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For years, Colorado education advocates have tried and failed to persuade voters to approve more tax revenue for schools.
Proposition 103 failed in 2011, followed by Amendment 66 in 2013. Amendment 73 and Proposition CC flopped in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019. Initiatives 271 in 2020 and 63 in 2022 never even made the ballot.
Last week, however, Coloradans ended that 15-year streak by approving not one but two measures that will deliver a large infusion of funding for K-12 education. One dramatically shifted Colorado’s tax code to collect more money from the wealthy. The other allows the state to keep money normally refunded to taxpayers.
A “blue tsunami” of Democratic support likely helped Amendment 87 and Proposition NN succeed where others didn’t, according to advocates, lawmakers, and independent analysts.
The Democratic wave brought out voters unhappy about wealth inequality, said Paul Teske, a professor in the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs, and Eric Sondermann, an independent political commentator.
Education advocates “got lucky with the turnout and the general political climate,” Teske said.
But they also pointed to several other factors that likely played a role. Voters this year may have been more aware of the persistent challenges facing schools, especially after lawmakers spent years making the case for more K-12 funding, education advocates said. And advocates tried to send clear messages about how the proposals would help residents.
Amendment 87, which 51.7% of voters supported, could raise up to $2 billion in 2028 through a new six-tier graduated income tax code. The new tax brackets increase taxes on people and businesses with taxable income over $500,000, but lower them for most Coloradans. The additional state revenue collected must be spent on education, healthcare, and early childhood programs.
Proposition NN, which voters passed 57% to 43%, requires the state to raise by $4.6 billion the revenue cap that triggers refunds to taxpayers under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. The state could keep about $500 million more next year, with at least half spent on K-12 education — a rule that expires after 10 years.
Backers of Amendment 87 faced opposition, including from conservative pro-TABOR group Advance Colorado. The organization ran an alternative measure, Proposition 136, that would have kept the state’s flat income tax rate. The measure was defeated.
An Advance Colorado official didn’t comment on the results, but said it is “focused on the future and ensuring all Coloradans get a bigger tax cut.”
State Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat, said the coalition in favor of Amendment 87 leaned into the message that the new funding would pay for healthcare, education, and early childhood, which are crucial services that families rely on.
“Taxing the wealthy just to tax the wealthy might move some people, but there has to be something beneficial that it pays for,” she said.
The state has experienced a couple of years of budget cuts, including to healthcare programs, and Teske said many voters had a sense that state money is tight. A chart on the statewide ballot also showed that most taxpayers would save money under the six-tier system.
“Those wealthy folks are going to have to pay more,” is a sentiment Teske said likely resonated with voters.
NN faced an easier path to victory than the graduated tax measure, Sondermann said, with analyses showing the measure would be difficult to defeat, possibly because TABOR overrides tend to be more popular than tax code changes. Opposition to the measure was also limited.
State Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, said he and the Colorado Education Association, the state’s teacher union, worked together to win lawmakers’ approval to get the measure on the ballot. That likely carried weight for some voters, Sondermann said.
Teachers knocked on doors to drum up support for the measure, which brought to life many of the stories voters might have heard about low teacher pay and educators’ struggles to live in the communities they teach, said CEA President Kevin Vick.
Adams 12 Five Star Schools Superintendent Chris Gdowski said some school administrators and school boards also leaned into NN and shared public messages to their communities about how it would improve education. Gdowski feared another disappointment.
“But I leaned in, let my voice spread the word,” he said.
Supporters could also tell voters that Proposition NN requires annual audits to show taxpayers how their money is spent, Vick said. He thinks that helped.
“It really provided reassurance to voters in Colorado that this was actually going to act as intended,” Vick said.
Lisa Weil, executive director of Great Education Colorado, a nonprofit organization that advocates for sustainable K-12 funding, said she and others lobbied for lawmakers to sponsor studies that would build a case for more school funding, which she thinks benefitted both measures.
In 2025, the state released two independent studies commissioned by lawmakers showing Colorado needs to spend an additional $3.5 billion to $4.1 billion annually to adequately pay for students’ education. National teachers union studies also show the state ranks near the bottom in teacher pay and student funding, and lawmakers and advocates have talked about that point often.
Gdowski said he believes more funding will make a big difference for his district over the long term, though how it will bridge shorter-term funding gaps is less clear. He said he’s optimistic districts will finally have enough money to lower class sizes, pay teachers more, and invest in career and technical education.
It might take a few years, he said, but he believes “over time it’s going to bring in real money that will make a huge difference for K-12.”
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.
