March 12, 2025 • 25 mins
Where does school funding come from, and why does it feel like there’s never enough?
In this episode of Elevate Education, Superintend Tracy Dorland sits down with Tracie Rainey, Executive Director of the Colorado School Finance Project, to break down the complex world of school funding. They tackle common misconceptions about property taxes, how Colorado’s funding model impacts local schools, and what recent statewide financial adequacy studies reveal about the gaps in K-12 education funding.
💡 Why does Colorado rank 50th in teacher wage competitiveness?
💡 How do neighboring districts secure more funding per student?
💡 What does the future of school funding look like and how does it impact students?
If you’ve ever wondered where your tax dollars go when it comes to public education, this episode is for you.
Resources from this episode:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
State of the District #4/pt2
00:00:54 Unknown (00:01):
Welcome to Elevate Education. So I want to I want to
share a quick story about when I was a teacher. In the classroom I
taught both first and third grade and I loved it. Uh, but each year I
would find myself inevitably Either right before school started or
right after school started in my principal's office asking if I could
have a hundred bucks or so to buy certain things for my classroom.
Including school supplies that some of my students were unable to
bring with them to school. And every year I would get a small
classroom budget to be able to invest. Uh, in, in multiple districts
because that's, that's what I, had experience in as a teacher. I had
different levels of investment in other materials, outside of a, a, a
small classroom budget. In one district I worked in, I had. All of the
literacy and curriculum materials I needed to teach reading and
writing. In the second district I was in, I had no such thing. And so
it's just true that across our country and across our districts, even
here in the state of Colorado, There are different levels of resources
based on how districts decide to invest and align their resources to
the needs of their classrooms. As well as just different levels of
investment in public education across various states and various,
various communities even within the state of Colorado. it's always one
of those things where there's never enough of something and the two
(00:22):
things you can count on there never being enough of for public
education is definitely time and money. Um, and so in 2024 the
Colorado Department of Education Commissioned two independent
financial adequacy studies to estimate the resources needed for
students, teachers, schools, and districts To meet state standards and
requirements. These resources are used to calculate an adequate
funding level and parameters for a state school finance formula. And
then that is applied across districts across the state. Today, I'm
fortunate to be joined by Tracy Rainey, Executive Director of the
Colorado School Finance Project, And Colorado School Finance Expert.
Together today, we will unpack the results of these two financial
adequacy studies, how Colorado school districts are funded, And
changes in federal education policy that may have implications for
K-12 schools. Tracy, welcome to Elevate Education. Thank you very
much. Happy to be here. Yeah. Before we dive into today's topic, can
you just introduce yourself to our listeners? Share a little bit about
your background and education and what led you to a career in
education finance? Well, thank you. my background is in business and
economics and um, I came into this kind of back door, which was when
my kids started school and I couldn't understand why The very first
thing that I was faced with was how are we going to cut funding in
(00:43):
schools after they just put in a new school finance act. That made no
sense to me at all. And so I ended up doing kind of a career change
from the private sector to the public sector and wanting to be able
to. Really begin to understand how Colorado funded its goals, why they
funded it a certain way, and felt it was critically important to have
everybody at the table, I guess I would say to have conversations
around school finance instead of doing it isolated where we, across
the state. Weren't having those joint conversations to understand the
need of different types of districts and what the challenges were. And
so, I love being able to work with districts across the state. Can
educate some legislators along the way so that they understand, the
value that there is in a strong public education system. Great. Thank
you, Tracy. We're, we're very fortunate. I think in the state of
Colorado that you made that decision, uh, to, to jump into our arena
and. I think be a sense maker for not only legislators in our state,
but many of us who are practitioners in districts. Trying to make
sense of how best to prioritize our resources against our, our goals
and our organizations and our schools. So thank you very much for the
services that you provide and the expertise you bring. You know, it's
interesting, Tracy, when I visit with families and community members
in Jeffco, One of the most common questions I get as superintendent
(01:04):
and especially recently, given all of the conversation last fall in
