Gov. Jared Polis Promises to Fully Fund Colorado Schools Within Four Years

By Jason Gonzales and Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday in his 2023 State of the State speech that he wants to eliminate the budget stabilization factor by the end of his second term.

RJ Sangosti / The Denver Post

In Tuesday’s State of the State speech, Gov. Jared Polis promised to fully fund K-12 schools within four years — something Colorado hasn’t done since the Great Recession even as he also promised major property tax relief and further reductions in the state income tax rate.

Polis also touted the launch of universal preschool this coming August, asked lawmakers to ask voters to keep more money from nicotine sales to expand preschool, pledged support to help high school students earn college credit, and highlighted efforts to boost students’ math skills.

The speech was Polis’ first State of the State of his second term as governor. Colorado will celebrate 150 years as a state in 2026, the last full year of his second term.

In a speech that leaned heavier on housing and health care than on education, Polis framed his goals as creating more opportunity for all by the time the state marks that milestone.

“At 150, I want to see an education system that prepares every child and learners of all ages for success,” Polis said.

In an interview, Polis said he would only support tax cuts that wouldn’t reduce overall state revenue and that his proposals depend on an ongoing strong economy.

“If we’re going to fund our schools and cut taxes at the same time, the overall economy needs to do well,” he said.

Polis included many of the education policies described in the speech in his recent budget requests, including new training opportunities to help workers get in-demand jobs and more money for afterschool tutoring.

Here are a few education highlights from the State of the State speech.

Polis promises to fully fund K-12 schools

What he said: “I am proud to submit a proposal to buy down the budget stabilization factor to its lowest level ever and set our state on a path to finally eliminate it altogether during my second term, fulfilling our state’s commitment to our schools.”

What it means: Colorado’s constitution requires school funding to go up every year by the rate of population growth and inflation, but every year, lawmakers withhold hundreds of millions that should go to schools to help fund other priorities. The practice known as the budget stabilization factor started in 2009-10 and added up to more than $10 billion.

Eliminating the budget stabilization factor is a longtime priority for the state’s education advocates. Lawmakers have reduced the annual withholding but never eliminated it. Last year they held back $321 million out of more than $5 billion in state K-12 funding.

In a budget letter sent Tuesday, Polis proposed a $201 million withholding and saving money to allow for more so-called buy-downs in future years.

In an interview, Polis acknowledged doing so depends on a continuing strong economy. Republicans believe schools could be funded at a higher level if Democrats scaled back other programs.

Colorado schools would get more money per student

What Polis said: “For K-12 learners, I’m proposing in my supplemental and budget amendment package today that we raise per pupil funding by an additional $925 — or an additional $20,000 for [individual] Colorado classrooms every year … Districts can use these funds to increase pay, like the Lake County School District that raised teacher pay by 16% in just one year with a major bump for staff … Or how Colorado’s two largest school districts are starting their teachers at just over $50,000 per year. That would have been unheard of a decade ago.

“These new funds can also support smaller class sizes, revive extracurriculars, or fund mental health support for our students.”

What it means: The governor said in November he wants $861 more per student. Now he’s calling for an additional $64. That money would bring per-pupil allocations to $10,485.

Many Colorado school districts are losing enrollment, so the bottom line would vary from district to district. The legislature could also send more — or less — money to schools than called for in Polis’ budget request.

In the budget letter, Polis said higher per-pupil funding is possible in part because Colorado has 1,600 fewer students this year than expected and is likely to have 2,700 fewer next school year.

School districts can spend the money how they choose, and many Colorado school districts have raised pay. At the same time, inflation has eaten into the value of those raises. A recent study found the price of housing — another priority for Polis and lawmakers — has risen far faster than educator wages.

Property tax relief is a top priority

What Polis said: “We must work together to pass a long-term property tax relief package that reduces residential and commercial property taxes and creates a longterm mechanism to protect homeowners from being priced out of their homes, while protecting school funding.”

