Gov. Bill Ritter has proposed diverting hundreds of millions of dollars from the Western Slope and other rural areas into public education, sparking the ire of communities that count on the money to repair roads and bridges damaged by energy development.
Although the proposal is in its early stages, Ritter floated it in a speech Thursday before the Colorado Press Association, saying the state’s public education fund is in danger of going broke in five years.
“We really believe we have to do something different in protecting the integrity of the state education fund,” he said, proposing that the state tap into more federal mineral- lease revenues.
But Western Slope and other rural leaders have serious concerns about what they see as the latest attempt to raid money earmarked for costly infrastructure repairs to damage from the trucks and equipment used for oil and gas development.
“I think the perception is that this is a hijack in waiting,” said state Sen. Joshua Penry, R-Grand Junction, noting that areas of his district are “literally overwhelmed.”
“On Interstate 70 between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., it is as congested as Denver with drill rigs and workers headed to oil rigs,” he said.
Mesa County Commission chairman Craig Meis said the state already takes more of the money than it should.
“We’re not trying to be stingy,” he said. “But the federal mineral lease says priority will be given to energy-impacted areas. Our definition of priority is a whole lot different than what we are getting.”
Meis said he was not surprised, but disappointed that Ritter wants to tap the funds.
“It’s not unusual,” he said. “Anyone who has a pet project goes after the golden goose. Everyone and their dog is going after severance taxes and the federal mineral-lease money.”
Ritter’s proposal, according to spokesman Evan Dreyer, would make the $101 million the state got in 2005 a baseline, or cap, for future distributions. The state then would take 75 percent of revenue above that for public education.
Severance-tax revenues are expected to triple over the next five years, meaning hundreds of millions of dollars more could flow into education under Ritter’s plan.
And those tax-revenue estimates could increase substantially if drilling is opened on the Roan Plateau, Penry said.
Ritter opened the conversation because competing and complex constitutional budget mandates have put the education fund on the road to bankruptcy, Dreyer said.
The state education fund was set up to provide money under Amendment 23, which guarantees increased funding for schools.
Lawmakers, however, have used some of the money during the recent economic slump to balance the education budget. If that money is not replenished, Ritter and others warn, the fund will go broke and the state will be forced to take money from other programs to meet Amendment 23 mandates.
Under that scenario, “every additional bit of revenue flowing into this state has to be devoted to K-12, which means no added money will be able to flow to higher education, human services or … other public services in this state,” Ritter said.
Penry said Ritter had approached him about the idea. He hopes to work with the governor to develop a “win-win” plan. “I have some reservations about this, but I view it as an opening ante,” he said.
Indeed, Ritter said: “We are hoping to get to a place where these conversations lead to a legislative proposal that people can live with.”
But Reeves Brown, executive director of the Western Slope advocacy group Club 20 said, “We’re not very enthused about it, that’s for sure.”
“It’s not that those other needs aren’t legitimate needs – they are – they are just not legitimate uses for those funds.”
Capitol Bureau chief Jeri Clausing can be reached at 303-954-1555 or jclausing@denverpost.com.
