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Before Colorado state lawmakers finished their yearly business this week, they took steps to ensure public schools would be better funded in the future.
In a late addition to the school funding bill, lawmakers added a provision that will deposit millions in annual income tax revenue into the State Education Fund. In 2026, that amount will be $233 million. The fund acts as a type of savings account. The money from the new provision can only be used for school operations and student funding.
The $233 million will be stowed away into a so-called Kids Matter Fund to help lawmakers fend off another likely budget shortfall in the 2026-27 year. This session, lawmakers needed to cut $1.2 billion in spending within the 2025-26 budget, and projections show the budget hole will be even bigger next session.
This year’s shortfall also caused lawmakers to scale back the rollout of a new school funding formula and make other alterations to how the state calculates student enrollment for the purposes of doling out per-pupil dollars.
Despite the challenges, total statewide education spending will increase to $10 billion next year, and every school district will get the same amount of money or more than it did this year.
Lawmakers also passed numerous bills related to education. Here are the most consequential bills that passed and failed.
Bills on book bans, cellphones, and financial literacy are among those that passed
Cellphones in schools
Public schools will be required to have an updated policy on student cellphone use under House Bill 1135. The law is meant to curb cellphone distractions in classrooms, but it leaves the details of how to do that up to districts.
Reading policy
Colorado public schools will be required to screen students in kindergarten through third grade for dyslexia starting in the 2027-28 school year per Senate Bill 200. The start date is a year later than advocates for children with dyslexia wanted but represents a big win after a yearslong battle for statewide screening.
Book bans
Public schools must create policies governing library book challenges under Senate Bill 63. Only parents with a child in the school will be allowed to challenge a book at that school, and reviews of the same title will be limited to once every two years. The bill also bars school library workers from retaliation for refusing to remove a challenged book before a review.
School accountability
Colorado’s school accountability system will see changes under House Bill 1278, including the creation of a new option for when schools or school districts have five years of low ratings.
Free school meals
Under House Bill 1274, Colorado voters will consider two ballot measures in November that would raise more money for the state’s two-year-old Healthy School Meals for All program, which provides all students with free school meals and has cost more than expected. If the ballot measures fail, Senate Bill 214 allows the state to scale back the free meals program.
Immigration enforcement
Republicans hoped to reverse statewide prohibitions on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents under Senate Bill 47, which failed in its first committee hearing. Instead, Democratic leaders pushed for even more restrictions and passed Senate Bill 276. The law will extend prohibitions on the cooperation and the release of records to federal immigration enforcement officials, including by public schools, colleges and universities, and child care centers.
Black history
The Colorado State Board of Education will adopt academic standards related to Black historical and cultural studies per House Bill 1149, ensuring that Black history is taught in public schools.
Financial literacy
Colorado high school students will be required to take a financial literacy course before they graduate under House Bill 1192.
Food waste and student bill drafting power
School districts and charter schools will be encouraged to adopt policies to reduce food waste under House Bill 1059, one of the last bills proposed by the Colorado Youth Advisory Council, which lost its bill-drafting power under Senate Bill 199. The food waste bill suggests schools could donate or compost uneaten food or set up “share tables” to redistribute unused food.
Speech-language pathology
To help reverse a shortage of speech-language pathologists, House Bill 1075 addresses how and when speech-language pathology assistants can work in schools.
Alternative education campuses
Colorado funds its schools per pupil, which can be difficult for alternative education campuses that serve students with high needs, because their enrollment tends to fluctuate throughout the year. To help stabilize their funding, alternative education campuses will get priority for state grant funding under House Bill 1167. The bill also requires the state to monitor enrollment trends, student mobility, and student demographics at alternative education campuses, and it permits such schools to serve pregnant and parenting students up until age 21.
Child care
Starting Jan. 1, parents can recover some of the waitlist or application fees they’ve paid to child care programs if their children don’t land a spot within six months under Senate Bill 4.
Teacher housing
Colorado will create a down payment assistance program for educators, giving priority to first-time home buyers, under Senate Bill 167.