What it means: Property taxes, school funding, and the state budget are closely related. Colorado sets per-pupil funding at the state level and backfills whatever local property tax revenues don’t cover. Higher local property taxes means K-12 school funding can go up without putting as much pressure on the state budget.

Last year’s $700 million property tax relief deal was one reason lawmakers held back from fully funding schools then. The deal meant the state needed to backfill more dollars for districts.

Senate President Stephen Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, said he doesn’t expect a cut to property tax rates to conflict with the governor’s call to increase school funding. Property values have soared and it leaves room for the state to make cuts while still bringing in enough for K-12.

Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said lawmakers need to find ways to both fund education and provide property tax relief.

“We rank in the bottom of the United States, depending on how you slice that metric, as far as funding, and yes, we have to provide property tax relief,” she said. “We have to be talking about both and what that path is forward.”

Colorado’s Governor Wants to Reduce Your Utility Bill. Don’t Expect a Big Decrease Anytime Soon.

The requests Gov. Jared Polis made Monday will take a year or more to take effect. They are intended to help Coloradans next winter.

by Jesse Paul and Mark Jaffe, The Colorado

Sun experiencing,” said Bob Frenzel, CEO of Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy. (Xcel is donating about $500,000 of the $1 million going toward Energy Outreach Colorado.)

Robert Kenney, who leads Xcel Energy’s Colorado branch, said Xcel is already doing some of the things Polis called for in his letter. He said the company talks frequently with the governor’s office about clean energy and technological initiatives.

Lynne Granger, executive director of the American Petroleum Institute in Colorado, expressed frustration, however, that the oil and gas industry wasn’t part of the governor’s plans.

Gov.

Jared Polis on Monday asked state regulators and his administration to take every possible action to reduce the cost of utilities for Coloradans. But that’s much easier said than done, and no one should expect their sky-high natural gas and electric bills to go down anytime soon.

The majority of the requests Polis made, laid out in an 8-page letter, will take a year or more to take effect, and the Democrat said the only way to make a serious dent in the problem is to move Colorado away from its reliance on electricity generated using fossil fuels, a process that’s slated to take decades.

“We are trying to align the actions we need to take to avoid or reduce future price spikes in time for the next high demand season, which will be next winter,” Polis said at a news conference in his office at the Colorado Capitol in Denver.

Coloradans, however, are feeling the utility pinch now.

As of Jan. 31, 91,105 people had applied to the state’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program — or LEAP — for help paying their utility bills, and 59,506 have received grants averaging about $442. In the last few weeks, interest in the program has been running 15% ahead of last year’s pace.

Polis’ main short-term solution to rising energy costs is to boost publicity around the federally funded LEAP program, which many Coloradans aren’t aware of. To qualify for LEAP benefits, a Coloradan can only make up to 60% of the state median income, which for a family of four is $66,468 a year. The program expects to spend $65 million this heating year in Colorado.

For those who don’t qualify for LEAP, there’s the nonprofit Energy Outreach Colorado program that helps people who make no more than 80% of area median income cover utility bills. The program on Monday said it received 15,409 calls for various types of help for the week ending Jan. 29 — a 50% increase over the same week last year. By Feb. 5, EOC had disbursed $528,660 in utility bill aid.

In the long term, Polis called Monday for his administration to:

• Roll out federally funded home energy rebate programs, which won’t kick in until the end of 2023 at the earliest, as fast as possible. “While the federal funding for these programs won’t be available till the end of the year, we’re committed to working with stakeholders to be ready to go when those funds are available,” said Will Toor, who leads the Colorado Energy Office.

• Find ways to “align customer and utility conservation incentives”

• Enact new statewide building energy codes

• Implement microgrid programs with state and federal funding

The governor may need the help of the cash-strapped legislature on several of the initiatives.

Polis also directed the three-member Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utility companies, to reduce customer costs by exploring an expansion in natural gas storage and by making utilities prepurchase gas ahead of anticipated price hikes, like the one caused by extremely cold weather in December.

