Colorado lawmakers mulled nearly 60 bills focused on education policies this year — ranging from school funding to issues affecting teachers, including evaluations, licenses and houses, to student safety and protections for kids with disabilities.
The Colorado Sun closely followed four education measures throughout the legislative session, which ended Wednesday.
Among the pieces of legislation passed by the legislature is one measure to codify the civil rights of students with disabilities into state law following major cuts to the federal office that processes complaints from parents who believe their school is discriminating against their child.
On the other end of the spectrum, lawmakers fell short in passing legislation targeting teacher housing, standardized testing hours and state rules for a federal tax credit scholarship program.
One bill, backed by Democrats, aimed to create a state program that would help school districts develop rental housing units for teachers and staff. Another bill, sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, set out to explore ways to scale back how long young students must sit for state standardized tests, such as the Colorado Measures of Academic Success exams. And a third bill, pushed by Democrats, was designed to frame a federal tax credit scholarship program with state rules that would ensure organizations attached to public schools could benefit from program funds.
The bills may have lost their momentum, but legislators say they haven’t. Bill sponsors say they plan to bring back policy proposals next year.
First, they must do their homework in the interim months.
Safeguarding the rights of students with disabilities
Colorado is one step closer to codifying the civil rights of students with disabilities into state law following the passage of Senate Bill 125 in the final hours of the session.
The legislation spells out a long list of provisions aimed at making sure kids with disabilities have equal access to an education and don’t face discrimination because of their disability.
Among them, a school district must allow a student with a disability the opportunity to benefit from its programs and services in the same way as students without disabilities. When constructing a new building, a school district must ensure the location and the facility will accommodate students with disabilities.
A school district must also establish a disability rights grievance process and assign at least one employee to enforce compliance with the legislation and to serve as a contact for students and families. And a school district must provide an education to every student with a disability no matter how severe that student’s disability and coordinate transportation to and from school when needed.
Colorado Democrats designed the bill to add another layer of protections for students with disabilities following major changes by the Trump administration, which closed seven of 12 regional offices of the federal Office for Civil Rights and booted nearly 300 employees.
The office has long been responsible for reviewing and investigating complaints of discrimination from parents of kids with disabilities. Now fractured, it has left families in limbo wondering if and when they will hear back about the status of their cases, according to Emily Harvey, co-legal director at the nonprofit Disability Law Colorado.
“We’re just not seeing a ton of meaningful investigations coming out of there,” said Harvey, who helped write the bill. “So this legislation was really important to supplement what we have at the federal level so we have those rights under state law, too.”
State Rep. Jacque Phillips, a Thornton Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill, described the legislation as “a first step for filling in the gap” left by the wave of terminated attorneys at the federal Office for Civil Rights.
The bill directs the state education department to develop a complaint process and investigate cases in which parents accuse a school or district of violating the rights of a student with a disability. The department will hire state complaint officers and potentially contract with outside companies to lead investigations, so long as funding is available.
The state education department might have to look at its expenses and find opportunities to save money to fund the new positions. Dollars might also be available through a fee collected for online gaming purchases through House Bill 1418, according to Harvey.
The bill is headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk.
Expanding rental housing for teachers with help from state
A bill aimed at putting a dent in the need for more affordable housing for teachers across Colorado met its end on May 6, when the Senate Education Committee unanimously approved postponing the bill indefinitely. The committee’s vote essentially kills the bill.
Senate Bill 139, sponsored by a group of Colorado Democrats, proposed creating a state grant program that would give school districts funding to develop rental units for their educators and other staff.
The program, which bill sponsors called the Building Excellent Teacher and Employee Residences Act, or BETER, was designed to fill a housing hole in communities where school staff may be more inclined to rent rather than buy their own home.
The legislation contained a funding mechanism using Colorado’s public school fund. State funding would have started with an amount equal to $40 million from interest and investments from the public school fund. The sale of certificates of participation to private investors would support the program in converting the initial $40 million into $500 million.
