Saving money, saving education

As a former educator, I ran for office in 2016 with the priority of passing legislation to increase funding for public schools and support the needs of both students and educators. I spent six years as chair of the House Education Committee, overseeing legislation to improve student academic performance, boost the teacher and school personnel workforce, and support our students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 2024 legislative session, I had my biggest win at the Capitol – the 2024 School Finance Act. This bipartisan law buys down the Budget Stabilization Factor, fully funding Colorado’s public schools and increasing total funding by more than $500 million to $9.7 billion.

Colorado’s K-12 public education is funded by state General Fund money, and property tax and income tax revenue via the State Education Fund. More than 52% of local property taxes goes to K-12 education, to hire more teachers and school personnel, provide after-school programs, and improve student achievement.

Complications from COVID-19, inflation, growth and other factors have made our state less affordable, especially in rural areas. Colorado legislators have responded with landmark legislation to reduce the cost of housing, health care and child care. We have taken steps to avoid steep property tax hikes by extending and expanding 2021 property tax relief in 2023. Last session, we also passed a bipartisan solution to reduce property tax costs. 

Recently, Gov. Jared Polis called the Colorado General Assembly to convene in a special session beginning Aug. 26 to pass further property tax relief to avoid two devastating initiatives appearing on the November 2024 ballot. One of these initiatives, lobbied by dark money special interest groups, would reduce revenue for public schools, fire departments, health care, libraries, water infrastructure and public outdoor recreation by nearly $3 billion. The two goals of our special session are saving Colorado homeowners money on property taxes and protecting funding for our communities – like schools and fire districts.

We have been working diligently to deliver property tax relief for hardworking Coloradans while protecting funding for vital institutions, especially public schools and special districts. Colorado has the third-lowest property tax in the nation; the bipartisan proposal would reduce the local government residential assessment rate by .15 points and the school district assessment rate by 0.1 points. It would also reduce the local government growth cap by .25 percent and set the schools growth cap to 6 percent. These reductions will help homeowners better afford the cost of living.

Constituent requests have been forwarded to House leadership; as of this writing, we are still waiting to see how concerns are addressed.

As I end my eight-year service to Southwest Colorado, I’m proud to look back on everything we were able to accomplish. We bought down the Budget Stabilization Factor, provided two years of free college and boosted the incomes of hardworking Coloradans with new tax credits. I’m happy to get back to work at the Capitol to save property owners money while maintaining funding for our public K-12 schools, fire departments and other important community services.

– Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango