In 1988, the Colorado General Assembly passed the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act, which allows junior and senior high school students to enroll in college courses at public and private institutions of higher education. Students receive high school or college credit or both.[1] Under a separate Fast Track Program, a 12th grade student who has completed classes required for graduation may take college courses. The school district pays for the courses if the student passes.[2]

In 1990, the legislature adopted the Public Schools of Choice Act. Students may transfer to other schools within and outside of their home districts, subject to limitations of capacity or desegregation plans. Transfer requests may be denied if the preferred school does not have appropriate services to meet a child's physical or cognitive special needs, if the student has not met eligibility requirements for a particular program, or if the student has been expelled from his or her former school.[3]

In November 1992, a parental choice ballot initiative was defeated by a margin of 66.8 percent to 33.2 percent. The initiative would have given parents vouchers worth 50 percent of the public schools' per-pupil expenditure in their district to send a child to a public or private school of choice.[4]

In June 1993, the legislature passed the Charter Schools Act, which allows any group or individual to submit an application to open a charter school. Charter applicants can seek waivers from specific district policies and state statutes.[5] Initially local school districts had the sole authority to grant charters, although rejected applicants could appeal to the Colorado State Board of Education. Subsequent legislation created a second authorizer.

In the 1998 general election, by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent, Colorado voters rejected Initiative 17, which would have given parents up to $2,500 annually per child in state income tax credits for educational expenses, including tuition at private schools.[6]

On March 31, 1999, Governor Bill Owens, a Republican, signed into law House Bill 1113, which requires that school districts must fully fund charter schools at 95 percent of per-pupil revenue. Previously, districts had funded only 80 percent of charter school costs.[7] The bill also allows districts to keep 5 percent of their per-pupil revenues to cover administration costs for the charter schools and to contract with charter schools to provide other support services.

Another bill introduced in 1999, S.B. 100, which would have created state charter school districts that would be governed by the Colorado State Board of Education, did not pass. H.B. 1044, sponsored by Representative Nancy Spence (R-39), which would have allowed local school boards to waive nearly all state regulations--without the need for approval by local accountability boards, parents, teachers, or administrators--was passed by the House but died in the Senate Education Committee.[8]

Two choice bills introduced in 1999 did not make it out of committee. S.B. 162, introduced by Senator John Andrews (R-Arapahoe), then-vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee, would have created a tuition tax credit for preschool tuition. S.B. 55, introduced by then-Senator Doug Linkhart (D-Denver), would have provided tax credits worth 25 percent of a taxpayer's cash donations to any school in the state, public or private. The Linkhart bill was approved by the Senate Finance Committee but died in the Appropriations Committee.[9](86)

Colorado NAACP President Willie Breazell was forced to resign his position after voicing his support for publicly funded private school choice in an August 17, 1999, opinion article in the Colorado Springs Gazette.[10]

In the state's House of Representatives, two tax credit bills were introduced in 2000. H.B. 1198 would have provided tax credits for educational expenses, and H.B. 1177 would have offered a credit for contributions to scholarship organizations and private schools. Both bills died in committee.[11]

Also during the 2000 legislative session, Senator Andrews introduced S.B. 46, which would have created a statewide voucher program through the School Guarantee Act. Parents dissatisfied with their child's academic, moral, or physical well-being would have been eligible to receive a voucher to enroll their child in a school of choice. The legislation set the voucher amount at either 80 percent of the per-pupil expenditure of the school from which the child transferred or a means-tested percentage of private-school tuition. S.B. 46 died in committee.[12]

In February 2000, the Alliance for Choice in Education (ACE) launched a private scholarship program to award scholarships annually to low-income Denver students to attend a school of choice. ACE pays for half of the tuition at a private school, up to $2,000 per year for elementary and middle school students and up to $3,000 per year for high school students.[13] Since its inception, ACE has granted scholarships to over 1,000 students. Three-quarters of the ACE-sponsored high school graduates have gone on to college.[14] The Children's Tuition Fund, Parents Challenge, and Educational Options for Children also provide scholarships for children.[15]

In April 2000, under the leadership of Governor Bill Owens, the Colorado legislature established an accountability system that graded schools according to their students' performance on state tests. Public schools that were designated as "failing" and did not improve after three years could be converted to charter schools.[16] In 2001, Governor Owens approved a bill that changed the grading system of schools and required, rather than letter grades of A through F, school rankings of "excellent," "high," "average," "low," or "unsatisfactory."[17]

In May 2000, the Colorado Department of Education released a report on the 1998-1999 school year that included information on the 51 charter schools that had been in operation for at least two years. The report revealed that the charter schools were outpacing the traditional public schools. On average, charter school students scored 10 to 16 percentage points above statewide public school averages, and 75 percent of the charter schools scored higher than schools in their home districts with similar demographics.[18]

Three school choice bills were introduced in the 2001 legislature. S.B. 64, which would have authorized a statewide universal voucher program, died in committee.[19] H.B. 1219, which would have created tax credits for donations to organizations that award tuition scholarships for private schools, was passed by the House but died in a Senate committee.[20] H.B. 1180, which would have established a refundable K-12 tuition tax credit of up to $3,000 per child for tuition expenses and up to $1,000 for home-schooling expenses for one child and $500 per child for additional children, also died in committee.[21]

On June 7, 2002, Governor Owens signed H.B. 1349, which made several changes in Colorado's charter school law. The law permits charter schools to have online programs and makes it easier for them to gain access to capital funds.[22]