“The market sets the price, but there’s a lot we can do to make ourselves more immune to that in the future,” Polis said. “Of course, the long-term solution is to continue driving toward 100%, low-cost renewable energy, ending our reliance on costly fossil fuels that also make us vulnerable to price increases.”

The governor appoints the PUC’s members and he can make requests of the commission, but the panel acts independently.

Polis said that when deciding who to appoint to the PUC, he “wanted to make sure we would have independent figures who would push back against rate increases.”

The PUC, however, faces a dilemma. The biggest driver of the current bill shock has been a sharp increase in natural gas prices, which under commission rules, is directly passed through to consumers.

Many of the investments that are waiting to go into rates, such as the $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission project, are aimed at helping move the utility to 80% renewable generation. Although, the price of renewable power is both steady and less expensive than coal or natural gas now.

Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility, sought a $300 million electricity rate increase, which the commission cut to $187 million in April. But in December the utility filed another $312 million electricity rate increase, citing the need to replace aging infrastructure.

Still some of the things the governor asked for Monday are already underway. The PUC has called for Xcel Energy to submit an electric and gas volatility mitigation plan for 2023 and 2024.

The commission is also exploring mechanisms to avoid the bill shock of large jumps in gas prices — possibly by spreading the costs out.

On Jan. 31, the commission held a listening session allowing consumers to voice their concerns. “That was terrific because it was people speaking for themselves, unfortunately what they had to say was tragic,” said Cindy Schonhaut, the director of the Colorado Office of Utility Consumer Advocate.

Schonaut applauded Polis’ actions Monday.

“What he does by putting his name on it, he engages his leadership and his office,” she said. “Now it isn’t only about decarbonization but ratepayers, consumers as well.”

When asked if he has been disappointed in his PUC appointees, Polis said the commission is “an independent regulatory authority” and that his only recourse is to formally lodge complaints.

Coloradans may see some relief in their energy bills in the coming months because of a decrease in natural gas prices, Xcel said earlier this month.

Utility companies, gas organizations donate $1 million

A few hours after Polis rolled out his plan, a group of Colorado utility CEOs and two oil and gas trade groups held a news conference across the street from the Capitol to announce they have formed a coalition aimed at reducing Coloradans’ energy costs. The coalition said it was donating $1 million Energy Outreach Colorado to help people contend with their rising bills.

“Look, we’re empathetic or sympathetic to the challenges that our customers are

“We were pretty disappointed,” she said. “This is a supply and demand issue and supply is low. Our industry is absolutely part of the solution. We have to be at the table.”

But during his news conference, Polis said high energy costs are independent of the amount of oil and gas drilling going on in Colorado.

“There’s no connection there,” Polis said. “There are more permits (being issued in Colorado), but the price of natural gas — it’s a global commodity. Colorado is a producer, but we are not a producer (such) that our policies drive global pricing.”

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

Fears Flare That Colorado Free Preschool Could Shortchange Kids With Learning Delays

By Ann Schimke

Despite concerns about how the preschool program is unfolding, more than 22,000 families have applied for a seat in less than three weeks.

Christian K. Lee for Chalkbeat

As state leaders prepare to launch Colorado’s free preschool program next fall, some educators and advocates fear young children with disabilities will lose out under the new system.

They say 3-year-olds could be rejected for a spot and 4-year-olds could receive less preschool than they’re due because of the narrow way the state asks about children with disabilities on its preschool application form.

In addition, school district officials say that unanswered questions about special education funding and confusion over how two state agencies will work together on the preschool program are a troubling sign for a major new program that will start in a matter of months.

While many early childhood advocates and providers have praised Colorado’s plan to significantly expand publicly funded preschool, there’s ongoing concern that the rollout is being rushed.

“I think the [Colorado Department of Early Childhood] was pushed into something very quickly,” said Callan Ware, executive director of student services in the Englewood district south of Denver.

Ashley Stephen, business services director for the Platte Canyon district, said she’s excited about universal preschool, but also nervous because communication from the state “so far has been a little bit harried and a little bit unclear.”

