i_sfinance_2018a_2018-06-18t10:04:13z3 Hearing Summary

Richard Seder and Michael Goetz, FourPoint Education Partners, provided data and analysis in order to assess Colorado's school finance system [Attachment B]. Mr. Seder provided an overview of the preliminary set principles for the analysis.

The committee members addressed their concerns regarding some topics that are not addressed in the list of principles. Mr. Seder said that the list of questions is focused primarily on what can be done for student achievement.

Mr. Seder provided an overview of each principle, specifically: align school finance and funding to contemporary educational systems, goals, and objectives, and learning contexts; center allocations based on students and their characteristics; provide every student access to quality core learning opportunities; provide every student equitable opportunities to achieve; share investment in providing learning opportunities to children of Colorado; make the school finance and funding system transparent and understandable to stakeholders; maximize productivity and efficiency of learning resources; and locally control educational management and methods.

The committee discussed whether other states set base standards for the management of funds.

The committee recessed for lunch.

The committee came back to order.

The committee discussed the preliminary set of principles, specifically the financial impact to taxpayers to properly fund public schools. In addition, the members discussed the impacts of Colorado Constitutional tax requirements on school funding.

The committee members continued to discuss mill levies and the state funding distributions to school districts.

Mr. Seder provided an overview of the base-per-pupil funding in other states.

The committee discussed the lack of principles regarding assessment of the education workforce and ways to determine if they are meeting basic teacher standards. Mr. Seder discussed the importance for defining learning resources and the presence of effective teachers. The committee continued to discuss the distribution of funds to an efficient education workforce.

Mr. Seder answered questions from the committee regarding the existing system for school funding. He spoke on the effectiveness of fiscal transparency.

The committee discussed the implementation and effectiveness of education programs.

The committee discussed the implementation of education programs and the funding of effective schools in preliminary principles.

Mr. Seder discussed the average education and experience of teachers based on district size. In addition, he spoke on the geographic disparities among districts. Mr. Seder presented data on teacher salaries and benefits across districts.

Mr. Seder answered questions from the committee members regarding the data collection of average teacher salaries and the inclusion of benefits and compensation programs in each district. He provided information on the benefits provided to teachers, including PERA, Medicaid, and other benefits.

Mr. Seder answered questions from the committee members regarding the data collection of average teacher salaries and benefits.

Mr. Goetz provided data on pupil-to-teacher ratios by districts, which is all teachers compared to all students in the district. Data on pupil-to-teacher ratios does not reflect classroom sizes.

Mr. Goetz answered questions from the committee regarding the equity of funding ad the characteristics of students being impacted by the funds.

Mr. Seder presented data on the percentages of state and local shares of total program funding for public school districts.

Mr. Seder discussed the interaction with the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and the Gallegher Amendment regarding school financing. He also discussed the impact of mill levies and the revenue provided to school districts.

Mr. Seder answered questions from the committee regarding transparency and accuracy in the data, including the number of students in the Colorado public school system.

Mr. Seder discussed data regarding the budget stabilization factor as a percentage of total program funding.

Mr. Seder discussed locally controlled education management.

Mr. Goetz discussed an online program that will show how changes to school funding will impact the overall education financial system.

Mr. Seder discussed the next steps for addressing school funding issues. The committee members discussed the importance of looking at efficiency options for the current system.