This is a bill developed by most of the school superintendents in the state that will allocate state funds to the school districts. It will only go into effect if the voters approve a tax increase for education on the 2018 ballot. One of the provisions of the bill is the aspiration for universal, state funded preschool. This is something the Learning Community identified as an important goal at its January meeting. See the provision below.
(I) The Colorado preschool program set forth in article 28 of title 22, Colorado Revised Statutes, limits the program to a certain number of state-funded preschool program participants and requires that state-funded children attending preschool meet certain eligibility criteria. The new public school funding distribution formula contemplates universal, quality preschool for four- and five-year-old children, for which each child is funded as a half-day pupil, and does not limit preschool funding for four- and five-year-old children to a restricted number of preschool program participants or by a child's risk factors. Current preschool program provisions will continue to apply for three-year-old children participating in the preschool program.