HB 18-1171

HB 18-1171, a Colorado bill about school funding adjustments, aims to address unexpected increases in local property tax revenues for the 2017-18 school year. The bill reduces the state's contribution to education funding by the amount of these extra local revenues and instead puts that money back into the state’s education funds. This adjustment helps maintain overall funding levels while reducing the budget stabilization factor, which is a reserve fund for economic downturns. The bill has been signed into law, meaning it will now be implemented as planned to affect school funding in Colorado.

Official Summary

Joint Budget Committee. The general assembly recognizes that the actual funded pupil count and the actual at-risk pupil count for the 2017-18 school year are lower than anticipated when the appropriation amount was established during the 2017 legislative session. In addition, local property tax and specific ownership tax receipts are more than anticipated, increasing the local share of total program funding. The bill declares the general assembly's intent to maintain total program funding at the level of the original appropriation, resulting in a reduction in the budget stabilization factor. The bill adjusts the minimum amount of total program funding specified in statute to reflect this intent. The bill decreases the state share of total program funding by the amount of the increased local property tax revenues, putting $84,034,372 back into the state education fund and $12,866,074 back into the state public school fund, for a total of $96,900,466. The bill makes technical amendments to the hold harmless full-day kindergarten funding and ASCENT program funding to reflect the total program funding amounts included in the bill. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) Read More

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