House Sends School Finance Act to Senate

March 29, 2010

The House this week approved HB 1369, the school finance act, but it was a vote that brought some legislators to tears.

HB 1369 cuts $365 million in state funding for school districts statewide. According to the bill’s fiscal note, which explains the impact, the cut will result in a 6 percent drop in state funding for every school district in the state for 2010-11, and according to legislators, many districts will see even larger reductions. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, noted this week that the Agate School District is planning for a 12 percent cut. Legislators have warned that the cut in funding will result in the loss of 5,000 teacher jobs statewide.

HB 1369 was approved on a 48-17 vote on March 22. It is now on its way through the Senate; the Senate Education Committee on March 25 voted to send it on to Senate Appropriations for further action.

During the bill’s second reading debate in the House, a tearful Rep. Cheryl Peniston, D-Westminster, apologized for what the legislature was about to do. “I apologize to all Colorado public school students,” she said; to her colleagues and friends in the teaching profession, those who will lose their jobs and those who will be left; to school boar ds throughout the state, and to her own grandchildren “who will not get the quality public education they deserve.”

The House discussion on HB 1369 took less than 30 minutes, which was noted by Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora. She called the bill the most difficult one she’s seen in her six years at the capitol.

“Public education is an investment, the greatest economic driver in the state,” she said. Todd pointed out that the House had spent many, many hours debating a package of bills repealing tax exemptions and credits, but virtually no debate on the cuts to “investments in the children of our state.”

“This is the bottom of the well and we will be back next year doing the same thing,” said Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs. “This is real money to our school districts. We’re at the point where the money we’re taking away will affect performance, the ability to graduate kids, cuts to real programs.”

Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, was one of the 48 lawmakers who voted in favor of HB 1369. He said this week that education should be a priority for the state, even though it is not funded where most would like this year.

Rep. Cory Gardner voted against it, saying the cuts should come from somewhere else. He noted that in 2006 he sponsored a bill to create a rainy day fund for the state; had that bill been approved, he said, the state would have had a $1.8 billion fund from which to cover the budget cuts. The legislature also could cut duplicative programs or enact across-the-board budget cuts that would take the place of the cuts.

“We need to prioritize,” he said.

Gardner’s “no” vote on HB 1369 puts him on the wish list for legislators who want to ask voters in November for th e authority to raise taxes for K-12 and higher education.

On Wednesday, a coalition of community groups and Democratic legislators announced they would seek a referred measure from the General Assembly for education. Under the referred measured, which is known as DECIDE, voters would be asked to allow legislators to raise taxes for education, both K-12 and higher education, without first seeking voter approval, which is required in the constitution under the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (Tabor). That revenue would also be exempt from state spending limits, according to its sponsor, Rep. Debbie Benefield, D-Arvada.
A referred measure needs 44 votes in the House and 24 votes in the Senate. This year’s House has 37 Democrats, one unaffiliated representative and 27 Republicans. Benefield said that in order to get the 44 votes she needs for the measure to pass the House, she would seek support from the eight Republicans who voted against the school finance act.

Gardner said this week he would not support the resolution. “Tabor isn’t the issue; it isn’t even in effect right now,” he explained.

Gardner said school supporters need to talk to their legislators, and legislators need to go line by line through the Long Appropriations Bill, which comes out on Monday. He said he had gotten quite a few good ideas from city councils, mayors and school districts regarding the state budget, the result of letters he sent to his district, and was working on implementation of those ideas.