Colorado students and teachers get a lot of airtime inside the state Capitol every year as lawmakers dream up and debate policies they believe will give schools a stronger footing to catapult kids toward graduation.
Here are four education bills we are tracking as the second half of the 2026 legislative session gets underway:
Affordable housing for teachers
Staffing classrooms has become a challenge shared by more districts across Colorado as housing costs have priced educators out of many of the communities where they teach. State Democrats want to have a hand in fixing the lack of affordable housing for teachers, with a proposal to create a grant application program that would help districts develop rental units for their staff.
Senate Bill 139, introduced Thursday, would create the Building Excellent Teacher and Employee Residences Act, known as BETER. The program, similar to a state grant program that helps districts build and repair facilities, would select rental housing projects through an application process and would give those districts state dollars toward construction.
State funding would begin with an amount equal to $40 million from interest and investments from the state’s public school fund. The program would convert that $40 million into $500 million through the sale of certificates of participation to private investors.
Districts would be required to kick in money for their housing project, covering their share with the rent income generated from leasing units.
One big advantage for districts in tackling affordable housing shortages: many already own land where they could develop employee housing.
Supporters of the bill say the program is a promising way to attract more educators to their communities and give them more of a reason to stay.
The bill has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee and is awaiting a hearing.
Oversight for federal program some say will lead to vouchers
A federal tax credit scholarship program that has splintered Colorado educators and advocates is at the center of efforts among Colorado Democrats, who want to structure how the program will work in Colorado with rules that reinforce inclusion and accountability.
Gov. Jared Polis has indicated to the federal government that Colorado will opt into the program, which the Trump administration designed to benefit public and private school students.
Through the program, taxpayers who make a contribution to a “scholarship granting organization” will earn a federal tax credit of up to $1,700. Those organizations must use donations to provide scholarships to support students’ education — through tutoring, books, fees, supplies, technology, internet access, transportation, after-school and summer programs, extra help for kids with disabilities, private school tuition, room and board, or the cost of uniforms.
People in favor of the state enrolling in the program, including Polis, say it will benefit kids regardless of the type of school they attend. Opponents say they fear the federal program could set up a voucher program in Colorado, in which public funds follow students to private schools, including schools with a religious affiliation. Colorado voters have struck down three attempts to build voucher programs in the state.
Democratic sponsors behind House Bill 1292 say they want to establish rules for Colorado’s program to ensure it is open to public school organizations, such as foundations, and to prevent discrimination in schools among students with disabilities who rely on a scholarship.
Bill sponsors are most concerned about nondiscrimination, transparency and accountability.
Opponents of the bill would prefer to wait until states have heard regulations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.
Colorado’s participation in the federal program is not a guarantee. Should Colorado’s next governor push back against the program, the state could skip it.
The bill will next be discussed during a House Education Committee hearing on March 26.
Reducing standardized testing hours
State standardized testing is one of those education topics that spins around on a carousel in Colorado, regularly making its way back to the Capitol for debates — including over the best ways to measure student achievement and academic growth, the validity of test scores under the state’s current system and how much assessments benefit students versus wear on them.
A key testing conversation among Colorado legislators this year is all about the amount of time elementary and middle schoolers spend on taking the Colorado Measures of Academic Success exams. A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to explore how to trim the number of hours kids sit for standardized exams, particularly for eighth graders whose CMAS testing can run as long as 11 hours over the course of a few days.
State Sen. Chris Kolker, a Centennial Democrat, introduced Senate Bill 68 as a way to begin figuring out how to cut down on how long CMAS testing takes. The bill currently directs the state education department to make sure that schools administer standardized tests “to the minimum extent possible” and to apply for a federal waiver that would free Colorado from federal assessment mandates.
Kolker said he plans to adjust the bill so it will instead create a working group that would recommend ways to scale back CMAS testing time. He wants to design that group to include professional teachers, district administrators and school board members.
Reducing testing hours could save the state millions of dollars, Kolker said. Colorado allocates about $18.3 million in state funding to CMAS each year on top of about $2.2 million in federal funding.
Opponents of the legislation argue it makes more sense for lawmakers to wait to form a working group until after they get feedback from another task force that has been looking into how to improve Colorado’s school accountability system and, as part of it, standardized assessments.
The bill is next up for review Monday by the Senate Education Committee.
Protecting students with disabilities
Colorado lawmakers want to codify the civil rights of students with disabilities in state law following major shakeups within federal offices.
Senate Bill 125 would reinforce the rights of kids with disabilities to ensure they have equal access to an education and prevent any discrimination based on their disability. The bill would also give more state support to families who argue their children’s school rights have been violated, with lawmakers proposing adding a few legal professionals to the state education department who would be responsible for responding to parent complaints.
Parents have historically brought cases of discrimination to the federal Office for Civil Rights, but after the federal government closed seven of the 12 regional offices and cut nearly 300 employees, many cases have been put on hold.
The staff cuts have since been reversed, but they severely impacted the office’s ability to work through cases.
Supporters of the bill say it would also shield schools from costly liabilities and would hopefully deter incidents of bullying, retaliation and discrimination.
Senate Bill 125 recently passed out of the Senate Education Committee.