the fall of 2024 about property taxes, residential property taxes. Um,
people say to me often, you know, Superintendent Dorland, my property
taxes have skyrocketed in recent years. Does this also mean that
funding to our local schools has significantly increased? Or sometimes
they'll say, I know my property taxes just went up, so you must be,
you know, living large over there in the school district able to
invest all of those taxes in. In our schools, you know, what are you
spending all that money on? can you, can you clarify how you might
answer that question and then generally speaking, just discuss how are
our schools funded in the state? Sure, I'd be happy to. So the first
dollars that go into school funding are the local dollars and property
taxes go up. That means that the local investment goes up. But
unfortunately, that means the state investment decreases. So the
overall funding is not showing a substantial increase. It's only going
to reflect probably an inflationary amount. And and that's lucky if
you're not declining in enrollment. So you are, you know,
unfortunately letting the state off the hook by not investing as much
money and the local share continues to then. Increase, but not at
being able to overall increase the pot of dollars available for school
districts. And that is very challenging. I get the same question and
(01:25):
people are thinking that Everybody should have ample resources now
because our property taxes have gone up, but the state limits that and
you can't put more dollars in. And so that's a challenge to
communicate because it doesn't necessarily make sense to people. Yeah,
it is, it is a challenge and I know. Then on top of sort of the base
mills that people pay on their properties that then goes into the
formula along with some state backfill. There are opportunities for
local districts to pass an override of those mill levies and raise
additional, um, additional funds for their local schools and their
local school districts. Tracy, I know in, in Jeffco, one of the things
we've been looking at is how much do the overrides, um, either
advantage us or frankly in Jeffco disadvantage us as compared to. The
investment per pupil, uh, compared to other neighboring districts like
Boulder or Cherry Creek or Denver or Littleton. Um, and what I know is
that we are, you know, in some cases, investing. Close to 3,000
dollars less per student than some of our neighboring districts
because they have passed more overrides and tied their overrides to
inflation. Do you know. generally speaking across the districts in the
state. Um, what are the big differences there in the overrides that
people pass or don't pass in addition to their, state portion, their,
you know, the, the formula from the School Finance Act? So you're
(01:46):
exactly right. Um, there's 178 school districts in Colorado and there
are fifty-six school districts that have no override at all. And that
is not necessarily because they haven't asked or it's not necessarily
because they don't have support from their voters. It's a function
that what they can actually raise is. Not going to be meaningful
enough for them to make a difference because their property wealth is
not something that's going to generate revenue. So one of the things
that makes a big difference for districts is who is the, who's paying
the burden on that? Is it primarily the property owners or is it the,
commercial and your business owners? And, so that plays into it as
well as your residential wealth in a community isn't as valuable as
your commercial wealth. And so, um. It's much harder to generate
revenue when you are primarily a residential type community versus a
Denver, which has a lot of, you know, the majority, half of the, Uh,
revenue that comes into the state is through Denver because of the
commercial wealth. So that makes a big difference. Um, also then what
you find is. That in different communities, they have had success in
passing over rights and they can tie it to an inflationary increase.
And a lot of that increase is not, Something that is going to make a
big difference because they can spread it out over a number of people.
And that wealth thing gets distributed in a way that that impact looks
(02:07):
much less for a taxpayer. If you're in a smaller community, you're
having less people burden that, that increase in investment. And so,
um, you know, there, there is a big disparity, I would say anywhere
from no additional dollars for an override up to probably about
$3,200. Uh, for an override in a district and that makes it very
challenging then when you're trying to compete for salaries for people
for programs. As a district, you know, 85% of your budget is going to
be going towards paying people. It's a people intensive business. And
if you're trying to compete, that's where you needing to spend the
dollars. And that does create very. Large inequities. Unfortunately,
Colorado has made the assumption that the way that Increased
investment can be made is on the backs of the local taxpayer instead
of at the state level. Most states would not allow for the level of
inequity that we have in our system right now. Both for the taxpayer
and around student equity. Thank you. That's a helpful clarification.