The 7-month-old Department of Early Childhood is responsible for running the new preschool program, with the Colorado Department of Education overseeing some aspects related to students with disabilities. The program will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for 30 hours. Some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours a week.

Despite concerns about how the preschool program is unfolding, there’s no option to slow things down. In the last 2½ weeks, more than 22,000 families have applied for a seat and thousands more are expected to join them in the coming months.

Amid this surge, advocates worry that some children with disabilities, especially those from marginalized populations, could slip through the cracks as their families encounter confusing terminology, bureaucratic barriers, and uncertainty about their rights.

“I support and appreciate the idea of universal preschool programming,” said Pam Bisceglia, executive director of Advocacy Denver, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. “My question is whether those programs are going to be filled with children of parents who enjoy privilege.”

Preschool application poses challenges

Children with disabilities are supposed to get priority for 10 hours a week of class time at age 3 and 30 hours a week at 4.

But Heather Hanson, whose 9-year-old son was diagnosed with a speech delay as a toddler and later with dyslexia, believes the state’s new preschool program will make it even harder than it is now for young children with disabilities to get the help they need.

The universal preschool application is part of the reason. It asks parents if their child has “an active Individualized Education Program” — a fancy name for a federally required learning plan for students 3 and older with disabilities.

But many children don’t get such plans until after they enroll in school. A young child with a delay may not even have been evaluated or received a diagnosis. Even when children are identified as toddlers, their plan has a different name and acronym than the one on the preschool application.

Hanson, who served on a special education subcommittee during the universal preschool planning process, called the wording on the application “horrible” and “discriminatory.”

“All of those really big words should not be used,” she said. Even the word “disability” might deter some parents.

Lucinda Hundley, who heads the Colorado Consortium of Directors of Special Education, said, “We don’t want to miss children because of an answer on a computerized registration system.”

Risk factors change under universal preschool

Currently, Colorado children with disabilities can be routed to state-funded preschool in one of two ways. Those who have Individualized Education Programs get classes through the preschool special education program. Another group of children who have one of 10 risk factors — such as language delays or poor social skills — qualify for a state preschool program that will end after this school year. Kids in that second group don’t have to have a diagnosis or special learning plan to qualify for free preschool.

But under the new universal preschool program, the state will use fewer risk factors to decide who can attend for free at age 3 and get extra hours at age 4. One of them is the Individualized Education Program. The others consider whether the child is homeless, an English learner, in foster care, or comes from a lower-income family.

Hundley said there’s no way for a parent who suspects their child might have a disability to flag their concern when applying for universal preschool.

Officials from the early childhood department and education department said in an email that state law requires the Individualized Education Program criteria on the universal preschool application. Hundley said it’s unlikely the law would disallow additional criteria that might help capture students with potential disabilities.

Several advocates said the wording should be simpler and more general: “Do you think your child could use some extra help?” or “Do you have concerns about your child’s speech or behavior?

Laurie Noblitt, director of elementary and early learning for the Fountain-Fort Carson district, said her district has fielded calls from parents whose 3-year-old children don’t qualify for free preschool according to the application system. They say things like, “I’m really worried about my child’s language, they’re only speaking in one- or two-word phrases,” she said.

In such cases, Noblitt said, the district helps get the child evaluated and into preschool, but she worries about the families who don’t make that phone call.

Three-year-olds whose parents don’t know how to navigate the system stand to lose out on free preschool altogether and 4-year-olds with disabilities could get just 15 hours a week, half what they’re supposed to.

Hanson said those extra hours can make a big difference since students with disabilities sometimes need double or triple the repetition and exposure to classroom learning compared with their typically developing peers.

The low number of hours offered to 3-year-olds also puts a burden on parents, said Elisa Aucancela, executive director of El Grupo Vida, a nonprofit that supports Hispanic families who have children with disabilities.

Her brother, who has a 3-year-old daughter with a disability, is “still struggling due to the part-time [hours] for 3-year-olds” she said. “It’s a really difficult challenge for some families because what are they going to do for the other half of the time when they need to work?”

