 years, Kolker said.
“I don’t want to make a step in the wrong direction,” Amabile said, expressing worries over other things in the budget that could be affected, such as Medicaid.
Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, suggested that if the JBC is looking for places to cut, policymakers should consider corrections funding.
The amendment passed on a 5-2 vote.
Next up was Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, who offered two amendments.
Pelton explained superintendents in his district are frustrated with a “hold harmless” provision in last year’s rewrite of the School Finance Act, a provision that leaves some districts with no increase in 2025-26. His first amendment would add 0.5% for 19 school districts, mostly small rural schools and with declining enrollment, at a cost of about $3.5 million from the state education fund.
Bridges noted one of the beneficiaries would be the school district in Sheridan, among the poorest in the state and with a declining enrollment. Without the “hold harmless” provision, the district would lose $1 million, he said. While Sheridan is in his Senate district, he said he couldn’t support the amendment.
Lundeen fought against the amendment, too, noting he’s sensitive to those districts and “his heart says do it” but that his head says “no.”
But this year’s school finance act changed the deal crafted with the 2024 rewrite, Kirkmeyer replied.
“A deal’s a deal,” she said.
Those two amendments also passed, and HB 1320 won a unanimous vote from the committee.
The school finance act could be in front of the full Senate as early as Thursday afternoon.
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