Um, can you talk about, let's go back to the adequacy studies that the
state has conducted. Why did the state do this kind of financial
analysis? And is that unusual or usual for states? Have other states
done that? Um, and why did Colorado decide to take this up at this
time? So, the adequacy studies are a fairly normal way that a state
looks at getting that analysis before they change a school finance
(02:28):
system. And they want to have this information. It's truly based upon,
the expectations that that state has put in place around
accountability, accreditation, student performance. The standards that
they must teach, the assessments they must give. So it's very
structured to reflect a particular state and what those expectations
are. And so, you know, I am very glad that the state did this. Most of
the time, the state wouldn't commission two separate reports. They
would request one report doing multiple approaches. But we did it a
little differently and so now we have two results from two different
studies. And this really should be what informs changes in a school
finance system. Um, it's going to talk about what the base level of
funding should be, what the adjustment should be for different types
of district and student characteristics. And then create an
opportunity for the legislature to put a plan in place for
implementation. and at that point, then you're making decisions of
what you need to adjust in your school finance system. Actually based
on research and not just on politics and yes, politics will play into
it, but at least hopefully your starting point is based on the
research and the analysis and. So, Colorado is behind in doing these
studies. Many states do these studies every five to seven years as
they update their school finance system. And they can really look to
(02:49):
see are these investments and changes getting the progress that they
needed. Great. And so since we did two studies, can you talk a little
bit about the commonalities between the two studies and what were the
differences that That they outline in terms of our findings? So the
commonalities were very similar, not only around the amount of dollars
needed, but also in the areas that they find that were Very lagging in
investments such as putting additional weights or adjustments for
students who have special needs or characteristics. So for our
students that are learning English, who are at risk, who are gifted
and talented, who are special education, They all would come with
additional resources attached for those students that are much higher
than what we're currently doing in Colorado. Then both studies
indicated that we should use a wage index and look at the comparison
Of who we are, who teachers are competing with in other fields, for
example, that live in a community so that you really can see we do
have a problem. They identified Very specifically in that American
Institute research study that we are the worst paying state when it
comes to salaries based on competitive, Dollars for similar type of
education requirements. both studies indicated that we really need to
differentiate. Around cost of doing business as well as a wage index.
Um, and we all know that the cost of doing business for school
(03:10):
districts. Has not been part of our formula in the past and the
pressures that there are for, you know, for insurance for. Any type
of. Utilities that are things that you're purchasing outside the
system make a big difference and needs to be addressed. And so, um, I
think that as we then say, you know, well, what are the differences? I
think really the differences only come down to, the findings in the
approach for implementation. But not really in the findings
themselves. One says more money should be put into the base level of
funding and and one says less money into or not less than what we
have, but more money into the base. But having higher adjustments for
student characteristics and district characteristics. So at the end of
the day, you get to pretty much the same dollar amount. It's just a
function of which policy you think is a better way for Colorado to go.
But it is important for them to think about adopting one or the other
policies and really looking at it with fidelity and come up with a
plan to put in place so that objectives can be met over a period of
time. I don't believe there's any expectation that they would all be
met in one year or in three years. But I think in looking at other
states, you can see major improvements in say five to seven to ten
years. And then evaluate again and see if you're on the right
direction. Thank you. That's helpful to hear in terms of the types of
(03:31):
changes that we might want to make. Aren't necessarily going to happen
overnight, especially with the state's, you know, um, nearly billion
dollar shortfall that this estimated shortfall this year. Right. And,
and the conversations that are happening at the state level now.
