The Colorado Senate Friday voted 35-0 for Gov. Jared Polis’ top legislative priority, full-day kindergarten for thousands of Colorado children, paid for by the state.

House Bill 1262 won unanimous approval from the Senate Education Committee last week and a 7-3 vote from the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday. The Senate’s approval on Friday sends the bill back to the House for concurrence on an amendment added during debate on Thursday.

Sponsors Democratic Sens. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village and Rhonda Fields of Aurora put the bill through its paces on the Senate floor Thursday.

The bill was amended by the Senate to allow schools using preschool funding for a program known as ECARE (short for Early Childhood At-Risk Enhancement) to pay for kindergarten to keep that funding if they have sufficient preschool enrollments.

“Early education dollars are the most impactful,” Bridges told the Senate. “Full-day kindergarten levels the playing field for Colorado kids and gives them a strong start.”

The state currently pays for 58% of a full-day of kindergarten. The bill devotes $175 million to covering the rest. Some schools already provide free full-day kindergarten to Colorado kids, using existing operating funds. Others get special property taxes to cover the rest of the cost, and yet others charge the parents as much as $500 per month for the balance of the costs. 

Speaking in favor of the bill, Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling said that half-day kindergarten, which is what the state pays for now, is of limited value to rural Coloradans.

“If you have half-day kindergarten in a rural school, some kids never even get that,” he said.

Working parents can’t drive back and forth to a school midday, especially in rural communities where the school may be a long drive from home or work, be added.

For that reason, half-day kindergarten “is one of the most oppressive education policies we’ve had for people who are at average or below average income, mostly in rural Colorado,” said Sonnenberg, adding he applauded the sponsors for bringing the bill forward.

Sonnenberg had wanted to be a co-prime sponsor on the bill, and that was hinted at by Republican Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs, who blasted the bill for not being bipartisan. 

RELATED: Colorado Senate Democrats block Republican as prime co-sponsor of full-day kindergarten bill

This is still a significant ask for Colorado taxpayers, said Republican Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument. But he also noted that charter schools — for which he is a strong supporter — are included in the bill, and that’s something he supports. Sen. Rob Woodward of Loveland voted against the bill in the appropriations committee but said he was changing his vote to a “yes.”

This is a good day for Colorado, Fields told the Senate. 

The bill will head to a final vote, probably on Friday, and then must go back to the House for a review of the Senate’s amendments before heading to the governor for signing.