By Denille LePlatt

When people talk about rural schools, the conversation too often starts with struggle. I’d like to start somewhere different: with the 135,000 students across Colorado’s rural communities who show up every day with talent, drive and potential that rivals any school district in this state.

I serve as executive director of the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, representing 146 rural school districts — communities where the school is not just a building, but the backbone of civic and economic life. Our schools employ our neighbors, anchor our local economies and prepare students for careers in agriculture, health care, skilled trades and small business ownership. They are places of genuine innovation, where educators stretch every dollar, build relationships across grade levels and deliver personalized learning larger districts are still trying to figure out.

But here’s the honest truth: Colorado has fallen behind in funding public education — and rural schools feel that gap the hardest.

Colorado’s public schools are underfunded by roughly $4,000 per student annually. For rural districts, that shortfall cuts deeper. Smaller enrollment means fewer economies of scale. When budgets run short, choices become stark: combine classrooms, cut programs, or go without the supports and opportunities our students need. These aren’t abstract policy tradeoffs — they are real decisions real superintendents are making right now.

Recruiting and retaining educators in rural Colorado was already one of our steepest climbs. Housing shortages, geographic isolation and compensation gaps make it hard to attract talented teachers and even harder to keep them. When funding is unpredictable, districts can’t offer competitive pay, build sustainable programs, or make the long-term investments in staff that lead to student success. That instability ripples through classrooms for years.
At the root of this is a revenue cap written into state law in 1992 — a mechanism that limits what Colorado can invest in public services, even in strong economic years when the revenue is already there. For rural communities operating on the financial edge, this cap doesn’t just limit investment. It limits possibilities.

A bill currently before the Colorado legislature offers a path forward. It would refer to voters a measure to raise that outdated cap and allow Colorado to direct existing revenue — money the state already collects — into K–12 public education. There are no new taxes. No new levies. Just a decision to stop sending money back out the door when our students need it here.

For rural districts, this kind of stable, meaningful investment would be transformative. It means smaller class sizes where every student gets seen. It means teacher compensation that makes careers in rural education genuinely competitive. It means career and technical education programs tied to the industries — agriculture, construction, health care, trades — that are the lifeblood of rural Colorado’s economy. And it means the budget predictability that allows districts to plan, hire and build programs that last longer than a single fiscal year.

This proposal also includes annual public audits, so communities can see exactly where education dollars go. That kind of transparency isn’t a concession — it’s an invitation. Rural Colorado has earned the right to expect accountability from the systems meant to serve it.

This bill is an overdue correction to a system that has asked rural communities to build something extraordinary on an uneven foundation — and watched them do it anyway. This is a chance to finally match that effort with appropriate investment.

Ultimately, this is a question of equity and of vision. Students in Walsenburg, Saguache, Arriba and Stratton deserve the same educational opportunities as students in any other ZIP code in Colorado. Not because rural schools are struggling — but because they are already doing exceptional work and deserve a funding structure that reflects that.

This proposal gives Colorado voters the chance to make that choice. I hope they — and the legislators who represent them — are ready to take it.

Denille LePlatt is executive director of the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, representing 146 rural school districts serving approximately 135,000 students across Colorado.