Related to, this budget cycle. Um, a few statistics that I've recently
shared publicly in interviews, is that we as a state fall far short of
the national average in per pupil funding, I think as outlined in
these studies for sure. Um, you know, between two thousand and 3,000
below the national average per pupil spending, 43rd in spending on
education adjusted for regional cost differences based on ed week. Um,
in a 2020, 2021 report that they did 50th in teacher wage
competitiveness. You just talked about us being at the bottom of, of
the teacher salary, uh, range and, um. And it compares to your point
earlier, teachers to non-teachers with similar education experience
and hours worked. Um, and so based on these realities and the results
of the studies. Um, it's no wonder that we are having challenges with
recruiting teachers. and I think it has implications not only for our
policymakers, but also our general population and electorate. Um, you
know, I don't know, to your point, even if we were to take some of the
recommendations based on how far behind we are inadequately funding
public education based on these two studies, even if we took five
(03:52):
years to try to make up that ground. I'm just not sure where the money
comes from, Tracy. How would you answer that question? If we want to
make progress, if we want to take on some of the recommendations from
these adequacy studies, how do we fund it as a state? Well, I always
say that, um, you know, people say, well, we have Tabor, you know, we
can't raise revenue because we have Tabor. And actually that's not
what it says. Tabor says you have to ask people. And so it doesn't say
you can't. And I think that one of the discussions we really need to
have, not just for education, but in general, is that Are we doing a
service to help our overall economic conditions in the state of
Colorado as we're looking at the future five ten fifteen twenty years
down the road? And if we don't have an education system, a health
system, whatever you are looking at, that is going to support the
demographics of our communities, which are changing. Then we are not
going to be as attractive as a state for the strong economic growth
that we've seen in the past. And there are plenty of resources that
give you that information that. Back that up. It's, you know, as the
saying goes, you pay for what you get. And, um, you are not, we aren't
paying very much and we're not getting the results in many cases that
people would like to see. The argument out here is that, well, some
kids are doing just fine. And that's true. Some kids are doing just
(04:13):
fine. But if the goal in Colorado is to ensure that all students have
the opportunity To be able to excel at their levels and be able to
take part in programs that will allow them to achieve on their own,
then that's. Why we have expanded programs available. I mean, Jeffco
has a huge Warren tech program. A number of kids who take part in that
program. Um, obviously need a different choice in their environment in
order to be successful. And we know that to be true for all students
in Colorado. And right now we're not putting in place an opportunity
for many of our students to excel who easily could But we don't have
the resources to invest in the programs that they are would like to
have available. Yeah. In Jeffco, we are reimagining high school Tracy
to be much more career. oriented and or, providing students
opportunities to explore various career pathways. And we know from our
students and their, their voice at the table. That that is the most
interesting thing for them to really have those relevant learning
experiences related to where they want to go. You know, and I'm, I am
fortunate enough to be part of the, the board of the Economic
Development Council and in Jeffco and we talk often about how
relevant. The types of graduates coming out of our high schools are to
the economic development in our community. and we believe that, you
know, we're a community of leaders, growing leaders and part of
(04:34):
leadership for our young people. Is having the skill set they need
once they cross that graduation stage. To go into the workplace or
into their post-secondary learning experiences, you know, with some
sense of where they're headed, some efficacy in leading their own
lives forward and leading in their future workforce and leading in In
our community, and investment in that, right, is, uh, is a, is an
investment in everything from, our economics, uh, to, you know, the
industries that. That are so, in need of the future workforce,
especially when we all have declining enrollment. Who's gonna run all
of these important companies? And who's going to take care of all of
us? That's right. Great. Tracy, before we wrap up, is there anything
else that you'd like to add and contribute to the conversation about
this important topic? Well, another thing that I think is important is
when we think about this, Colorado is a wealthy state. We're a welleducated state. We've been lucky so far to import our talent from
outside the state. We're not seeing that model being carried forward
as we're seeing a change in our population. Our state isn't growing as
fast anymore. And so I do think it's really important to think about
the fact that we, we do have an opportunity to invest and that we can
do so as other states have done. And that we need to take it seriously
and have it be a priority so that we can continue to be a strong state
and do right by our kids. Yeah.
