Colorado Democrats opposed to Gov. Jared Polis’ decision to enroll Colorado in a new federal tax credit scholarship program are hammering out state rules to ensure the program is open to public school organizations and that private schools benefiting from the program are open to all students.
A group of state lawmakers with backgrounds in teaching or serving on school boards have introduced House Bill 1292 to set parameters around how the controversial program would work in Colorado.
The federal program has created deep fissures among state leaders, educators and education organizations. Critics say the program is a springboard to a voucher program — which uses taxpayer dollars to support students attending private schools, including those with a religious affiliation — and they believe the program could feed a movement toward privatizing schools. Colorado voters have rejected three attempts to launch voucher programs in the state. Those in favor of Colorado participating in the program see an opportunity to bring more money into the state to support students, regardless of what school they attend, with the kinds of resources that will cater directly to their learning needs.
Colorado and the rest of the country are waiting for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to announce program regulations. Democrats behind the Colorado bill say they want to reinforce transparency and accountability for participating schools and organizations.
“I just want to put it out there that let’s make this the best we can with the situation,” said state Rep. Lori Goldstein, a Westminster Democrat and bill sponsor who serves on the school board for Adams 12 Five Star Schools. “I feel like it’s a national effort, the Trump administration’s effort, to privatize education and it’s just another tactic to have people who do not believe in public schools or who are saying public schools are failing to just have another opportunity to not support them.”
The legislation has three major provisions: Colorado must “include all eligible scholarship granting organizations” — organizations affiliated with both public and private schools. Schools that have a student who uses a scholarship toward their education would have to follow nondiscrimination requirements and laws pertaining to kids with disabilities. If a school violates state rules, the school could be temporarily suspended from receiving dollars through the program.
The Trump administration’s program offers taxpayers who donate to “scholarship granting organizations” a federal tax credit of up to $1,700. Those organizations must use the money to give scholarships to students attending public or private schools
Families can use scholarship dollars to cover a broad range of school expenses, including books, fees, supplies, tutoring, technology, internet access, transportation, after-school programs, summer programs and extra support for students with disabilities. Private school students can also spend scholarship funds on tuition, room and board costs and uniforms.
“We want nondiscrimination, we want transparency and we want accountability,” said state Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat and bill sponsor who previously was a board member of Poudre School District. “We want all of those things. We just think that if we are going to be part of it, hopefully they will leave some allowability to states to implement it in a fair, accountable, nondiscriminatory way.”
Lawmakers behind the legislation aim to give public school organizations, such as foundations, an equal chance to receive contributions from taxpayers pursuing a federal tax credit. They also want to make sure that any school or organization tied to the federal program includes and fully accommodates students with disabilities — which public schools are already required to do under state and federal laws.
The bill, however, is meeting friction with Polis. A spokesperson for the governor wrote in an emailed statement that Polis has concerns the legislation “would hamstring the state’s ability to bring new funding for much needed services like afterschool programming and tutoring for all students across the state.”
According to the governor’s office, Polis in January sent the IRS what’s known as an “Advance Election to Participate form,” indicating that Colorado would sign onto the program. The federal government has not yet distributed a form to states in which they would document the list of organizations that will be eligible to receive donations from taxpayers.
Saying yes to the federal program early on lays down a runway for Colorado organizations to make sure they are prepared to follow all the program eligibility rules, his office said. The decision also keeps Colorado taxpayer contributions to organizations in the state to support Colorado students rather than kids in other states.
“Governor Polis knows these tax credits will increase charitable giving and support students of all backgrounds, the majority of whom attend public schools,” spokesperson Ally Sullivan wrote in the emailed statement. “Governor Polis is not interested in leaving donor money on the table and wants to take advantage of all opportunities to invest in our classrooms, students, and teachers to strengthen Colorado’s economy and future.”
Polis has offered input on the program, submitting comments to the IRS in December, and “will be carefully reviewing the Treasury’s rules” once they are made public, Sullivan noted.
