It’s nearly turkey time so it’s time to talk turkey.  Public schools in Colorado need more money.  Proposition CC will give them some.  

Prop CC total estimates are about $260 million in 2020-21, the combined revenue from $20 to $200 refunds based on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, not tax overpayments. One-third will go to public education.

Anti-Prop CCers argue that legislators won’t keep their promise to invest in its three targets: public schools, higher education, and state transportation.  Where else would they put the money?  The state is so underwater in funding these needs that citizens would send a 1776 revolution petition to the capitol if the moolah were diverted to unnamed spendthrift programs.  

Here’s the argument for investing refund money in public schools.  

First, money makes a difference if citizens are concerned about preparing k-12 students for life after public education.  The accepted tools for measuring student achievement across states are standardized tests of juniors and seniors.  Colorado (CO) uses the SAT.  

Prep Scholar posts SAT results for 2019.  Seventeen states have 70 percent or more students taking the SAT.  The average score across all takers in 2019 is 1059.  CO’s 2019 average is 1024 (100 percent of students).  That score places CO in 10^th place among the 17 states with 70 percent+ SAT test-takers and 35 points behind the SAT average.  

Massachusetts (MA), the state with the highest average score at 1120 (81 percent of students), spent $14,569 per student in 2018-19, according to Ed Week, a national journal.  The state pays its teachers an average salary of $80,357, based on a National Education Association report.  World Population Review posts MA’s average household income at $74,167.  So MA teachers are making about $6000/year more than MA average households. 

CO spends $9733 per student on public education, according to Ed Week. The state’s average household income is $65,458, and average teacher salary is $56,010.  Teachers in CO make on average $9448/year less than average households. 

Of the nine states that have higher SAT scores than CO, every single one spends more per student.  Georgia, with an SAT average score of 1058 (71 percent of students) is spending $9742 per child, close to CO, but its average teacher pay is $59,185, about $3,000 more. 

New Hampshire, with its 1090 average SAT, is the only other state in the top 10 of 17 with teacher salaries below the state average household income. But New Hampshire pumps $15,719 into per student funding, exceeding CO’s by about $6000.

Pennsylvania’s (PA) 1082 SAT results show the flipside of CO.  The average SAT score of PA students is 1082, 58 points higher than CO (70 percent participation). The state puts $15,291 into per student funding. Teachers make on average $69,303, and average household income is $56,951. 

CO is paying teachers on average $13,300 less than teachers in PA, while our average household income is $8500 more than residents of the Keystone state.  CO had 911,536 public school students in 2018. PA had 1,722,461.

World Population Review also provides a Best State for Teachers comparison.  Our Centennial state ranks 28th.  New York (NY) comes in first, with its $18,665 per student investment (highest in the nation) and $84,834 average teacher salary compared to $62,765 average household income.  Its average SAT score is 1064, 40 points higher than CO. NY has 2,629,978 public school students.  

PA comes in sixth and MA comes in thirteenth on the Best State for Teachers rating. Of the 17 states in this SAT survey, only four have lower Best State for Teachers ratings than CO.  Ironically, all of them spend more per student than CO, including lowest ranked West Virginia at $12,993 per child and $47,292 average teacher salary v. $44,061 average household income, a $3000 plus to teachers as opposed to CO’s $9000 minus. After its teacher strike, at least WVA is trying.

The numbers provided here come from the same sources across categories so none has a bias.  These facts should humble/shame Coloradans enough to vote YES on Prop CC.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.