The program would have also required districts to contribute money for their rental housing, taking care of their portion with rent income earned through leasing units.
State Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, championed the bill as a way to better position districts to attract and retain educators who may struggle to live in the communities where they teach.
“Fundamentally it would be transformative for education, for teachers, for housing in this state,” Bridges told Senate Education Committee members ahead of their vote.
Bridges recommended the committee postpone the bill because of lingering questions requiring lawmakers to collect more feedback.
Questions include how the program will work, the responsibilities it will ask of districts and how the program will be managed long term.
“Making sure teachers can afford to live in the districts where they work is critical to reducing turnover and improving students outcomes,” Bridges wrote in a text to The Sun. “We’re going to keep working on this bill over the interim.”
However, should Bridges win the election for State Treasurer in November, another lawmaker will have to carry any new legislation.
Mary Wickersham, principal and cofounder of Denver-based Social Impact Solutions, said she was surprised the legislation did not advance.
“I thought it was a real bright light in this session that was a brutal session,” Wickersham, who helped craft the housing idea, told The Sun. “It seemed like just an amazing opportunity. It had the ability to impact a lot of communities in a positive way.”
Wickersham was particularly bullish on the promise of the program since it would not have dipped into the state budget or relied on taxes.
She said she plans to work with school districts feeling the brunt of housing pressures and talk through a solution that could come back before the legislature next year. Wickersham is open to tweaking the original design of the BETER program to address concerns and suggestions.
“I have visited those communities,” she said. “I’ve seen their schools. I’ve met their school board members. I’ve listened to their teachers. The issues facing those school districts are really important to me.”
Trimming hours kids spend on standardized tests
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wanting to explore ways to reduce the hours young students sit for state standardized tests failed to get a bill across the finish line this year. That won’t stop state Sen. Chris Kolker, a Centennial Democrat and lead sponsor, from reviving conversations about how to reduce testing hours next year.
Kolker introduced legislation that instructed the state education department to ensure schools administer standardized tests “to the minimum extent possible” and to apply for a federal waiver that would excuse Colorado from federal assessment mandates.
Kolker said he intended to modify the bill so it would create a working group that would come up with recommendations on how to trim CMAS testing time. He ultimately did not change the language, realizing opposition to his bill was too strong.
“We just saw the opposition, the time that we have left,” Kolker told The Sun. “I think our point’s been made, and I think this is something we can build off of.”
The Senate in early May laid over the bill to Thursday, a decision that effectively kills the bill since the legislative session ended Wednesday.
Kolker said he has opted his children out of the tests because of how long they run. Eighth graders, for instance, spend as many as 11 hours on CMAS tests over the span of a few days.
“It’s a lot of time to put these kids through, especially any kid who may struggle with testing in general,” he said.
The potential to save the state millions of dollars was another motivator for Kolker. Colorado’s tab for CMAS tests each year adds up to about $18.3 million with the federal government pumping in an additional $2.2 million.
Polis was among critics of the legislation.
“While tests are never fun, standardized testing is an important, objective way to assess where students are at and what resources are needed to make students and educators more successful,” spokesperson Ally Sullivan wrote in an emailed statement. “The Governor does not support efforts that make it harder to know if students are reading and doing math and if and where there is need for additional growth.”
Others in opposition argued lawmakers should first review feedback that another task force studying the state’s school accountability system and its standardized assessments will release later this year.
Kolker plans to look over recommendations from that task force while also gathering separate feedback from school districts, teachers and education advocacy organizations.
“Sometimes you don’t get what you want the first time,” he said, “but you learn from it and gather the information and you move forward and come back with something better.”
Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said the legislature refusing to take a close look at the way Colorado conducts assessments is “disappointing.” Vick, who supported the legislation, describes the current testing system as “completely antiquated” — one that he believes does not equip teachers with any data they can use to help students improve their learning.
