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District 11 lobbyist outlines school finance gains, local-control wins after 2025 session
Summary
Amy Atwood, the district’s contract lobbyist, told the board May 7 that the 2025 legislative session ended after 120 days and produced targeted reallocations that added funding for K–12 and other core programs while preserving local control, but that uncertainty remains for 2026–27.
Amy Atwood, Atwood Public Affairs contract lobbyist with Colorado Springs School District No. 11, told the school board the 2025 Colorado legislative session ended May 7 after 120 days. "The legislative session came to a close after 120 days, which is constitutional. It finished on May 7," Atwood said, and she summarized outcomes that the district tracked.
Atwood told the board that lawmakers introduced roughly 733 bills and that hundreds advanced despite a projected $1.3 billion shortfall going into the session. "We went in in the red with $1,300,000,000," she said, but the joint budget committee and legislature used reallocations rather than broad cuts to protect many core programs including K–12 funding.
Atwood said the session produced an automatic sweep into the school finance act — referred to in the briefing materials as the "Kids Matter" sweep of about $230 million — intended to cover the…
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