Colorado schools could get extra cash when at-risk students improve their performance, though the incentives would come at some cost to smaller school districts.
The state would give schools an additional $250 to $1,000 per at-risk student if that population meets progress benchmarks still in flux.
The quickly drafted School Finance Act now barreling through the legislature is chockfull of other reforms and unanimously passed a Senate committee Wednesday.
Sponsor Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, is fond of characterizing the bill as a “tectonic shift” in the way Colorado does public education.
“This is a 9 or 10 on the Richter scale,” Romer said. “We’re setting some national precedents.”
The plan uses $4.5 million a year to reward schools that help their at-risk populations, generally kids who get free or reduced-price lunch.
Lawmakers would pay for the program by changing the formula that determines how much the state pays schools per pupil, which is based in part on variables such as the size of a school district and the number of at-risk kids it serves.
The bill takes $3 million from the amount available to help small school districts, which raised concerns from a teachers union.
“This shifts money away from all students to schools that are already doing well at teaching at-risk kids,” said Karen Wick, a lobbyist for the Colorado Education Association.
Romer points out that Senate Bill 256 lifts restrictions on the way schools can spend $200 per student they already receive.
He estimated it would cost schools an average $4 per student, but small schools would pay more.
The bill’s rapid progress comes as Colorado education gurus are aiming for an estimated $500 million in federal school innovation grant money and ahead of a Tuesday visit to Denver by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Among changes made by the committee Wednesday was an amendment that sets aside $7.5 million to help charter schools build and maintain facilities and forming a pilot boarding school for at-risk kids.
Lawmakers also stripped from the bill a controversial provision that penalized districts that readopted Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limits.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
