CEA antes up for K-12 tax proposal campaign

The Colorado Education Association has provided an initial donation of $250,000 for the campaign to pass a $950 million K-12 tax increase, according to a contribution and spending report filed Monday.

The group Colorado Commits to Kids reported total contributions of $342,300 and spending of $82,030 since it registered with the state on June 7. It has $260,269 in cash on hand.

The CEA has been expected to be a major supporter of what’s currently called Initiative 22, which would raise state personal income tax rates to pay for the new school funding system proposed by Senate Bill 13-213. Union members also are involved in the petition campaign to gather the 86,105 signatures needed to place the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Political observers believe the Colorado Commits war chest will have to grow considerably if the initiative has a chance of passage. Proponents of 2005’s Referendum C, often cited as a model for this year’s campaign, raised about $4 million. Some think the Initiative 22 campaign will need considerably more money than that, given that Colorado voters have never passed a general tax-rate increase since the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights was approved in 1992.

The second-largest contribution was $50,000 from the Gary Community Investment Co., run by oilman and philanthropist Sam Gary. There were two $10,000 contributions, one from the Colorado Hospital Association and one from Dan Ritchie, CEO of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and a familiar figure in education circles.

The campaign received $5,000 contributions from Craig Hospital; Katherine Gold, president of Gold Bug Inc.; McWhinney Holding Co., and Ron Williams, chair of the National Western Stock Show.

The bulk of the campaign’s June spending was the $75,000 paid to FieldWorks, the company that is helping run the signature-gathering campaign with paid circulators.

In addition to CEA, the advocacy group Great Education Colorado is expected to provide volunteer petition circulators. Leaders of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, Democrats for Education Reform and Stand for Children told EdNews that those groups aren’t currently planning to have members circulate petitions.

The only opposition group currently registered with the state is Coloradans Against Unions Using Kids as Pawns, which reported no contributions or expenses in June.

The group’s previous report on June 3 listed $2,500 contributions from two Republican stalwarts of the past – Bill Armstrong, former U.S. senator and now president of Colorado Christian University, and businessman Terry Considine, a former legislator who lost a U.S. Senate bid in 1992. The group reported no spending.

The next set of campaign finance disclosures is due Aug. 1, just before the Aug. 5 deadline for filing petition signatures. Starting on Sept. 3, campaign committees have to file reports every two weeks until the election.