What does it mean to public education in Colorado that a judge has overturned SB07-199, which accomplished the mill levy stabilization described above?
The short answer: The decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court. If the decision is upheld, the Legislature could have to reverse progress made this year in educational investments such as preschool slots, full-day Kindergarten and higher ed construction, and instead use those funds to, once again, backfill local mill levy reductions (despite the fact that the voters had rejected them). If the district court’s decision is overturned, the mill levy stabilization will remain in place. The longer answer: As explained above, the Legislature passed SB 199 last year to plug the hole in the school finance bucket – by ending the School Finance Act’s automatic mill levy cuts in districts where voters had already affirmatively rejected those tax cuts by “de-Brucing.” As a direct result of SB 199, this year the Legislature was able to use state funds to make additional investments in schools – rather than to backfill falling local mill rates. What did that mean to the 2008 budget? The state
