Gallagher

By Carol McGraw and Kristina Iodice
The Gazette

Schools have cut budgets for several years, and the choices of what goes next are running out.

The classroom might be the target.

"To some extent, you get what you pay for, said Glenn Gustafson, Colorado Springs School District 11 finance director. "If we want to have the lowest-funded education system in the United States, then be prepared for the consequences of that."

Officials want to keep looming cuts out of the classrooms, but can they?

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It still feels like summer, but most of Colorado's kids are already back at school. General Fund is back at school, too, and working harder than ever just to make the grade.

In previous emails we talked about how General Fund is struggling to keep his obligations to college students, Medicaid patients and other Coloradans while revenues are slipping. And we've discussed how he may have to take on more responsibility for roads and bridges.

Almost three decades of constitutional amendments, legislative acts and economic ups and downs

To understand how Colorado finds itself in its current fiscal condition, it is helpful to look back at some critical decisions made by legislators and voters over the last 29 years, and at some of the economic and political factors that drove those decisions.

Take TABOR. Please. And while we’re at it, take Gallagher and Amendment 23 and the handful of other constitutional and statutory formulas that stand between us and a sane state budget. After a quarter-century of jumping from one ballot measure to the next, it's time to stop setting fiscal policy by formula.

A quarter century of constitutional amendments, legislative acts and economic ups and downs To understand how Colorado finds itself in its current fiscal condition, it is helpful to look back at some critical decisions made by legislators and voters over the last 25 years, and at some of the economic and political factors that drove those decisions.

The Department of Higher Education receives funding from a variety of sources. These include state General Fund dollars, General Fund Exempt dollars, made available through Referendum C, Cash Funds, Cash Funds Exempt, which include tuition and fees spending authority, and federal funds.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary looking forward to the state's future fiscal needs and the conflicting constitutional provisions, TABOR, Amendment 23 and the Gallagher Amendment, that will limit the state.

Articles: TABOR Most Restrictive in Country, Proposal to Eliminate Gallagher, Treasurer???s Advisory Group, Public Opinion Shifting on TABOR, Legislature to track TABOR, TABOR Resources