This November, Colorado voters will be asked to approve a property tax cut that would protect and benefit schools in our state.
Democratic state legislators and Governor Polis referred Prop HH to the ballot as a responsible solution to the upcoming rise in property taxes. Unlike most tax cuts, this measure will provide property tax relief for all while protecting funding for schools and other public services that depend on property taxes for funding. small sludge pump
By voting yes, voters will secure nearly $1 billion in property tax savings for Colorado seniors, families and businesses every year for the next ten years. Importantly, these savings are coupled with a modest change to the TABOR cap that will ensure school funding is preserved and likely expanded. Even with this small change to the TABOR cap, a recent report from the Colorado Fiscal Institute found that every Colorado taxpayer is still expected to receive up to $10,000 in TABOR refunds over the next decade.
The additional retained revenue will backfill local services, including schools, that rely on property tax revenue and any remaining revenue is deposited into the State Education Fund (SEF). Over time, the amount of retained revenue that is deposited into the SEF each year grows, with the potential to increase funding by hundreds of millions or billions each year by the end of the measure. A recent analysis from the Bell Policy Center “estimated Proposition HH could pump as much as $2.3 billion into the State Education Fund by fiscal year 2031-2032.”
While significant investments have been made in Colorado education recently, it does not make up for decades of budget cuts. Many of our kids have attended underfunded schools their entire lives and needs have only increased.
Despite Amendment 23, a constitutional obligation to fund our schools, Colorado has been underfunding schools for decades – and lawmakers and communities have been prevented from being able to fully invest in our kids and schools. Colorado is still far behind even states like Louisiana and West Virginia in per pupil spending and unable to provide the competitive wages necessary to attract the best and brightest teachers. A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute discovered that Colorado has the highest pay gap for teachers compared to the rest of the country. The Bell Policy Center’s analysis on HH noted that Colorado still owes $10 billion to our schools and that the “additional funding would ensure that schools don’t incur additional financial setbacks.”
Proposition HH will provide both property tax relief for seniors and families and critical and reliable funding for Colorado kids and schools, without raising taxes.
Proposition HH won’t fully meet all of our education funding needs, but it’s an important step in the right direction to help us make long-term, sustainable investments in our schools, our future workforce, and our communities. Without the passage of Proposition HH, extreme property tax cuts, like Initiative 50, are far more likely to pass, which would mean our already struggling schools would face devastating cuts in the future and our kids will pay the price.
We need to prioritize our children’s future, so please vote yes on Proposition HH.
gravel pump manufacturers Amie Baca-Oehlert is the president of the Colorado Education Association.