The knock on the word “assume” is it can make an “a**” out of “(yo)u” and “me.” Let’s nevertheless assume the 2026 General Assembly addressed big problems facing the state. Let’s further assume the current governor can move on these problems by signing bills into law. Let’s additionally assume candidates running for governor should directly state positions on these state challenges.

Public education takes up more than 20% of the state’s stymied budget. This year’s school finance bill and the budget Long Bill managed to hold on to recent improvements in school funding, taking Colorado from just above the bottom in per student dollars to a bit more above the bottom.

Senate Bill 26-135, State Public K-12 Education Funding, will send a ballot question to voters to boost K-12 revenue by 2% of the school funding budget using TABOR refund revenue. The initiative puts a 10-year limit on the increase. It will not raise taxes. The money will go to teacher retention and pay, smaller class sizes and more career and technical courses. Annual audits will provide oversight and accountability. The bill’s fiscal note offers estimates of revenues to K-12 at $136 million in year one and $970 million in year two, but these numbers depend on tax receipts and TABOR refund revenues.

The bill passed at the end of the session, and Gov. Jared Polis has not acted on it yet. His positions on public-education financing are mysterious. He has not been a vigorous proponent of K-12 finance increases offered in previous referenda that involved higher tax rates.

Democratic candidates for governor, Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, both generally support increased K-12 funding. Bennet wants to confront “competing and conflicting constitutional budget constraints.” Weiser acknowledges Colorado’s multi-billion-dollar school underfunding. Weiser stated in a campaign piece he will lead “an effort at the ballot so we can better invest in our K-12 schools, teachers’, and students’ futures.”

GOP governor candidates, state Rep. Scott Bottoms and state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, show differences in their school funding support. Bottoms had an “excused” absence on the final vote in the House on SB26-135, the K-12 funding ballot question. Kirkmeyer, true to her pro-TABOR roots, voted NO. Kirkmeyer did support funding K-12 as she was a sponsor of SB26-023, the School Finance Act. She voted YES on the bill in the state Senate and Bottoms voted NO on the bill in the state House.

Though Weiser and Bennet acknowledge K-12 underfunding, their concerns are different. Weiser would address educator compensation, teacher retention and creating financial stability for K-12 public schools given student population declines and rising costs. Bennet sees education “reform,” workforce readiness and fixing constitutional funding conflicts as crucial. Kirkmeyer will hold the line on school funding but not increase taxes. Bottoms apparently won’t hold the line on funding.

Weiser has repeatedly stated he opposes President Donald Trump’s plans for tax credits used to support private-school students. Bennet said recently he would always choose funding for public schools over school vouchers. Polis has committed Colorado to Trump’s tax credit plan.

These candidates should clarify their specific support or opposition to the SB26-135 initiative on school funding now. Our current governor could benefit from knowing whether his prospective replacements would sign or veto this legislation. Certainly the voting public deserves to know the candidates’ explicit support or opposition.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the newest technology to scare the patooties out of everyone. Like cars replacing horses, laptops removing typewriters and social media nudging out newspapers, AI will transform how our daily lives will proceed. Candidates should be on top of AI controversies. SB26-189, Automated Decision-Making Technology, and House Bill 26-1210, Prohibit Surveillance Price and Wage Setting, address AI’s potential downsides.

Polis signed SB26-189. He wanted changes to the legislation’s 2024 iteration of consumer protections from potential AI vagaries. Bill sponsors negotiated with AI proponents and came up with transparency as a solution to possible depredations. Companies will have to reveal how AI is used for job applicant screening, and applicants will be able to appeal to actual people to discover how automated decision-making affected decisions related to their applications, school applications, credit, etc. Kirkmeyer and Bottoms voted NO on this bill. Bennet and Weiser should be explicit on whether they would sign or veto the legislation if they are elected governor.

HB26-1210 gets at another potentially pernicious use of AI. The bill addresses when AI algorithms are used to set product pricing based on AI’s surveillance of consumers’ attraction to products or employees’ financial or other conditions that could influence wages. So, for example, AI surveillance could tell how often or where employees are applying for jobs, whether employees are in a tight spot financially, or whether credit records are dicey. Under this bill, this type of individual AI surveillance would be illegal as the legislation particularly targets setting an individual product price for a consumer or an individual wage for a worker.

Kirkmeyer and Bottoms voted NO on HB26-1210. Both bills passed ready for the governor’s signature. What would Bennet or Weiser do — sign or veto the bills?

Paula Noonan owns CapitolCommons.ai, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.