Colorado Financial Adequacy Study
Policymakers recommended that the Colorado Department of Education examine the costs necessary to adequately provide Colorado students with a thorough and uniform public education. The Department has contracted with AIR to conduct this research.
“While many of the original concepts [of Colorado’s 1994 School Finance Formula] remain strong, developments over the subsequent 30 years require continual improvement and adjustments to the funding formula. Primarily, the need to align resources more directly in areas the current public school education system struggles with today: educating students who are growing up in poverty, learning English as a second language, and students with special needs.”
- Chuck Carpenter, Chair, 2023 Colorado Public School Finance Task Force and Chief Financial Officer, Denver Public Schools
AIR researchers are conducting an analysis of Colorado’s education spending that will:
- Describe how funding is distributed across schools under the existing funding system;
- Determine adequacy of current student outcomes and the relationship between student outcomes and student need characteristics;
- Identify the cost of achieving a target student outcome level for each school in the state, with costs varying based on levels of student need, school or district context, and geographic cost of living differences; and
- Estimate components of a new funding formula (base funding and weights for additional funds to address specific needs).
Along with these analyses, AIR is reaching out to members of the public to ensure that their voices are heard, and their perspectives are considered to inform the study and recommendations to the state. We are excited to hear from Colorado residents interested in the state’s school funding systems, including students, parents, educators, community members, business groups, advocates, and policymakers.
Public Survey
AIR will administer a short public survey, to be launched on August 20th, to gather perspectives of interested Colorado residents.
Virtual Town Halls
AIR will hold eight Virtual Town Halls, one dedicated for each region of the state. These Town Halls will be conducted in August and September at the dates and times listed below. All times are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).
Metro Area | August 27, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
North Central | August 28, 4:00-5:30 pm
Northeast | September 4, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Northwest | September 5, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Pike Peak | September 10, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Southeast | September 11, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Southwest | September 12, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
West Central | September 17, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
