DENVER – Supporters of higher funding for schools turned in petition signatures Monday to ask Colorado voters to raise their own income taxes this November.
The more than 160,000 signatures they turned in are nearly double the required 86,105 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify their plan for the ballot. Typically, around 30 percent of signatures are rejected as invalid.
Campaign organizer Gail Klapper said she is “100 percent confident” the initiative will qualify for the November election.
“You will see a strong list of bipartisan business support for this,” said Klapper, who is a director of the Colorado Forum, a business group that has been pushing for education funding for several years. “The businesses understand that without a very strong education system, they are not going to feel confident getting their workforce from our K-12 schools and colleges.”
The initiative asks voters to raise income taxes to 5 percent on earnings of $75,000 or less, and 5.9 percent on income above $75,000. Currently, Colorado has a flat 4.63 percent tax rate.
If voters approve, the additional money will be used to fund a long list of reforms the Legislature passed this spring, including full-day kindergarten. Funding for Montezuma-Cortez schools would rise a projected $1,400 per student if the initiative passes.
Later Monday, critics were scheduled to launch an opposition campaign, to be called Coloradans for Real Education Reform. State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a Republican, is scheduled to speak at the news conference launching the opposition campaign.
Currently, the ballot question is known as Initiative 22, but it will get a new number if it is approved for the ballot.
Secretary of State Scott Gessler has until Sept. 4 to validate the signatures.
joeh@cortezjournal.com