During the 2002 legislative session, two bills were introduced to authorize education tax credits. S.B. 163 would have provided a tax credit against property taxes for contributions to tuition scholarship organizations. H.B. 1309 offered individuals an income tax credit of up to 65 percent of the amount contributed to a scholarship organization. For the first year, the maximum amount of the credits would have been capped at $5 million. By 2006, the cap would have risen to $20 million.[23] H.B. 1309 was passed by the House but died in the Senate. S.B. 163 also died in the Senate.[24]

On April 16, 2003, Governor Owens signed into law the Colorado Opportunity Contract Pilot Program, H.B. 1160. Sponsored by State Representative Nancy Spence (R-39), this program authorized vouchers for low-income students in state-designated poor-performing school districts. The vouchers were worth 37.5 percent of the district's per-pupil costs for kindergarten, 75 percent for elementary and junior high school, and 85 percent for high school. Only students who participated in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program and were enrolled in a Colorado public school the previous year were eligible to participate. Students in grades 4-12 must have failed the state assessment or college entrance exam to be eligible. Participation was capped at 1 percent of the district's enrollment in 2004-2005, rising yearly to 6 percent in 2007-2008 and subsequent years.[25] Subsequent court decisions in 2003 and 2004 halted the implementation of this program (see below).

In other legislation, S.B. 99, introduced by Senator John Evans (R-30), would have allowed school boards to set up voucher programs with the approval of district voters. District citizens also could have petitioned to place the issue on the ballot. The bill was passed by the Senate but died in the House. S.B. 77, introduced by Senator Ed Jones (R-11), would have established a pilot voucher program for low-income students in three school districts. Scholarships would have been worth the cost of tuition, the district per-pupil expenditure, or $5,200, whichever was least. S.B. 1, introduced by Senator Bruce Cairns (R-28), would have provided tax credits against property taxes to individuals who donate to scholarship organizations. Both of these bills died in the Senate.[26]

In the Colorado House of Representatives, H.B. 1137, introduced by Representative Keith King (R-21), would have given a tax credit for contributions to organizations that provide scholarships to poor children to attend a school of choice. The credit would have been equal to 50 percent of a donation of up to $25,000 ($50,000 for married couples filing jointly). The state would have been able to grant up to $3 million in tax relief in 2003, with this relief increasing yearly to $10 million by 2010. The bill was passed by the House but died in the Senate.[27]

Pamela Benigno of theIndependence Institute published a paper reviewing the methods Colorado districts used to notify parents of their educational options under the No Child Left Behind Act. Students attending schools on the "School Improvement" list have the option to transfer to a different school. Districts must communicate this option in a "neutral" way--neither discouraging nor encouraging a particular decision from parents. The study found that many districts and schools did not make parents aware of their options in an unbiased manner.[28]

Charter petitioners filed a lawsuit against the Steamboat Springs school district after it twice denied their application for a Montessori charter school. In each case, the charter applicant won appeals to the State Board of Education but the district continued to refuse the state's recommendation.[29] The charter applicants dropped their lawsuit in early 2004 when the district agreed to open the Montessori school.[30]

Shortly after the signing of the new school choice law, the Colorado Education Association and other special interest groups filed a lawsuit alleging the program violated the state's constitutional prohibition on funding for religious institutions, the "local control" provision that gives school district control over public education, and other provisions.[31]

On December 3, 2003, Denver Judge Joseph Meyer ruled the program violated the "local control" provision and halted the program's implementation. The state and the Institute for Justice, which intervened on behalf of 12 Colorado families, appealed the decision. They argued that the scholarship program was consistent with local control because it did not interfere with school district control over public schools. In fact, school districts had the responsibility of approving private schools that participated in the program. The state has several public school choice programs, including open enrollment and charter and magnet schools, that exist within the constitutional framework.[32]

On June 28, 2004 the Colorado Supreme Court struck down the Opportunity Scholarship program by a 4-3 decision on the grounds that it violated the "local control" provision of the Colorado constitution.The majority concluded, "If the General Assembly wants to change this fundamental structure, it must either seek to amend the constitution or enact legislation that satisfies the mandates of the Colorado Constitution." Justice Rebecca Kourlis, writing in her dissent, stated, "Because the school district loses no control whatsoever over the education provided in its public schools, but merely loses some revenue that it would otherwise have, I do not view the program as unconstitutional."[33]

In 2004 Governor Owens signed into law two charter school bills. H.B. 1362 establishes a nine- member State Charter School Institute which can approve charter school applications from anywhere in the state. Only those districts that the State Board of Education determines have been "fair and equitable" toward charter schools may continue to have sole jurisdiction over charter authorization within their boundaries.[34] The governor also signed H.B. 1141, which prohibits a charter school moratorium and enrollment caps. The act clarifies that charter schools must receive 100 percent of the per-pupil revenue, from which the district may deduct up to five percent for administrative activities.[35]

Several voucher bills received votes during the 2004 legislative session. Representative Spence introduced H.B. 1352 to establish "Colorado Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program," a program similar to Florida's successful McKay Scholarship Program. The bill passed in the House Committee on Education but died in the House Committee on Appropriations. Representative Spence introduced two bills, H.B. 1442 and H.B. 1458, to alter the Opportunity Scholarships program to remove local funding from the program. H.B. 1442 lost in the House of Representatives by one vote. H.B. 1458 passed in the Education Committee but died in the Appropriations Committee.[36]

On May 10, 2004 the governor signed S.B. 189 to provide Colorado high school graduates a voucher of $2,400 a year to use at any public college or university or $1,200 at participating private colleges. The state is the first in the nation to voucherize in-state tuition.[37]

In February 2005, Representative Kevin Lundberg (R-49) introduced a bill that would provide a tax credit for education expenses, including tuition, for families of students who transfer from a public school to a private or home school.[38] The bill, H.B. 1258, was moved to the House Committee on Finance, which postponed consideration indefinitely.