Budget talks include kindergarten, conservation easements

    The Joint Budget Committee recently held a first-ever opportunity for the public to weigh in on how they think the state should prioritize its budget.
    Many of those testifying last week pleaded with the JBC to fully fund full-day kindergarten, including the superintendents of a half-dozen school districts who sources said they were there at the request of Gov. Jared Polis. He’s made free full-day kindergarten among his top priorities and has asked for $227 million to pay for it.
    But Senate Democrats have raised concerns about how to pay for the program after the first year or two, when the state is expected to have a revenue surplus of more than $1 billion.
    Approximately 49,941 students are enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program, according to the Colorado Department of Education. But the state currently funds only about 60 percent of the costs for 44,225 of those students.
    Districts can tap into their state funding to cover the rest, use mill-levy overrides or use federal dollars. And some charge parents tuition to cover the rest of the costs.
    Among those testifying, Superintendent Bill Wilson of Brush RE-2J pointed out that his district is one of three in the state that has a mill-levy override (a special property tax) approved by voters more than a decade ago to fund the district’s kindergartens. Full-day kindergarten is essential, Wilson explained, because 65 percent of his students are on free and reduced lunch, an indicator of poverty.

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