The idea of shifting more taxpayer money into classrooms sounds appealing. Who wouldn’t want that? But cementing a state-mandated funding formula for public schools into Colorado’s constitution would open a Pandora’s box of troubles.
That’s why school advocates across the state overwhelmingly oppose Amendment 39, which would require all districts to spend 65 percent of their operating budgets on classroom expenses, including teacher salaries, books, supplies and field trips. The measure’s definition of “classroom” doesn’t include items such as transportation, nurses and counselors or meals.
We’ve urged a “no” vote.
The measure erodes local control and portends, or should we say pretends, that all districts – big and small, rural, suburban or urban – are the same. It would hurt rural districts that spend more on transportation.
It also doesn’t include counselors as a classroom expense. There’s a real need for qualified counselors in schools – not just those counselors who set students on the right academic path toward college, but those who steer young people back onto the right path socially.
Denver school officials also raised a new red flag recently, saying that if the measure passes, they might have to turn down federal grants that support disabled students and student work-study programs.
Fifty-four percent of DPS dollars go toward classroom instruction. The proposal doesn’t consider federal grants part of “classroom costs,” so accepting them would reduce that budget percentage.
Administrators also worry they won’t be able to beef up security measures in light of recent school shootings if they’re forced to find the money in the 35 percent earmarked for expenses outside the classroom.
Even one of the few districts already spending more than 65 percent is opposed to the measure. Pitkin County funnels about 72 percent of its $17.5 million schools budget into classroom instruction, but Superintendent Diana Sirko told The Post that she worries the law would take away any flexibility she has in budgeting.
“Let’s say we needed to add a couple new counseling positions,” she said. “Our hands would be tied.”
That’s precisely why funding schemes shouldn’t be locked into the state’s constitution – especially if there’s no proof it would produce better-educated students and higher test scores.
No formula is going to work better than the considered judgments of Coloradans who have been elected to serve on their local school boards.
