HELIX FEED

Resources & Opportunities for Education Advocacy

Posted by DSST Public Schools on 04/04/19

For those of you who missed the fantastic session we had with Leslie Calwell from Colorado Children’s Campaign last month, we’ve pulled together some resources as well as actionable ways you can get involved to help our schools and students get the funding that they deserve.  

Leslie presented on the complexities and inequities of school funding formula based in property taxes, as well as several intricate pieces of legislation that DSST, Colorado Children’s Campaign and other groups are advocating for.

To learn more about some of the school funding details and get the latest updates, check out these great resources:

  • To make your phone call or email easier, you can build from the below talking points:  
    • My name is XXX and I’m a staff member/teacher at the Denver School of Science and Technology. [Include a sentence or two about concerns with school funding in Denver/CO in general]
    • I recently learned about a proposal that has been discussed in the Joint Budget Committee that would equalize Colorado’s property tax system and bolster education funding. As you have also learned, Colorado’s foundational layer of revenue for preK-12 education requires some communities to pay a disproportionate share into the system that benefits all children. Taxpayers in some school districts pay a property tax rate that is 16 times higher than the tax rate in neighboring districts.
    • I learned that there is no policy rationale for why community contributions to public education vary, and no voter ever exercised control over whether this should happen. This is just the most glaring unintended consequence of TABOR over a certain number of years.
    • I hope that you will consider supporting the introduction of a proposal that would return Colorado to a system requiring consistent local investment for school finance by requiring communities with artificially low mill levies to increase those local mill levies with local voter approval.
    • This is just one step you can take to help ensure that every school has an adequate amount of resources to serve their kids. Thank you!

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