Election returns on Tuesday showed Colorado voters don’t want to dictate to local school districts how much money should be spent in classrooms.
By almost a 2-to-1 margin, Colorado voters were casting ballots against Amendment 39, one of several contentious amendments to the state Constitution on the lengthy state ballot. That was with about 70 percent of precincts reporting results.
The amendment, spearheaded by First Class Education Colorado, the group that put the measure on the ballot, would have required all 178 of the state’s public school districts to spend 65 percent of their operating budget in the classroom.
Proponents said services, programs and other categories that make up classroom spending include teachers, classroom aides, tutors, librarians, books and classroom computers.
Nurses, guidance counselors, bus drivers, teacher training and building construction would not be included.
Proponents said the measure would prevent education dollars from being wasted on services that don’t directly benefit students.
But school officials and the Colorado Education Association campaigned heavily to defeat the measure, saying it would force districts to fund numerous crucial services – such as school security or guidance counselors – out of the remaining 35 percent of the budget.
State Rep. Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, a main advocate for 39, could not be reached late Tuesday as votes were being tallied.
Deborah Fallin, spokeswoman for the CEA, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said she was heartened by early results.
“Our internal polls up to this point has shown we will defeat this,” Fallin said. “I think we’re going to do well for children and education.”
First Class Education Colorado is a branch of national First Class Education, a group that is pushing a similar 65-percent measure in several other states.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
