Date: 02/13/2013

Final
Colorado School Finance Project Presentation

COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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07:49 AM -- Colorado School Finance Project Presentation

Senator Hudak, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, welcomed the committee members and audience to the Joint Committee on Education. Tracie Rainey, Colorado School Finance Project, came to the table. She distributed a handout (Attachment A) and began her presentation on school finance in Colorado. She talked about the Public School Finance Act of 1994, which created a fifty-fifty split between state and local share for school funding and emphasized the importance of access as opposed to proficiency. She explained that since the Act passed, school enrollment continues to grow, a increasing percentage of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, there are 186 different languages spoken in schools throughout the state, and there has been an increase in the population of special needs students. Ms. Rainey stated that education goals are now moving more towards proficiency, and that Colorado is $2,500 dollars below the national average for per pupil funding, or a total of $2 billion under the national average when examined as an aggregate. She spoke about the state constitutional requirement for a uniform and equitable education system, and stated that Colorado must keep the education system accessible, adaptable, and adequate for students moving forward in the future. She also stated that the system must remain adequate and equitable from a tax payer perspective.

13JtEd0213AttachA.pdf13JtEd0213AttachA.pdf

07:57 AM

Ms. Rainey continued her presentation and spoke about the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K), educator effectiveness, accountability, the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act, new student assessments, workforce readiness, and the importance of examining what the costs are to implementing these new policies, programs, and systems. She explained that there are four accepted methodologies to use in determining the cost of providing education, which are: professional judgement; successful school districts; evidence based research; and statistical evidence. Ms. Rainey stated that the successful school district approach looks at which school districts are currently meeting a set of expectations. She explained that this approach does not look at other cost pressures such as size of the district and make-up of the student population. She stated that the professional judgement methodology is Colorado-specific because it looks at student populations and the current expectations, standards, and requirements in place, and takes into account the size and make-up of a school district to see if it represents the size and make-up of the population in the district it serves.


08:04 AM

Ms. Rainey spoke about the resource needs identified by a professional judgement panel outlined on page 11 of Attachment A. She explained that the panel looked at teacher salaries in Colorado compared to the national average, as well as system and technology changes that are needed in order to fully implement the new education policies that have been adopted by the state. She told the committee that when adjusting the current school finance formula or creating a new school finance formula, it's important to think about the fact that Colorado is very diverse and has different cost pressures in different areas of the state. She stated that the best way to deliver programs such as those for English language learners (ELL), special needs, and at-risk students, is around economies of scale, and stated that it's important to determine how to translate this in to a funding formula that includes adjustments and weight factors.


08:13 AM

Representative Young asked Ms. Rainey to comment on why there have not been any studies done on the impacts of the new funding mechanisms in Colorado. She responded that funding evaluations take place after procedures and policies have been fully implemented. Senator Hudak commented on the results of the costing-out update. Committee discussion ensued about the costs to implement all of the recommendations made by the professional judgement panels.