00:24:18 Unknown (04:55):
Well, thank you for this important conversation
today, Tracy. School finance and funding can be very confusing and a
really challenging topic to unpack. I'm grateful for the work that you
and your colleagues do to compile, collect, and distribute researchbased nonpartisan information and data on topics related to school
finance for our state and local policymakers. for our listening
public, if you have not been to the color of school finance project
website, the organization that Tracy runs, I highly recommend just
going and seeing some of the publications and information. That they
transparently, put out for, for us all to see. I really appreciate you
all joining us for this special episode of Elevate Education. Thank
you very much, Tracy, for your time and expertise. Until next time,
keep learning, keep growing, and keep elevating education.
State of the District #4/pt2
00:00:54 Unknown (00:01):
Welcome to Elevate Education. So I want to I want to
share a quick story about when I was a teacher. In the classroom I
taught both first and third grade and I loved it. Uh, but each year I
would find myself inevitably Either right before school started or
right after school started in my principal's office asking if I could
have a hundred bucks or so to buy certain things for my classroom.
Including school supplies that some of my students were unable to
bring with them to school. And every year I would get a small
classroom budget to be able to invest. Uh, in, in multiple districts
because that's, that's what I, had experience in as a teacher. I had
different levels of investment in other materials, outside of a, a, a
small classroom budget. In one district I worked in, I had. All of the
literacy and curriculum materials I needed to teach reading and
writing. In the second district I was in, I had no such thing. And so
it's just true that across our country and across our districts, even
here in the state of Colorado, There are different levels of resources
based on how districts decide to invest and align their resources to
the needs of their classrooms. As well as just different levels of
investment in public education across various states and various,
various communities even within the state of Colorado. it's always one
of those things where there's never enough of something and the two
(00:22):
things you can count on there never being enough of for public
education is definitely time and money. Um, and so in 2024 the
Colorado Department of Education Commissioned two independent
financial adequacy studies to estimate the resources needed for
students, teachers, schools, and districts To meet state standards and
requirements. These resources are used to calculate an adequate
funding level and parameters for a state school finance formula. And
then that is applied across districts across the state. Today, I'm
fortunate to be joined by Tracy Rainey, Executive Director of the
Colorado School Finance Project, And Colorado School Finance Expert.
Together today, we will unpack the results of these two financial
adequacy studies, how Colorado school districts are funded, And
changes in federal education policy that may have implications for
K-12 schools. Tracy, welcome to Elevate Education. Thank you very
much. Happy to be here. Yeah. Before we dive into today's topic, can
you just introduce yourself to our listeners? Share a little bit about
your background and education and what led you to a career in
education finance? Well, thank you. my background is in business and
economics and um, I came into this kind of back door, which was when
my kids started school and I couldn't understand why The very first
thing that I was faced with was how are we going to cut funding in
(00:43):
schools after they just put in a new school finance act. That made no
sense to me at all. And so I ended up doing kind of a career change
from the private sector to the public sector and wanting to be able
to. Really begin to understand how Colorado funded its goals, why they
funded it a certain way, and felt it was critically important to have
everybody at the table, I guess I would say to have conversations
around school finance instead of doing it isolated where we, across
the state. Weren't having those joint conversations to understand the
need of different types of districts and what the challenges were. And
so, I love being able to work with districts across the state. Can
educate some legislators along the way so that they understand, the
value that there is in a strong public education system. Great. Thank
you, Tracy. We're, we're very fortunate. I think in the state of
Colorado that you made that decision, uh, to, to jump into our arena
and. I think be a sense maker for not only legislators in our state,
but many of us who are practitioners in districts. Trying to make
sense of how best to prioritize our resources against our, our goals
and our organizations and our schools. So thank you very much for the
services that you provide and the expertise you bring. You know, it's
interesting, Tracy, when I visit with families and community members
in Jeffco, One of the most common questions I get as superintendent
(01:04):
and especially recently, given all of the conversation last fall in
