Union organizers warn privatization is draining Colorado classrooms and outline 2026 ballot plan to ease TABOR limits

At a League of Women Voters of Colorado Education Task Force meeting, Grace Lynch, an NEA Organizing Fellow and teacher, warned that privatization efforts are shifting public money away from neighborhood schools and weakening accountability, and outlined a Colorado Education Association-backed campaign to raise the K–12 cap tied to Colorado's TABOR revenue limit.

Lynch told attendees that privatization in Colorado most commonly appears as vouchers or tax credits, charter expansion without the same accountability requirements, and contracting out services such as custodial and food services. "It shows up for us in policy efforts that move public money away from neighborhood schools and into systems with less oversight and fewer obligations and people to be held accountable to," Lynch said.

Why it matters: Speakers said long-term underfunding, driven in part by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), creates scarcity that invites private solutions, and that money leaving the public system rarely returns. Lynch and Jake Dominello, a UNISERV director for the Colorado Education Association, said those dynamics most strongly harm rural districts and students with disabilities and English-language learners.

Details of the proposal: Lynch described a CEA-led campaign for the 2026 ballot that would "raise the K–12 funding cap by 2% every year for the next 10 years," a step the union calls part of a longer-term strategy to erode TABOR's constraints on education funding. Lynch said the coalition is seeking a legislative referral (to appear as SB 1) so it would avoid the signature-collection route; she added the campaign is framing the measure as not raising taxes but asking the state to use funds it already collects more predictably and equitably.

Local examples and actors: Speakers cited specific districts where they said privatization or board takeovers have weakened union recognition and local bargaining — including Colorado Springs, Woodland Park, Grand Junction (District 51), and Montezuma County/Cortez — and named outside actors they said play roles, including charter-aligned lawyers and national groups such as the Heritage Foundation and the Freedom Foundation. Lynch said local legal strategies can include removing payroll-deduction for dues and stripping formal recognition of unions, which can cripple a union's practical membership overnight.

Organizing response: Jake Dominello described successful local organizing strategies used on the Western Slope — broadening coalitions, public education and, where necessary, recalls or focused election campaigns — and urged groups to prioritize voter education, coalition-building and local outreach. "Our teaching conditions are our students' learning conditions," Dominello said, arguing that stronger contracts and stable funding reduce teacher turnover and improve student outcomes.

Q&A and next steps: Meeting participants asked to see draft language for the proposed ballot referral; Lynch said she had not yet seen final language and that CEA has a steering committee meeting on Friday and would follow up with stakeholders if language becomes available. Lynch also said some legislators have expressed willingness to sponsor or refer the measure, but CEA is strategizing whether the referral should appear to be driven by educators and parents rather than the legislature for messaging reasons.

The League of Women Voters task force thanked the speakers and noted a follow-up education meeting scheduled for Jan. 21 to discuss universal pre-K and the intersection of religious freedom and civil-rights protections.

Notes: The article reports discussion and proposals presented at the meeting; no formal legislative referral or vote occurred during the session, and the ballot initiative language was not yet public.