The Colorado Department of Education let $24 million fly from its checking accounts from January 2017 through June 2026 to CHE, aka Colorado Homeschool Enrichment. The details show how easily CHE and Education Re-Envisioned BOCES re-envisioned how to convert public money into homeschool enrichment programs including jiujitsu training, family funplex and dinner theater, among many other amazingly fun activities.

The setup was both simple and complicated. ERBOCES, run by Ken Witt with legal guidance from attorney Brad Miller, cooked up ways to push public dollars to CHE to pay for “enrichment” programs for homeschooled children. CHE used the funds to contract with the children’s parents to provide the enrichment. That’s the simple concept.

The complicated part was administering the money flow, the student counts, the contracts and the contractor hiring schemes, with ERBOCES and CHE capturing about 10% out of the $24 million. For 2026-2027, the enrollment cap for CHE was 2,772 students as documented in CHE’s application to CDE for this year’s money.

The money funneled through at least four publicly supported entities was about $6,000 to $7,000 per student depending on the school district in which the homeschooled student lived. That amount represents 50%, or half-time funding per student per year based on average per student per year allotments. The funding occurs even if the student drops out of the program at some point during the year. It’s unclear where any unused student count funds were/are banked.

The CHE program worked like this: First there’s the October pupil count when every school counts the number of students in its facilities. CHE doesn’t have facilities, but it had enrollments. It reported its enrollments to ERBOCES, which bundled up the pupil count number with its other programs and sent the total on to D-49, its authorizer. D-49 sent that total to CDE.

With the student count number in hand, CDE then sent money to D-49. D-49 then sent money to ERBOCES to pay CHE based on its student count. CHE then hired Contracted Instructional Specialists (CIS) to deliver enrichment programs. Often these CIS individuals were parents. The CIS parent recruited other parents’ children into their programs.

These other parents were then encouraged to become a CIS to offer programs to additional parents and their children. In this way, CIS parents who homeschooled their children received stipends for their children’s “enrichment.” CHE increased its enrollment. The program grew dramatically between 2017 and 2026. By 2026 there were at least 313 CIS individuals hired into CHE, enriching children across the state. Some might call the whole structure a successful pyramid scheme.

To become a CIS or a subcontracted CIS, one completed an application. The form identified the purpose of the program and the hours. So, for example, one CIS offered a five-hour time period every Monday with this description: “CHE-contracted instructors lead group coursework in home economics, art, physical education, music and outdoor education, building leadership, teamwork and community.” Many field trips and other “ventures” formed the basis of this potpourri.

Payment for the Contracted Instructional Specialist shows how some CHE money went out the door. But the best homeschool enrichment bonanza was in the debit card account of up to $3,000 per student to be spent on pretty much whatever the parents decided. That’s how skiing, lacrosse, piano and other lessons were paid for. That’s how students could go to dinner theater or Gaylord or get flying lessons for “free.”

Public-school parents typically pay out of pocket for these enrichments. Low-income children in public schools often just go without. Homeschooled parents could log in and check how much money they had in their account to plan for their children’s next excursions or set of lessons.

CHE’s student and parent handbook defines its guidelines for programs. The document has a lot to say about religion. It states direct religious instruction is not allowed. The implication is many of CHE’s families come from strong religious backgrounds. An inference is that religious instruction is a large part of the homeschool education environment. With little to no oversight over the education content or quality of the CHE enrichment occurring in “micro campuses,” aka living rooms and parks, across the state, who knows to what degree the separation of church and state was maintained?

The next program coming to the Colorado Department of Education is President Donald Trump’s $1,700-per-taxpayer tax credit for Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) to collect funds for a variety of “education” objectives. Federal rules are not yet complete, but scholarships will be available for private schools. Apparently, eligible children will include families up to 300% of an area’s median gross income. That number covers about 90% of residents in any area.

If Ken Witt and Brad Miller get into the SGO business, buckle up. Renee Miller and Jeff Cooper, co-founders of CHE as well as various religious enterprises, could easily conjure creative twists and turns for distributing millions in public funds.

CDE must up its competence. Citizens rely on government agencies to scrupulously protect public dollars from waste, fraud and abuse.

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