11/27: School funding fact and fiction

Does Colorado really rank at the bottom of the barrel for school funding?

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

It's the political myth that lives on, like a zombie immune to attack. You've no doubt heard that Colorado's school funding is almost the worst in the nation - 49th, 45th, whatever the number is, we don't care about our kids.

That ranking is derived by dividing school funding into personal income, or a percentage of wealth spent on schools. It's also totally irrelevant. Colorado is a pretty well-paid state, but we also fund our schools at about an average level. Even though New Mexico spends less per student, they rank higher than we do because their personal income is lower.

Put another way, the ranking means nothing. But it's a convenient way for the teacher's union to continue to claim poverty when nothing is further from the truth.

I'm Brad Jones.