54F9B16271C19EA4872583B500015638 Hearing Summary

The committee recessed.

The committee came back to order.

Representative Kipp, sponsor, presented House Bill 19-1190, concerning the repeal of the Mill Levy Equalization Fund (fund). House Bill 17-1375 created the fund to provide a vehicle for providing supplemental funding to charter schools authorized by the Charter School Institute (CSI) in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). Any funds appropriated or transferred to the fund must be distributed annually to institute charter schools on an equal, per-pupil basis. The bill repeals the fund, therefore removing the vehicle by which the state pays for mill levy equalization of CSI schools.

The following people provided testimony:

Evie Hudak, Colorado Parent Teacher Association, testified in support of the bill.

Terry Croy Lewis, Charter School Institute, testified in opposition to the bill.

Dan Schaller, Colorado League of Charter Schools, testified in opposition to the bill.

Jen Walmer, Education Reform Now and Democrats for Education Reform, testified in opposition to the bill.

The above three-person panel responded to committee questions.

Josh See, Colorado Early Colleges, testified in opposition to the bill.

La'mon Bliss, Colorado Early Colleges, testified in opposition to the bill and discussed his experience at Colorado Early Colleges.

Mary Faith Hall, Thomas MacLaren, testified in opposition to the bill.

Emily Grace Kirkwood, representing herself as a student at Thomas MacLaren, testified in opposition to the bill and described her experience at Thomas MacLaren.

Anna Parsons, representing herself as a parent of a student at Thomas MacLaren, testified in opposition to the bill.

Steven Bartholomew, New Legacy Charter School, testified in opposition to the bill.

Sabrina Suarez, representing herself as a student at New Legacy Charter School, testified in opposition to the bill.

The above two-person panel answered questions from the committee.

Teresa Woods, Mount Song Community School, testified in opposition to the bill.

Sean Cayden, Mountain Song Community School, testified in opposition to the bill.

Sara Gagliardi, representing herself, testified in support of the bill.

Clare Leonard, representing herself, testified in support of the bill on behalf of Larua Mutton and Lindsay Markee, both parents.

Kathy Plomer, representing herself as a parent, testified in support of the bill.

The above three-person panel responded to questions from the committee.

Tim Krug, representing himself as a parent, testified in support of the bill and distributed data to the committee (Attachment K).

Cindra Barnard, Taxpayers for Public Education, testified in support of the bill.

Matt Cook, Colorado Association of School Boards, testified in support of the bill.

The above three-person panel responded to questions from the committee.

Representative Kipp made concluding comments on the bill, and committee discussion ensued.