← Hearings

Joint Education

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

The Joint Education Committee's daylong SMART Act review of the higher education and K-12 departments turned pointed when superintendents and CFOs warned that the governor's overnight supplemental proposal—shifting more specific ownership tax into local share and shortening enrollment averaging—would strip millions from districts. Lawmakers also pressed higher-ed officials for accountability on transfer credits and scrutinized a five-position staffing request from a department climbing out of a 70% CFO-office vacancy rate.

Key Actions

·CDHE SMART Act — leadership and rolesAction

+ 11 more actions

Notable Quotes

I've heard from the governor, oftentimes members of the legislature and lots of the interest groups that lobby you hard, that we are fully funding K12 education. And I would submit that's inaccurate, it's deceptive and it's misleading and confusing for so many people in our communities.

Christopher Gdowski (Adams 12 Superintendent) · witnessThe superintendent's blunt rejection of the 'fully funded' narrative framed districts' core objection to the state's school-finance claims amid adequacy shortfalls.

+ 5 more quotes

Unlock the full summary

Subscribe to see every key action, the full discussion, amendments, and notable quotes.

Sign in to subscribe
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
Continue reading

Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and the assistant across all Colorado committee hearings.

Sign in to subscribe