Special education funding in question

Several school district leaders worry about how the state is handling $33 million that used to go to school districts to help cover preschool special education costs. They fear the money — which amounts to $36,000 a year in small districts like Englewood and up to $4 million in large districts — now will be mixed into the general universal preschool funding pot, and won’t be set aside for services for students with disabilities.

If that happens, districts will have to use local dollars to cover lost state money since they’re legally required to cover special education services. Hundley said that means funding for staff like psychologists and speech therapists who provide mandated services to students with disabilities gets diverted from other district priorities.

Even though state funding for special education has increased in recent years, districts still cover about two-thirds of those costs out of their local budgets.

State officials estimate they’ll spend at least $33 million — and possibly more — on what they call “general education” seats for students with disabilities. But Hundley said school districts want the state to direct that money specifically to special education services, which is how it has been used in the past.

Beyond money, the uncertainty about funding raises questions about how two state agencies — the early childhood department and the education department — are divvying up overlapping responsibilities.

In response to Chalkbeat’s questions about funding for preschoolers with disabilities, the education department first referred questions to the early childhood department. After the two agencies signed an agreement this week outlining how they’d work together, the early childhood department referred questions to the education department. On Friday, the two departments released emailed answers together. Neither granted an interview.

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

Biden-Harris Administration Invests $2.7 Billion to Improve and Expand Rural Electric Infrastructure

Funding Includes $613 Million to Improve Grid Security and Reliability

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the Department is investing $2.7 billion to help 64 electric cooperatives and utilities (PDF, 175 KB) expand and modernize the nation’s rural electric grid and increase grid security.

“These critical investments will benefit rural people and businesses in many ways for decades to come,” Vilsack said. “This funding will help rural cooperatives and utilities invest in changes that make our energy more efficient, more reliable, and more affordable. Investing in infrastructure – roads, bridges, broadband and energy – supports good-paying jobs and keeps the United States poised to lead the global economy.”

Background:

USDA is investing in 64 projects through the Electric Loan Program. This funding will benefit nearly 2 million rural people and businesses in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

The loans include $613 million to help rural utilities and cooperatives install and upgrade smart grid technologies. Smart grid can be a catalyst for broadband and other telecommunications services in unserved and underserved rural areas in addition to improving grid security and reliability.

Nearly half of the awards will help finance infrastructure improvements in underserved communities.

Below are some examples of how the funding will be used:

• The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is receiving a $111 million loan to connect 1,264 consumers and build and improve 404 miles of line. The loan includes $13.4 million for smart grid technologies. Northern Virginia Electric, headquartered in Manassas, serves 176,604 consumers over 7,614 miles of line in six counties.

• The Carteret-Craven Electric Membership Cooperative in Newport, North Carolina, is receiving a $28 million loan to connect 3,115 consumers and build and improve 132 miles of line. The loan includes $169,437 for smart grid technologies. Carteret-Craven Electric serves 41,655 consumers through 2,493 miles of line in four counties in southeastern North Carolina.

• Minnesota’s Beltrami Electric Cooperative is receiving a $22.7 million loan to connect 1,480 consumers and build and improve 225 miles of line. The loan includes $1.3 million for smart grid technologies. Beltrami Electric is headquartered in Bemidji, Minnesota. It serves 21,772 consumers in portions of Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Itasca and Koochiching counties with 3,500 miles of distribution line covering approximately 3,000 square miles.

In the coming months, USDA will announce additional energy infrastructure financing. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act provided more than $12 billion to USDA for loans and grants to expand clean energy, transform rural power production, create jobs and spur economic growth. This funding will help make energy cleaner, more reliable and more affordable.

USDA’s Electric Loan Program can help finance wind, solar and natural gas plants, as well as improvements to produce cleaner energy from coal-fired plants. Local utilities also use the loans to invest in infrastructure to deliver affordable power to millions of residential, commercial and agricultural consumers.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, Tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, promoting competition and fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda. gov.

To subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit GovDelivery subscriber page.