“I hope we can work with legislators willing to truly engage and understand what would be helpful and useful in schools moving forward,” he said, “and build a cadre of legislators that actually wants to move helpful policy around it.”
Setting up guardrails for federal tax credit scholarship program
Colorado Democrats have suspended legislative efforts to adopt state rules for a federal tax credit scholarship program that public school advocates worry could lead to a voucher program.
House Bill 1292 officially lost its sails at the end of April with a unanimous vote by the House Education Committee to postpone it indefinitely. The measure aimed to get ahead of the federal program’s launch in January with state rules reinforcing accountability and inclusion. Bill sponsors decided to wind down their efforts to advance it, citing “political headwinds” and “a lack of formal rulemaking.”
“Protecting our students from discrimination and ensuring equal access to funding opportunities matter,” state Rep. Lori Goldstein, a Westminster Democrat and bill sponsor, said in a statement, “and I will continue to fight for a better future for our students. I believe introducing this bill started a dialogue and hopefully shaped a pathway for the future.”
Goldstein, who serves on the school board for Adams 12 Five Star Schools, said she believes there will be an opportunity to revisit the legislation and “refine” it after federal program regulations come down from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. House Bill 1292 gave the state “a head start” on setting up parameters so public schools can tap into the funding, she said.
The program, created by the Trump administration, will offer taxpayers who contribute to “scholarship granting organizations” a federal tax credit of up to $1,700. The donations will fund scholarships for students enrolled in public or private schools that can go toward a variety of education needs, such as books, fees, supplies, tutoring, technology, internet access, transportation, after-school programs, summer programs and extra support for students with disabilities. Private schools students can also apply their scholarships toward tuition, room and board expenses, and uniforms.
The bill wanted to ensure the program would benefit organizations tied to public and private schools. It also would have mandated that schools with a scholarship recipient follow nondiscrimination requirements and laws concerning students with disabilities. And the bill stated that if a school were to violate state rules, it could be temporarily barred from receiving funding through the program.
Polis has taken the first steps to notify the federal government that Colorado will participate in the new federal program, dividing policymakers, educators and education advocates over whether it will help or hurt students.
Governors must opt their states into the program by December.
Proponents of the federal program, including Polis, cite the need for more education funding for all students. They don’t want to lose out on an infusion of money that could otherwise go to kids in other states. Critics, meanwhile, have concerns that embracing the program in Colorado could tee up a voucher program, which uses public dollars to fund kids’ education at private schools, including those with a religious affiliation.
Colorado voters have shot down three attempts to start voucher programs.
Goldstein described the federal program as “nothing more than a school voucher program in disguise.”
However, Goldstein said she understands why Polis is clearing the way for Colorado to take part in the program as state lawmakers have been working to overcome a $1.5 billion budget deficit while families scrape by, “stretching their budgets to cover basic needs.”
She also sees a need for guardrails that will prevent fraud, waste and abuse in the program and make sure the dollars help for public and private school students.
“Taxpayer dollars, whether federal or state, demand transparency,” Goldstein told the House Education Committee. “Families deserve confidence that these resources are being administered fairly and this legislature has a duty to ensure that any program operating in Colorado meets a high standard of accountability.”
Opponents of the legislation, including Erik Billinger, chief development officer of the nonprofit ACE Scholarships, are glad to see lawmakers slowing down on forming state regulations. ACE Scholarships disburses scholarships to low-income students to help them cover the cost of private school tuition. The organization awards scholarships in 13 states and, in Colorado, donations fund those scholarships.
It gives the federal program “the best possible chance to be implemented successfully and help all K-12 kids without creating confusion between state regulations and still to be seen federal rules, as we await guidance from Treasury,” Billinger wrote in a text message to The Sun.
The status of other education-related legislation considered during the 2026 Colorado legislative session can be found in The Sun’s roundup of 101 bills.