Special Legislative Report

Momentous Session for our Schools Concludes with Another League Victory

Today marks the 120th and final day of the 2024 Legislative Session. As policymakers wind down their work at the Capitol, we’re proud to report on another important accomplishment we’ve secured for our schools in the session’s final days.

As we shared in our last legislative update, one of the key components we managed to get embedded in HB1448 (New Public School Finance Formula) is $65.5M in critical charter school facilities funding. These resources are needed not only to offset declining marijuana excise tax revenue and the impact this is having on the state’s Charter School Capital Construction fund but also to position the state favorably to compete later this year for significant federal matching funds that typically only come available once every 5 years.

Without the resources in HB1448, the Charter School Capital Construction fund would have dropped from $396 per student this year to an estimated $266 per student next school year (comparable to 2017 levels). But with these resources, we are now in a very strong position to compete for the federal matching program—which CDE intends to do in the next several months—which could drive charter facilities funding up near $500 per student for the first time ever.

This was just one of the reasons why we supported HB1448. Taken together with its impacts on PPR beginning in 2025-26, the overall effect for the charter sector is substantial, as the following chart demonstrates:

With HB1448’s passage through both the House and Senate now complete, it simply awaits the Governor’s signature to become official, which is expected in the coming days. Thank you, as always, to all of our schools and partners who played a vital role in getting it to this place. We could not have done it without you, and we’re very excited about what this represents for the continued progress of Colorado’s nation-leading charter school sector.

Summary of Successes

The passage of HB1448 adds to the long list of accomplishments we were able to secure for our schools during this legislative cycle:

• The decisive defeat of the very damaging and anti-charter HB1363 in its first committee hearing;
• The signing of legislation (HB1394) that finally equalizes MLO funding for CSI schools and their students;
• Another historic increase in education funding (7.3%) that once again raises PPR to its highest level ever ($11,450 per student next school year);
• The investment of $65.5M (via HB1448) in the Charter School Capital Construction fund over the next 5 years that could help us secure approximately $30M in additional federal matching funds over that same time period;
• The passage of a bill (SB132) that extends educator evaluation privacy protections to encompass unlicensed charter school educators and administrators;
• The passage of legislation (HB1154) that will hopefully catalyze more districts to share local bond revenue with CSI schools in their boundaries; and
• The passage of a bill (SB232) that makes critical statutory clarifications to last year’s problematic SB111 (Public Employees' Workplace Protection) ensuring public employers, such as charter schools, can still serve students well and fulfill their public duties effectively.

Taken together, this ranks right up there as one of our best sessions ever, and we did it all in the midst of a very contentious environment for our schools. By some measures, Colorado’s legislature is currently the most polarized in the country. On top of that, whenever the mere concept of charters is mentioned, certain folks can’t help but come out of the woodwork and start raising a challenge against us. 

Just last week, for example, there was a last-minute attempt to strip the charter facilities resources out of HB1448 on the House floor. It took significant effort to beat back that challenge, and while we were thankfully able to do so with a 38-27 vote, the margin for error at the Capitol has arguably never been tighter. It will take all of us sticking together and doing our part to uplift the sector in the coming years if we hope to advance charter schools and protect everything we have collectively built over the last three decades.

For now, though, please review all these accomplishments on the recording of our Session Recap Webinar.

What Didn't Happen

In addition to proactive advancements, we take very seriously our job of preserving and protecting the sector against infringements on core autonomies. The defeat of HB1363 wasn’t the only way in which we helped protect charter schools this legislative cycle:

• SB24-049 Content of Material in Libraries
  This bill would have created a process allowing students, parents, or community members to object to a library resource (library books) in school or public libraries. It would have also established standards under which determinations about removing a library resource would have to be made, and it would have prevented charter schools from ever pursuing a waiver from its provisions.
  From the time it was drafted, we engaged actively with the bill's sponsors and supporters, articulating our concerns regarding the waiver provisions, the lack of adequate understanding and appropriate inclusion of charters, and the proposed standards and structure. We were glad to see the bill die in committee on February 28.
• HB24-1221 Income Tax Credit for Eligible Teachers
  This bill would have created a refundable state income tax credit intended to offset the various expenses teachers often incur throughout an academic year for classroom supplies, professional development costs, etc. While admirable in its intent, the bill's sponsors repeatedly refused to incorporate our request that it be expanded to encompass unlicensed teachers. As such, we were glad to see that – at least in its current form – it didn’t advance beyond the House Appropriations Committee.
• HB24-1310 School Safety Measures
  One of our concerns with this bill was that it was needlessly trying to limit the circumstances under which an individual could be a school security officer. It said, for example, that if you were doing any educational work that could be licensed, you couldn’t also be a school security officer. This was a problem for smaller schools, especially in rural communities, where they may feel they need a person who can act, in effect, as a part-time school security officer. The statute barred this and did not do so in a way that clarified why this limitation was necessary. We sought amendments to try and address this issue and, when they weren’t adopted, were glad to see the bill die in committee on April 11.
• HB24-1454 Grace Period Noncompliance Digital Accessibility
  Several of our schools have highlighted the difficulties of implementing the many requirements of HB21-1110, which passed in 2021 and requires public entities, including charter schools, to expand their compliance with digital accessibility for persons with disabilities. Because of this, we were grateful to support a bill (HB24-1254) introduced late in the cycle that provides a one-year extension to July 1, 2025, of immunity from liability for failure to comply with the digital accessibility standards for entities that demonstrate good faith efforts toward compliance or towards resolution of any complaint of noncompliance. This bill passed in the session’s final days and now just awaits signature by the Governor.

In addition to all of the above, we remain actively involved in efforts to push back against PERA for their unwarranted attempt to suddenly start requiring that substitutes employed by third-party contractors be included in the PERA pool. While our bill related to this (HB24-1159) did not pass, we are closely engaged in conversations with district partners about likely legal action to prevent PERA from needlessly encroaching on our schools in this way.

Expressing Our Gratitude to Angelina

Last but certainly not least – and since this is the last Legislative Update of her tenure – we would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to express our gratitude to Angelina Sierra-Sandoval for all her hard work on behalf of the League and our schools these past few years. Her time with the organization has coincided with several of our best legislative cycles on record, and we’re incredibly grateful to her for all she’s done to help accomplish that. Please join us in thanking her for her years of service and dedication and wishing her well on her next exciting adventure. Thank you, Angelina!

Sincerely,
The League Advocacy Team