AURORA | Democratic state Senator Nancy Todd had a clear message at Monday’s panel discussion on education: “one size fits all” won’t work in a state as diverse as Colorado.

“(Having) no new mandates from the legislature to school districts is very important to me,” Todd said at the event, hosted by nonpartisan online education news organization Chalkbeat Colorado. The panel brought together five Colorado lawmakers to discuss the biggest education challenges predicted for the 2017 legislative session, which begins today.

Todd, who represents Aurora’s Senate District 28, was quick to point out the pitfalls of state-level measures, especially when it comes to school funding.

Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek School District successfully passed bond questions and a mill levy override in November. And Todd said the measures passed because they were tailored to what the districts needed, and were clear about what they were asking for in the ballot questions.

“We have made funding education in Colorado more complicated than any other place on this earth,” Todd said. “(We are) recognizing that ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t work in Colorado … APS and CCSD passed bond issues because they were specific (to their districts). I think right now it is important for us to continue with our local educational organizations and talking from district-to-district to figure out what things are working.”

Colorado schools are primarily funded through local property taxes and state revenue. But property taxes can vary so much in Colorado, even from one neighborhood to the next, that the per pupil spending is different across the state.

For example, based on data from 2013, Aurora Public Schools spends about $8,000 per student; about one hour away in Agate School District 300, they are spending nearly $72,000 per pupil.

“We have a very unfair school funding system,” said Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, who was also on the panel. “Our number one problem is to correct the unfairness of the system, and to make order out of it so people can understand it to the point that they may actually be able to consider local mill levy overrides or different ways of funding.”

In addition, Todd said local control should extend to how charter schools are funded.

Sen. Owen Hill, who represents eastern Colorado Springs in El Paso County, is expected to revive a bill requiring public schools to equally share in revenue from voter-approved tax increases with charter schools. Currently, it is left to school districts to decide how they want to allocate this revenue.

Todd disagreed with Hill’s measure, and thinks charter school funding should be left to the school districts.