the fall of 2024 about property taxes, residential property taxes. Um,
people say to me often, you know, Superintendent Dorland, my property
taxes have skyrocketed in recent years. Does this also mean that
funding to our local schools has significantly increased? Or sometimes
they'll say, I know my property taxes just went up, so you must be,
you know, living large over there in the school district able to
invest all of those taxes in. In our schools, you know, what are you
spending all that money on? can you, can you clarify how you might
answer that question and then generally speaking, just discuss how are
our schools funded in the state? Sure, I'd be happy to. So the first
dollars that go into school funding are the local dollars and property
taxes go up. That means that the local investment goes up. But
unfortunately, that means the state investment decreases. So the
overall funding is not showing a substantial increase. It's only going
to reflect probably an inflationary amount. And and that's lucky if
you're not declining in enrollment. So you are, you know,
unfortunately letting the state off the hook by not investing as much
money and the local share continues to then. Increase, but not at
being able to overall increase the pot of dollars available for school
districts. And that is very challenging. I get the same question and
(01:25):
people are thinking that Everybody should have ample resources now
because our property taxes have gone up, but the state limits that and
you can't put more dollars in. And so that's a challenge to
communicate because it doesn't necessarily make sense to people. Yeah,
it is, it is a challenge and I know. Then on top of sort of the base
mills that people pay on their properties that then goes into the
formula along with some state backfill. There are opportunities for
local districts to pass an override of those mill levies and raise
additional, um, additional funds for their local schools and their
local school districts. Tracy, I know in, in Jeffco, one of the things
we've been looking at is how much do the overrides, um, either
advantage us or frankly in Jeffco disadvantage us as compared to. The
investment per pupil, uh, compared to other neighboring districts like
Boulder or Cherry Creek or Denver or Littleton. Um, and what I know is
that we are, you know, in some cases, investing. Close to 3,000
dollars less per student than some of our neighboring districts
because they have passed more overrides and tied their overrides to
inflation. Do you know. generally speaking across the districts in the
state. Um, what are the big differences there in the overrides that
people pass or don't pass in addition to their, state portion, their,
you know, the, the formula from the School Finance Act? So you're
(01:46):
exactly right. Um, there's 178 school districts in Colorado and there
are fifty-six school districts that have no override at all. And that
is not necessarily because they haven't asked or it's not necessarily
because they don't have support from their voters. It's a function
that what they can actually raise is. Not going to be meaningful
enough for them to make a difference because their property wealth is
not something that's going to generate revenue. So one of the things
that makes a big difference for districts is who is the, who's paying
the burden on that? Is it primarily the property owners or is it the,
commercial and your business owners? And, so that plays into it as
well as your residential wealth in a community isn't as valuable as
your commercial wealth. And so, um. It's much harder to generate
revenue when you are primarily a residential type community versus a
Denver, which has a lot of, you know, the majority, half of the, Uh,
revenue that comes into the state is through Denver because of the
commercial wealth. So that makes a big difference. Um, also then what
you find is. That in different communities, they have had success in
passing over rights and they can tie it to an inflationary increase.
And a lot of that increase is not, Something that is going to make a
big difference because they can spread it out over a number of people.
And that wealth thing gets distributed in a way that that impact looks
(02:07):
much less for a taxpayer. If you're in a smaller community, you're
having less people burden that, that increase in investment. And so,
um, you know, there, there is a big disparity, I would say anywhere
from no additional dollars for an override up to probably about
$3,200. Uh, for an override in a district and that makes it very
challenging then when you're trying to compete for salaries for people
for programs. As a district, you know, 85% of your budget is going to
be going towards paying people. It's a people intensive business. And
if you're trying to compete, that's where you needing to spend the
dollars. And that does create very. Large inequities. Unfortunately,
Colorado has made the assumption that the way that Increased
investment can be made is on the backs of the local taxpayer instead
of at the state level. Most states would not allow for the level of
inequity that we have in our system right now. Both for the taxpayer
and around student equity. Thank you. That's a helpful clarification.
