Senate appropriations committee advances referred education funding measure after hours of debate, 4–3

Senate Bill 135, a voter-referred measure that would create a compounding 2% annual "positive factor" for K–12 funding, was advanced by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on a 4–3 vote after more than an hour of technical explanations and partisan questioning.

The measure, as amended by L006 and L008 and discussed by sponsor Senator Bridges, would add a new layer of funding that applies on top of the school finance formula. Bridges told the committee the amendment "dramatically increases the dollars under this that would be going to K–12 public education" and estimated "about $1,300,000,000 that will be going to K–12 public schools every year" by the end of 10 years, assuming revenue growth.

Why it matters: The measure would change how excess state revenue above the Ref C TABOR limit is allocated and create a formal accounting of missed "positive factor" payments so that any amounts not paid in a low-revenue year would remain recorded and be paid when revenue recovers. That design was the central point of sustained questioning from committee members who asked whether the measure could be used to reduce the state's existing base share for school funding.

Legal and fiscal mechanics: Pierce Lively of the Office of Legislative Legal Services explained that the bill creates a "deferred positive factor" accounting structure: "The deferred positive factor amount is part of the computation of what needs to be paid out to schools in the year where we have sufficient revenue," he said, adding that missed payments would stay on the books and be added to future distributions until paid off. Lively also said the bill does not explicitly prohibit the General Assembly from reducing the state share; the prosecutor-style point was raised repeatedly by Senator Kirkmeyer, who pressed sponsors that "the bill does not explicitly state anywhere that the state share cannot be reduced."

Distribution and safeguards: The fiscal tables discussed in committee show near-term illustrative allocations including roughly $203 million toward the positive factor for school finance, about $212 million for property tax reimbursements (homestead exemptions), and other state expenditures in the hundreds of millions in an illustrative year. Bridges emphasized the sponsor's intent that the first surplus dollars above the Ref C limit would go to the senior homestead exemption and then to K–12 under the positive factor.

Local control and audit provisions: Members raised concerns that directing state-level uses for the additional dollars could encroach on local control. Bridges said the dollars would be additive and directed by the measure for specified uses—teacher pay, retention, lower class sizes, and career and technical courses—and that "there is an audit to ensure the districts are actually spending these dollars on what it is the people of Colorado have said that they need to be spending it on." Opponents asked whether the measure should contain explicit anti-supplanting language to prevent the state from reducing its current contribution to school finance; the sponsor said he would consider adding "comfort language."

Committee outcome and next step: Amendments L006 and L008 were adopted and the committee sent the referred measure forward by a recorded roll call, 4–3. The committee record shows Senators Gonzales, Mister vice chair, and the Madam chair voting aye along with Senator Kolker; Senators Kirk Meyer, Liston and Pelton voted no. The bill will move next in the legislative process as a referred measure for placement on the ballot if it continues to be advanced.

The committee also asked fiscal staff to provide district-level distribution runs and additional statutory language options; sponsors agreed to consider language clarifying protections against supplanting and to provide more granular distribution tables.