Erik Billinger, chief development officer of ACE Scholarships, applauds Polis for his decision to enroll Colorado into the federal program. Billinger’s nonprofit doles out scholarships to low-income students to help them with the cost of private school tuition. The organization hands out scholarships in 13 states and, in Colorado, donations fund those scholarships.
Billinger says he is still mulling over whether he supports voucher programs. But the federal program does not translate to a voucher program, he said, since it will spread money among students from private, public and charter schools.
“It really helps all kids across the entire state,” he said.
State Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat who is also sponsoring the bill, said although she opposes the federal program, she sees an opportunity for the dollars to round out students’ education with funding for tutoring, transportation and disability services.
“First of all, we just want to make sure that any of this money that is coming in is shared with not just private but also public schools and services,” said Marchman, who previously worked as a middle school math interventionist in Loveland. “We are, in Colorado, not used to spending public dollars on private schools at large. And so we just want to make sure we’ve got the correct guardrails to make sure that one we’ve got the right protections but, two, we’re actually doing good things with this. This could be beneficial.”
Questions of timing
The proposed rules in the legislation make sense to education advocates like Nicholas Hernandez, executive director of Transform Education Now, a nonprofit that works directly with parents to help their children secure a high-quality education. But Hernandez said he does not support the bill because he believes lawmakers’ efforts are premature.
“It feels like we’re making rules to something that we don’t actually understand just yet and my worry is that, do we do something in Colorado that actually excludes us from being able to take part in this long term?” said Hernandez, a proponent of Colorado opting into the federal program. “I don’t really know what the rush is.”
Billinger also questions why lawmakers are racing to establish program regulations, calling the bill “preemptive” before the state learns about the official federal rules.
“We’ll just have to wait to see what happens,” he said. “But what we’re all about is empowering parents to have options and choice on their educational journey.”
Bill sponsors say their legislation was prompted by Polis’ decision to opt Colorado into the tax credit scholarship program. They also want to be “proactive” in shaping Colorado’s program rollout before it launches in January.
“We’re just trying to keep in step with our executive branch that has opted us in,” Marchman said. “I think we had to be really responsive and reactive to the decision the governor made.”
The first legislative crack at defining program rules for Colorado is the right step forward, said Lisa Weil, executive director of Great Education Colorado, who has lobbied against the federal program.
“The better course of action is to not have Colorado participate in this program that invites discrimination and fraud with using public dollars,” said Weil, whose organization pushes for more state funding in public schools. “But if indeed we do opt in, I think the legislature is wise to step in and say that there should be guardrails against discrimination. Whether they will be consistent with the federal regulations is a big question.”
Colorado’s involvement in the federal program is not a done deal. Should the state’s next governor elected in November decide the program is not a fit for Colorado, the state could reverse course. Governors of states must opt into the federal program by December.
Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said she wants to peer through the final rules that come down from the federal government. In a text message to The Colorado Sun, Kirkmeyer said that she does not have an opinion on the bill that aims to create state rules for the program.
“I look forward to seeing what the final Treasury rules look like and (will) determine if there are gaps we need to fill to protect Colorado,” Kirkmeyer wrote.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, running in the Democratic primary, is also taking a wait-and-see approach, though he said he vehemently opposes voucher programs.
“I think that if there is money that is available in this pool of money that’s not for vouchers, but is for our existing public schools to use for after-school programs for their kids and other programs like that, then on that basis, I would accept the money,” Bennet said. “It’s too early for us to know that, so we’re going to have to see what the regulations say.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is also running in the Democratic primary, stands against the federal program. In December, Weiser confirmed his opposition on X, writing “While I welcome any support for education and investing in our kids’ future, I will never support vouchers. That includes any measures that siphon off scarce public K-12 school dollars to benefit private and parochial schools. That’s why I am a no here.”
House Bill 1292 will be heard in the House Education Committee in the coming weeks.
Staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.