9-R Amendment 66 Fact Sheet-9-25-13

Amendment 66 Fact Sheet

Background:

An initiative will be on the ballot in Colorado giving voters an opportunity to invest further in education in Colorado. Over the past four years, public school funding has dropped by more than a billion dollars due to the lagging economy across our country.  During that time, Colorado has passed exciting educational reform initiatives leading to positive change in our schools and school districts, however these changes have increased the burden on our educational institutions through unfunded mandates.

The new initiative, called Amendment 66, will come to voters on the fall ballot, and will attempt to replace these lost revenues and implement a funding model that will stabilize school funding.  This implementation will help districts cover the cost of programs for students with specialized needs, and recognize the importance of early childhood programs in the state.

Facts:

·      The ballot initiative, if approved, will return Colorado to income tax rates similar to those in place in 2000, raise $950 million dollars for public education, and ensure that 43% of the state’s general revenues in the future support K-12 education within Colorado.

·      Colorado currently ranks 46^th out of 50 states in K-12 funding.  While this ballot initiative represents a significant amount of money and will lead to an increase in income tax for working citizens in Colorado, the additional revenue will only cause Colorado to rise to 41^st out of 50 states. 

·      If voters approve this ballot initiative, the district would realize a little over $4 million dollars in new revenues allowing us to eliminate deficit spending, and to further invest in opportunities to address student needs and supports within our schools. 

·      The initiative seeks to raise Colorado’s income tax rate to 5 percent, a 0.37 percentage-point increase. High-wage earners would pay a 5.9 percent rate on income more than $75,000, while still paying the 5 percent rate on their earnings less than $75,000.

·      This year, the district is spending almost $1.6 million dollars in deficit to ensure that our students have access to critical programs and to allow us to maintain small class sizes.  Durango 9-R has notably smaller class sizes when  compared to other districts in the state.