Colorado's "Future School Finance Act" would overhaul financing for public schools, which currently accounts for 43 percent of the state's general fund spending. If voters agree, the initiative would raise $1 billion from taxpayers, target extra funds to kids with the greatest learning needs, and redistribute funds to benefit poor districts. As part of these reforms, kindergarten would become an all-day experience, and preschool would be offered for at-risk 4-year-olds.
The measure, which has already been approved by the legislature but also has to be voted on by residents, has attracted support from US Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others. State Republicans have opposed it, as well as others who see it as an expensive new tax that won't necessarily improve education.
Through a fluke of disconnected policies, Colorado's poorest districts currently tax themselves at the highest rates, yet receive the least amount of state support for schools. And in the past four years, spending has been cut so that Colorado now spends $2,000 less per student than the average US state.
