Colorado Can Fix School Funding Fiasco
Steve Graham
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Amendment 59 Would Untie Bind Created by TABOR, Amendment 23
Direct democracy can be a powerful force - maybe too powerful. Take Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights and the subsequent Amendment 23. Both measures were amendments to the state cColorado Can Fix School Funding Fiasco
A third measure, Amendment 59, would untie the bind created by the competing measures. Though I generally think constitutional amendments should be safe, legal and rare, the only way to undo the voters' previous mistakes is to pass another constitutional amendment.
Like many amendments, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights wrote major flaws into what was generally a good plan. The other states considering a similar measure to Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights need to learn from our mistakes. The biggest is referred to as the ratcheting effect.
TABOR dictates that state tax revenues cannot increase without a vote of the people, even if revenues drop. Say You is a really small Colorado city and You collected $100 in tax revenue in 2001. When the economy went south, You only collected $80 in 2002. In 2003, some more folks moved to town and you collected $110. You can't keep the extra $30. It has to go back to taxpayers, and You don't have the money to pay for services for these new residents.
Then add the real wrench in the works. Amendment 23 was approved in 2000. It required a defined percentage of funding to be dedicated to education, with required annual increases. Voters saw the increased education funding and said, "How can I vote against kids? Bring it on." Great idea, except the requirements remained in place after state revenues dropped.
So, in the example above, You City paid maybe $20 for the school (it's a small school) in 2001, then had to paying $22 in 2002 even though the budget was leaner. This cut into all Your other services.