A Boulder-based children’s advocacy group sued the state Thursday, alleging that Colorado’s system for funding education fails to equally prepare every student for school.
The Colorado Constitution mandates that the General Assembly provide a “thorough and uniform” system of public schools, said Kathleen Gebhardt, one of the lead attorneys from Children’s Voices, which filed the suit in Denver District Court.
“The current system is unconstitutional,” she said. “Every school district in the state is underfunded.”
William Moloney, Colorado’s education commissioner, said the state does not comment on lawsuits.
Gebhardt said dollars that could be flowing into classrooms are being choked off by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights – a constitutional amendment that limits government spending – and the Gallagher Amendment, which limits residential real estate valuations.
Funding for special education lags behind national levels, and an additional $80 to $90 per pupil is spent for students who are learning English, which critics say is too little. The state also does not provide enough for preschool and transportation costs, she said.
State Rep. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, said Amendment 23 – passed by Colorado voters in 2000 – has provided adequate funding for the state’s estimated 750,000 public school students.
“We were spending about $7,300” per student before its passage, he said. The statewide average “now exceeds $9,000 per student,” King said.
Amendment 23 mandates that education must be funded at the rate of inflation plus 1 percent from 2001 through 2011.
Gebhardt said the amount was not meant to become a ceiling and that school districts’ actual costs far exceed the 1.1 percent funding increase provided by the state for the 2005-06 school year.
State Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, said he believes the suit is legitimate but had hoped the group would wait to see how much progress is made by a legislative committee meeting this summer to study funding for public schools.
“I wish they would give us an opportunity to solve the problem,” he said.
Paul Teske, professor of public affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver, said federal accountability standards that set specific targets for student achievement “have spurred suits across the country.”
He said Colorado ranks about 40th among states in the percentage of personal income spent on schools, yet it is the seventh- or eighth-wealthiest state.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at krouse@denverpost.com or 303-820-1684.
