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Colorado adequacy studies find large funding gaps, urge statewide plan
Summary
A presenter from the Colorado School Finance Project briefed Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 trustees on two statewide adequacy studies that estimate a multi‑billion dollar shortfall and recommend wage and size adjustments to the state funding formula.
Tracy Rainey, a presenter from the Colorado School Finance Project, told the Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 board that two independent adequacy studies ordered by the state reached similar conclusions: Colorado is billions of dollars short of the funding level needed for districts to meet state standards.
The studies used different methods — one an input-based professional judgment and evidence-based approach, the other an output-based cost-function analysis — but both recommended significant increases in base funding, changes to how teacher wages are adjusted and a rethinking of district-size and remoteness adjustments, Rainey said.
Why it matters: The studies were funded by the state and are intended to guide any revision of the public school finance formula, often referred to in the…
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