There’s broad agreement Colorado’s public schools system has many problems. The state ranks near the bottom of the list of state per-pupil education spending, but about $9.7 billion was devoted to K-12 education in the last fiscal year.
Amendment 73, also known as Great Schools, Thriving Communities, aims to get more money to schools by raising taxes. The measure would amend tax provisions in the constitution to raise an additional $1.6 billion for schools by raising income taxes on wealthy households and corporations and by stabilizing the property tax assessment rate.
The measure is backed by the Colorado teachers union, the Colorado Education Association, and many school boards who would have significant control over how to spend the new funds. Opponents say the initiative would have tremendous impacts on complex education and tax funding structures without guaranteeing better educations for students.
Schools are mostly funded by the state government, which divides tax revenue between school districts, but local property taxes also go directly to districts. Amendment 73 would raise the state’s per-student funding.
“The fact that our schools are so badly funded that we are on par with Mississippi and Alabama at a time when we have one of the best economies in the system, speaks to a fundamental flaw in the system and one that, we think, Amendment 73 fixes,” said Laura Chapman, a spokesperson for Great Schools, Thriving Communities.”
Chapman said Amendment 73 was written in a two-year process working with teachers, school districts, parents and stakeholders in many counties. The amendment is also backed by the Colorado Association of School Boards, which represents the school districts in the state.
The Aurora Public Schools school board unanimously resolved to support the measure last month. The Board of Education said the district lost $356 million in funds since 2009 and resolved to spend funds from Amendment 73 on smaller classrooms, expanding access to preschools, and increasing teacher benefits and salaries.
The bulk of the revenue would be raised in a tax increase for only those households and filers making over $150,000 a year — less than 10 percent of Colorado taxpayers. If the measure is approved, an individual making $150,000 would pay an additional $6.75 in income tax, according to a state government analysis. The income tax would increase with brackets above that threshold.
The corporate tax rate would also be raised from 4.63 percent to 6 percent.
Amendment 73 would also impact property taxes, called mill levies, that fund local school districts. Currently, property value is assessed at a fluctuating rate to comply with a state requirement balancing residential and commercial property taxes. The amendment would change that and stabilize the assessment rate at 7.0 percent.
This aspect of the amendment breeds some uncertainty, said JoAnn Groff, the state property tax administrator. She said the measure would probably need to be clarified by the General Assembly to ensure the tax math complies with the Gallagher Amendment, which requires a balance between residential and all other property taxes.
Even then, Groff said, the fate of the measure will “likely” be decided by a judge.
Dave Davia, co-chair of opposition group Blank Check, Blatant Deception said the tax increase is too complicated and would not necessarily give students a better education.
“It does not fundamentally say it will go to teachers or go to classrooms,” Davia said. “We think the best money spent would be in the classroom, but history tells us it doesn’t get down to those levels.”
Davia is concerned that freezing the property tax assessment rate would actually lower general funding for local governments. He said that property taxes would increase to fund school districts, but local governments would be deprived of that tax revenue for services like firefighting, law enforcement, and libraries.
“Several assessors have come out and said, ‘You are essentially creating two pockets of property tax income,’” Davia said.