April 25, 2018
When passed in 2000, the Colorado Constitution’s Amendment 23 was attempting to reverse budget cuts that state school districts had been experiencing for a decade. The amendment required K-12 funding to increase by inflation each year plus 1% between 2001 and 2011, and also mandated that funding would increase by inflation for the indefinite future. However, because of the national recession in the late 2000s and Colorado’s resultant economic woes, Amendment 23 didn’t follow the pattern set in place originally. According to Great Education Colorado, “the funding level approved by the legislature for the 2015-16 school year is fully $855 million ($1000 per pupil) below what is required under… Amendment 23.)
Amendment 23 also serves to require that funding for programs like special education and transportation increase by the same percentages as general education funding each year. It theoretically allows K-12 spending to reach beyond the inflation plus 1% limit as well, if there is demonstrated need in a school district for priorities such as textbooks and early childhood education.
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