Um, can you talk about, let's go back to the adequacy studies that the
state has conducted. Why did the state do this kind of financial
analysis? And is that unusual or usual for states? Have other states
done that? Um, and why did Colorado decide to take this up at this
time? So, the adequacy studies are a fairly normal way that a state
looks at getting that analysis before they change a school finance
(02:28):
system. And they want to have this information. It's truly based upon,
the expectations that that state has put in place around
accountability, accreditation, student performance. The standards that
they must teach, the assessments they must give. So it's very
structured to reflect a particular state and what those expectations
are. And so, you know, I am very glad that the state did this. Most of
the time, the state wouldn't commission two separate reports. They
would request one report doing multiple approaches. But we did it a
little differently and so now we have two results from two different
studies. And this really should be what informs changes in a school
finance system. Um, it's going to talk about what the base level of
funding should be, what the adjustment should be for different types
of district and student characteristics. And then create an
opportunity for the legislature to put a plan in place for
implementation. and at that point, then you're making decisions of
what you need to adjust in your school finance system. Actually based
on research and not just on politics and yes, politics will play into
it, but at least hopefully your starting point is based on the
research and the analysis and. So, Colorado is behind in doing these
studies. Many states do these studies every five to seven years as
they update their school finance system. And they can really look to
(02:49):
see are these investments and changes getting the progress that they
needed. Great. And so since we did two studies, can you talk a little
bit about the commonalities between the two studies and what were the
differences that That they outline in terms of our findings? So the
commonalities were very similar, not only around the amount of dollars
needed, but also in the areas that they find that were Very lagging in
investments such as putting additional weights or adjustments for
students who have special needs or characteristics. So for our
students that are learning English, who are at risk, who are gifted
and talented, who are special education, They all would come with
additional resources attached for those students that are much higher
than what we're currently doing in Colorado. Then both studies
indicated that we should use a wage index and look at the comparison
Of who we are, who teachers are competing with in other fields, for
example, that live in a community so that you really can see we do
have a problem. They identified Very specifically in that American
Institute research study that we are the worst paying state when it
comes to salaries based on competitive, Dollars for similar type of
education requirements. both studies indicated that we really need to
differentiate. Around cost of doing business as well as a wage index.
Um, and we all know that the cost of doing business for school
(03:10):
districts. Has not been part of our formula in the past and the
pressures that there are for, you know, for insurance for. Any type
of. Utilities that are things that you're purchasing outside the
system make a big difference and needs to be addressed. And so, um, I
think that as we then say, you know, well, what are the differences? I
think really the differences only come down to, the findings in the
approach for implementation. But not really in the findings
themselves. One says more money should be put into the base level of
funding and and one says less money into or not less than what we
have, but more money into the base. But having higher adjustments for
student characteristics and district characteristics. So at the end of
the day, you get to pretty much the same dollar amount. It's just a
function of which policy you think is a better way for Colorado to go.
But it is important for them to think about adopting one or the other
policies and really looking at it with fidelity and come up with a
plan to put in place so that objectives can be met over a period of
time. I don't believe there's any expectation that they would all be
met in one year or in three years. But I think in looking at other
states, you can see major improvements in say five to seven to ten
years. And then evaluate again and see if you're on the right
direction. Thank you. That's helpful to hear in terms of the types of
(03:31):
changes that we might want to make. Aren't necessarily going to happen
overnight, especially with the state's, you know, um, nearly billion
dollar shortfall that this estimated shortfall this year. Right. And,
and the conversations that are happening at the state level now.
