2026 Session Wrap-Up: Another Incredibly Successful Legislative Session for Charter Schools

Dear Dan,

Today marks the 120th and final day of the 2026 Colorado legislative session. In one of the most challenging political and fiscal environments in recent memory, Colorado’s charter school community not only held the line but moved important policy forward.

From the opening day of session to Sine Die, the League’s advocacy team, alongside school leaders, educators, parents, and advocates across the state, fought to protect charter school funding, expand opportunity for students, and advance thoughtful, proactive policy for Colorado charter schools.

In this update, you’ll find a breakdown of where we led, where we defended, and how we delivered real wins for charter schools across Colorado.

Summary of Successes

Transparency and Inclusion in Bond Funding
The League successfully advanced legislation to strengthen transparency and inclusion around charter school facility needs in local bond ballot initiatives. This marks a major step forward in ensuring charter school students are a meaningful part of the conversation when communities make long-term investments in public education infrastructure.

Meaningful Regulatory Relief for Educators
The League led efforts to reduce outdated, duplicative, and burdensome reporting requirements on schools and educators. HB 1299 helps return time and focus back to classrooms while maintaining accountability and transparency.

Protected and Advanced Key Funding Priorities in a Difficult Budget Year
Against the backdrop of severe budget constraints, our advocacy team successfully defended critical charter funding streams throughout the budget process. We increased the CSI Mill Levy Equalization fund, maintained funding for the Charter School Capital Construction fund, and worked with a broad coalition of partners to increase per pupil funding by 3.8% in an environment where the budget had a $1.2 billion shortfall. 

• As the state transitioned to a new school funding formula, there was significant uncertainty throughout much of the legislative session about how charter schools would ultimately be funded. For months, we believed charter school funding could remain flat, if not go backward in some cases, compared to last year. We are pleased to share that, based on a late-breaking, League-negotiated amendment to the School Finance Act, the collective charter school community will instead see an additional $71 million statewide next year as compared with last year, and no school will see anything less than a 1% year-over-year total program increase. Be on the lookout for more information on this in the coming days, and join our town hall this Friday, May 15th, at 10am to learn more. 

Kept the Focus on Student Achievement and Educational Opportunity
At a time when many education debates at the Capitol have become increasingly disconnected from student outcomes, the League worked alongside partners to help pass SB 170, creating a statewide task force focused on opportunity gaps and identifying bright spots across Colorado’s education system. This effort is intended to refocus the conversation on expanding access to high-quality public schools and ensuring that student achievement remains at the center of education policy at the Capitol. 

While we are proud of our proactive policy success, some of our most important victories come from what didn’t happen:

• No broad anti-charter legislation was even introduced, which is a direct result of the League’s proactive work with the Governor’s Office and bipartisan legislative leaders to keep such proposals off the table.
• Successfully blocked a proposal that would have capped and reduced the CSI Mill Levy Equalization Fund.
• Protected part-time enrichment program funding by maintaining funding at 0.5 PPR for high-quality programs.
• Significantly amended SB-103 to repeal a provision that would have effectively prevented certain charter schools from being considered in subdivision and planning regulations adopted by county commissioners.
• Opposed SB-068, which would have negatively impacted Colorado’s education accountability system. The bill ultimately died.
• Significantly amended HB 1141, which we believed could have unintentionally created legal liability for charter schools.

As the 2026 session comes to a close, one thing is clear: the charter school movement in Colorado remains strong, engaged, and resilient. In an incredibly challenging political and fiscal environment, our community came together to protect critical priorities, advance meaningful policy, and continue fighting for students across the state. 

Thank you for every meeting, testimony, school visit, phone call, and conversation that helped move this work forward. The work ahead will not get easier, but this session proved that when Colorado’s charter school community is organized and engaged, nothing can stop us. 

The League Advocacy Team
Prateek, Kyle, Anne