DENVER – State lawmakers shifted their focus away from student testing reform to budget discussions, as education providers call for minimum damage this legislative session.
The focus comes after last year’s session, when K-12 student testing reform was the focal point of discussions. Following controversial hearings and debates, lawmakers settled on a compromise package that reduced about 40 hours of testing, while maintaining ninth-grade assessments.
Testing reform is not completely in the rearview mirror. Some lawmakers continue to push for eliminating additional tests, including ninth-grade assessments. But momentum is working against them, as most lawmakers seek to address budget concerns.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s budget office on Friday offered the Joint Budget Committee a revised K-12 funding proposal for Fiscal Year 2015-16, which would reduce the so-called “negative factor” by $24.5 million. The move would avoid a midyear reduction in overall K-12 funding. Under the request, per-pupil funding would actually increase by $18.28 per student.
The updated proposal comes as a small relief to education stakeholders, who have been demanding budget writers to spare any increase to the shortfall, which stands at about $855 million for the current fiscal year. The shortfall for Durango School District 9-R is $4.8 million.
In its letter to the JBC, the Office of State Planning and Budgeting pointed to student counts that are lower than originally anticipated as the reason for the revised figures.
“The negative factor, that’s just treading water,” Hickenlooper told reporters the day before the Legislature convened last week. “If we can’t hold ourselves and keep the negative factor constant, that means that we’re slipping behind in our per-student funding.”
The governor has called for restructuring a hospital-provider fee as an enterprise fund, or government-owned business. The fee is expected to generate $756 million in revenue this fiscal year. The move would take the revenue out of a calculation under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, thereby lowering taxpayer refunds set aside in the general fund to free up money for spending on areas such as education.
The governor said that without a budget fix, the negative factors will only increase in years to come.
Meanwhile, the governor’s budget writers have also included a K-12 decrease of $133.5 million from state funds for the current fiscal year because of higher local tax revenues than originally anticipated. The governor’s office is comfortable with the state reduction, as it would be replaced by an increase in local share.
Some districts across the state expressed concerns with the proposal. But Durango School District 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger – who played a prominent role during testing-reform conversations last year – expressed optimism, underscoring that the governor’s office and lawmakers are at least working to reduce the shortfall.
“The fact that the conversations are looking at what more can we do, I see that as very positive,” Snowberger said.
“We are noticing property values are increasing locally, and so we’ve seen our local share already shift to higher levels this year, so I certainly understand where (Hickenlooper) is coming from,” he said. “It sure beats raising the negative factor.”
The Colorado Education Association, which represents teachers across the state, said budget compromises should not come at the expense of students. The organization urged local districts to invest in their students.
“We view any increase in local funds as an opportunity to invest in our local communities, and provide adequate school funding that nurtures and prepares our children to receive a world-class education,” said Kerrie Dallman, president of CEA. “Supporting Colorado public schools is supporting Colorado’s citizens and communities.”
Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, a teacher who has led on many education issues at the Capitol, applauded efforts to reduce the negative factor, but called for a permanent fix.
“Any structural underlying issue, you don’t always see the cracks in the foundation until the building is falling down,” Kerr said. “That’s why it’s so important for us to be forward-thinking and to look at how we’re going to fix the underlying basic structure.”
In terms of additional testing reform efforts, Kerr last year found himself leaning towards wanting to eliminate as many assessments as possible. But he cautioned against taking action this year.
“We should let those things simmer for a little while before throwing down bills ... to undo everything,” Kerr said. “I didn’t get everything I wanted (last year), but I’m going to respect that process we went through.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