Related to, this budget cycle. Um, a few statistics that I've recently
shared publicly in interviews, is that we as a state fall far short of
the national average in per pupil funding, I think as outlined in
these studies for sure. Um, you know, between two thousand and 3,000
below the national average per pupil spending, 43rd in spending on
education adjusted for regional cost differences based on ed week. Um,
in a 2020, 2021 report that they did 50th in teacher wage
competitiveness. You just talked about us being at the bottom of, of
the teacher salary, uh, range and, um. And it compares to your point
earlier, teachers to non-teachers with similar education experience
and hours worked. Um, and so based on these realities and the results
of the studies. Um, it's no wonder that we are having challenges with
recruiting teachers. and I think it has implications not only for our
policymakers, but also our general population and electorate. Um, you
know, I don't know, to your point, even if we were to take some of the
recommendations based on how far behind we are inadequately funding
public education based on these two studies, even if we took five
(03:52):
years to try to make up that ground. I'm just not sure where the money
comes from, Tracy. How would you answer that question? If we want to
make progress, if we want to take on some of the recommendations from
these adequacy studies, how do we fund it as a state? Well, I always
say that, um, you know, people say, well, we have Tabor, you know, we
can't raise revenue because we have Tabor. And actually that's not
what it says. Tabor says you have to ask people. And so it doesn't say
you can't. And I think that one of the discussions we really need to
have, not just for education, but in general, is that Are we doing a
service to help our overall economic conditions in the state of
Colorado as we're looking at the future five ten fifteen twenty years
down the road? And if we don't have an education system, a health
system, whatever you are looking at, that is going to support the
demographics of our communities, which are changing. Then we are not
going to be as attractive as a state for the strong economic growth
that we've seen in the past. And there are plenty of resources that
give you that information that. Back that up. It's, you know, as the
saying goes, you pay for what you get. And, um, you are not, we aren't
paying very much and we're not getting the results in many cases that
people would like to see. The argument out here is that, well, some
kids are doing just fine. And that's true. Some kids are doing just
(04:13):
fine. But if the goal in Colorado is to ensure that all students have
the opportunity To be able to excel at their levels and be able to
take part in programs that will allow them to achieve on their own,
then that's. Why we have expanded programs available. I mean, Jeffco
has a huge Warren tech program. A number of kids who take part in that
program. Um, obviously need a different choice in their environment in
order to be successful. And we know that to be true for all students
in Colorado. And right now we're not putting in place an opportunity
for many of our students to excel who easily could But we don't have
the resources to invest in the programs that they are would like to
have available. Yeah. In Jeffco, we are reimagining high school Tracy
to be much more career. oriented and or, providing students
opportunities to explore various career pathways. And we know from our
students and their, their voice at the table. That that is the most
interesting thing for them to really have those relevant learning
experiences related to where they want to go. You know, and I'm, I am
fortunate enough to be part of the, the board of the Economic
Development Council and in Jeffco and we talk often about how
relevant. The types of graduates coming out of our high schools are to
the economic development in our community. and we believe that, you
know, we're a community of leaders, growing leaders and part of
(04:34):
leadership for our young people. Is having the skill set they need
once they cross that graduation stage. To go into the workplace or
into their post-secondary learning experiences, you know, with some
sense of where they're headed, some efficacy in leading their own
lives forward and leading in their future workforce and leading in In
our community, and investment in that, right, is, uh, is a, is an
investment in everything from, our economics, uh, to, you know, the
industries that. That are so, in need of the future workforce,
especially when we all have declining enrollment. Who's gonna run all
of these important companies? And who's going to take care of all of
us? That's right. Great. Tracy, before we wrap up, is there anything
else that you'd like to add and contribute to the conversation about
this important topic? Well, another thing that I think is important is
when we think about this, Colorado is a wealthy state. We're a welleducated state. We've been lucky so far to import our talent from
outside the state. We're not seeing that model being carried forward
as we're seeing a change in our population. Our state isn't growing as
fast anymore. And so I do think it's really important to think about
the fact that we, we do have an opportunity to invest and that we can
do so as other states have done. And that we need to take it seriously
and have it be a priority so that we can continue to be a strong state
and do right by our kids. Yeah.
00:24:18 Unknown (04:55):
Well, thank you for this important conversation
today, Tracy. School finance and funding can be very confusing and a
really challenging topic to unpack. I'm grateful for the work that you
and your colleagues do to compile, collect, and distribute researchbased nonpartisan information and data on topics related to school
finance for our state and local policymakers. for our listening
public, if you have not been to the color of school finance project
website, the organization that Tracy runs, I highly recommend just
going and seeing some of the publications and information. That they
transparently, put out for, for us all to see. I really appreciate you
all joining us for this special episode of Elevate Education. Thank
you very much, Tracy, for your time and expertise. Until next time,
keep learning, keep growing, and keep elevating education.
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