College student transfers
Colorado will create a website with information for students transferring from one college to another after the passage of House Bill 1038. The state has an almost $900,000 grant to create the website, which will help students understand which of their college credits can transfer.
More veterinarian training
Colorado faces a veterinarian shortage, and House Bill 1131 lifts a cap on how many students can get into the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Emily Griffith associate degree
To make it easier for students to get to college, House Bill 1221 will allow Emily Griffith Technical College in Denver to offer an associate of applied science degree program.
Gun violence prevention
Students will get more information on gun violence prevention through House Bill 1250, which requires school districts to distribute written or electronic materials on the topic.
School safety drills
School safety drills can be traumatizing for students, lawmakers argued. House Bill 27 requires the state to create a committee to craft practices that would ensure students are less likely to be disturbed by the drills. But the state would need to receive a financial donation to convene the committee.
Safe2Tell expansion
Educators in several districts have been able to get notified through the state’s Safe2Tell school safety hotline if a student has been involved in a traumatic event. Under Senate Bill 64, the state will slowly expand the program to more districts.
College help for students with disabilities
Students with disabilities will be eligible to receive an academic adjustment at a college or university under Senate Bill 87. The adjustment ensures students can get modifications to their learning because of their disability.
Facial recognition technology
The state will continue its prohibition of facial recognition technology in schools under Senate Bill 143. The law also puts some guardrails on the districts that are allowed to use this technology because they adopted it before the ban.
Child care fees
Starting Jan. 1, parents can recover some of the waitlist or application fees they’ve paid to child care programs if their children don’t land a spot within six months under Senate Bill 4.
Educator pathways
Teachers will have an easier path toward getting teaching endorsements under Senate Bill 154. Teachers will be able to show their qualifications in multiple ways instead of only by passing a test.
Teacher pensions
Denver Public Schools’ contribution to the Public Employees’ Retirement Association, or PERA, will go down by 3 percentage points beginning July 1 under House Bill 1105, which will mean a boost in take-home pay for DPS employees.
Restraint and seclusion
House Bill 1248 moves the existing laws about restraint and seclusion in public schools from the section of Colorado law that deals with youth detention facilities to the section that deals with education. It also shores up data reporting about the use of such practices in public schools and closes a loophole that has created a dearth of information about seclusion.
Community schoolyards
House Bill 1061 creates a grant program to build community schoolyards, which are defined in the bill as park-like environments located at schools that provide hands-on nature play and that children can use outside of school hours. Two grants will be available: a $150,000 planning grant and an $850,000 construction grant.
Bills on universal preschool, financial transparency are among those that failed
Child care
Lawmakers rejected a bill that would have put new guardrails on child care chains backed by private equity or venture capital firms. House Bill 1011 would have required such child care chains to publicly post their tuition and fees and give families and employees 60 days notice after a center’s purchase before laying off staff or making enrollment changes.
Universal preschool
A bill that would have given preschools greater access to the state’s universal preschool sign-up system was killed at the request of one of its sponsors. Senate Bill 119 would also have allowed all preschools in the program to have higher class sizes and staff-student ratios. But in a tough budget year, the bill’s $1.5 million price tag spelled its doom.
Seclusion ban
A bill to ban seclusion was rejected by lawmakers for the second year in a row. Seclusion is the practice of shutting a student inside a room alone and blocking them from leaving. House Bill 1178 was the second unsuccessful attempt at banning seclusion in two years.
Student mental health
Colorado lawmakers rejected a $1.1 million proposal that would have created a youth mental health pilot program in the Department of Behavioral Health. The program under House Bill 1160 would have provided 42,000 students with access to an online behavioral health prevention tool.
School finances
Lawmakers rejected a bill that would have required each traditional public school and independent charter school to post a long list of financial information on their websites. Senate Bill 153 would have required schools to disclose how much they spend on marketing, student recruitment, and lobbyists, among other information.
Native American history
Senate Bill 123 would have required “the genocide against Native Americans, the Sand Creek massacre and other massacres, and the Colorado Native American residential and boarding schools” to be taught in public schools. The bill sponsor asked to postpone it indefinitely.
Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
