Joint Education

Friday, January 16, 2026·4h 46m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Joint Education Committee held its 2026 SMART Act hearings, receiving presentations from the Department of Higher Education, three school districts, the Colorado Department of Education, and History Colorado. No legislation was passed or voted upon; the hearing was dominated by sharp disagreements over a proposed specific ownership tax change that witnesses and legislators warned could cut hundreds of millions from K-12 districts, persistent accountability failures in transfer credit policy, and inadequate education funding relative to two statewide adequacy studies showing a $3.5–$4.1 billion annual gap.

Key Actions

·CDHE SMART Act – Transfer Credit Accountability & SB 24-164No Vote

+ 11 more actions

Controversies

Specific ownership tax inclusion in local share of school finance formula

Janice Licener (Douglas County) argued the SOT proposal 'is really hitting very specific districts in a very difficult way and it's not equitable across the system,' estimating a net $9 million cut to Douglas County. Christopher Godowski (Adams 12) stated the proposal would strip $8.1 million equivalent to 81 teachers. Chuck Carpenter (public testimony) stated DPS faces a '$26 million reduction in funding' equaling 260 teachers and 'essentially the entire COLA.' Sen. Janice Marchman called the proposal 'sneaky' and said she 'wouldn't' support it. Carpenter disputed characterizations from unspecified officials that the change 'has been misinterpreted' or 'this is how it's always been.'

+ 4 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“It's tough to Square fully funding K12, which is a message that our constituents hear all the time, against studies that were submitted to the legislature in 2023 that says Colorado underfunds an adequately funded public ed system by 3.5 to $4.1 billion a year.”
Christopher Godowski, Superintendent, Adams 12 — Godowski challenged the legislature's public messaging that K-12 is fully funded, contrasting it with two adequacy studies presented to the legislature in 2023.

+ 4 more quotes

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TranscriptPreview

The Joint Education Committee Smart act hearing will come to order. Mr. Beck, please call the roll. Representatives and Senators Bacon. Excused. Bradfield. Excused. Bright. Here. Flinell. Present. Frizzell. Excused. Garcia. Sander. Present. Gilchrist. Excused. Amrick. Here. Hartsook. Excused. Johnson. Here. Kip. Here. Marchman. Excused. Martinez. Excused. Michael. Sanjanay. Excused. Phillips. Yes. Rich. Excused. Stuart Kay. Here. Story. Marksman has just walked in. If you want to say story one more time. Story. Representative. Story. Representative. Story. Lukens. Here. And Mr. Chair here. Thank you very much. Want to make sure we have a full schedule today, so try to get through, start it as soon as we could after adjournment. So thank you all for being here and we'll sure have more members trickling in over the next 30 minutes. Today we are going to start with the Department of Higher education. We've allocated 90 minutes for the department of Ed. After that we have a panel on school finance. With school districts, we've allocated an hour to hour and a half. And then we will have the actual Department of Ed, which is only available from 2 to 4. So that's why we've been shifting schedules. So our…

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