Contentious Education Bill Has Republican & Democrat Sponsors

DENVER (CBS4) - There's a push to level the playing field for charter schools in Colorado when it comes to funding.

According to CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd, it is one of the most contentious education bills this session. Supporters of the bill say -- combining all the charter school students into one district -- it would be the biggest in the state, and yet they say those students are being literally short-changed.

They say while charter schools educate 12 percent of public school students in the state they receive 20 percent less funding.

The bill before the Senate Education Committee would require school districts to share local property taxes equally with charter schools on a per-student basis.

Supporters say there are 125,000 charter school students in the state. If the bill passes, it would mean an additional $96 million for charter schools next school year.

"Most voters don't know this. They are writing out a property tax check, or it comes out of their mortgage, and they think they are funding public schools; and sadly their local districts are putting their fingers on the scale that we're going to fund some public schools, not all public school students," said Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs.

"We look at the needs of students -- individual needs -- so in order for us to meet those needs, we don't look at how much money comes into the district with the child. We take the entire pot of funds that are available … all of those different sources, including local revenues as well as state. And then we do what we can do to meet the needs every individual student," Linda Van Matre with the Colorado Association of School Boards said.

Opponents say a one-size-fits-all approach to funding doesn't work and that school boards need flexibility to dole out funds based on things like the number of special-needs students in a school.

Lawmakers took up a similar bill last year and it failed, but after the election it isn't the same Legislature as last year and the bill has a Republican and a Democrat as cosponsors.