Tempered Optimism in Colorado: 2015 State-of-the-State

The Colorado legislature is constitutionally obligated to provide the 178 school districts with an annual increase to the total program of at least the rate of inflation plus 1%. However, during the Great Recession this constitutional mandate became fiscally impossible to meet under the restraints of the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (TABOR).2 As a result, the negative factor, which recaptured state funds from school districts after those funds were allocated, allowed the state to meet its constitutional obligations amid the economic downturn. The top priority for school leaders is to see the negative factor repealed. In addition, there is a push to get the per pupil expenditure (PPE) back to pre-Great Recession levels (the average PPE is roughly $250 below the pre-recession level).3