The 2020-21 budget is nearing its conclusion, after the House approved the Long Appropriations Bill, House Bill 1360, on June 3. The Senate followed, passing the $30.3 billion budget on June 6, in a rare Saturday session.

Both northeastern Colorado lawmakers, Republicans Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, Sterling and Representative Rod Pelton, Cheyenne Wells, voted against the bill.

The 2020-21 budget now goes back to the Joint Budget Committee that wrote it, which as a conference committee will resolve differences between the House and Senate version.

The budget resolves a $3.3 billion shortfall in general fund revenues, the discretionary spending that funds State programs such as education, which takes up 36 percent of general funds, and higher education, which was slashed by 58 percent of its general fund support.

General fund is the one-third portion of the State budget that comes from corporate and individual income taxes and sales and use taxes, including taxes from oil and gas. Those revenues have taken a major hit in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a precipitous decline in the price of oil, which has caused oil producers in Colorado to lay off hundreds of employees in the last three months.

What isn’t in the budget: the cut to K-12 education. That is in the School Finance Act, which had its first hearing on June 6 in the House Education Committee.

House Bill 1418 is sponsored by Speaker of the House KC Becker, Boulder, who took on the task due to what is likely to be a controversial provision: setting a uniform mill levy rate statewide.

That has led to concerns that it would require some school districts to seek higher property taxes, an unpleasant ask in the midst of a recession.

The debt to K-12 education, known as the budget stabilization factor, would be increased under the bill by $612.1 million. Coupled with the existing debt of $572.4 million, that brings the total to $1.18 billion, the highest in State history.

Given the Saturday session and the restrictions around public testimony at the Capitol, the education committee hearing drew almost no testimony.

Becker told the committee that the $612.1 million hit to K-12 would be softened by money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Governor Jared Polis directed $510 million from the State’s $1.167 billion appropriation to K-12.

However, a JBC analyst who specializes in education, Craig Harper, warned that those dollars could not be used to backfill budget cuts. The legislation requires that those dollars go to cover costs due to the pandemic, such as remote learning, cleaning and other expenses. In addition, Harper said, those dollars have already been sent to the school districts in their 2019-20 budgets and most of those dollars are not likely to be available in the following school year. Finally, he said, those dollars must be spent by Dec. 30, which means they would not be available for the last six months of the fiscal year.

The mill levy equalization proposal would set a uniform 27 mills for each school district, unless those districts are fully funded by those property taxes, as is the case with Aspen, or if the district has not asked voters to “de-Bruce.” That’s the provision in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights that allows school districts and local governments to keep the revenue they collect instead of returning it to taxpayers.

Only four school districts out of 178 statewide have not de-Bruced: Cherry Creek, D-11 in Colorado Springs and the Harrison district in El Paso County and the school district in Steamboat Springs.

The D-11 district is the home of TABOR author and convicted tax cheat Douglas Bruce, who has sued the district in the past.

The School Finance Act says that for the 2021 property tax year (which is a calendar year, not a fiscal year), each school district that has de-Bruced must levy the lesser of 27 mills; the number of mills levied in 2020, or the number of mills necessary to fully fund the district. That applies only to what’s known as total program mills, which fund school operations.

Many of the districts in northeastern Colorado are near or at 27 mills, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

But there are a few outliers that could be required to increase their property taxes. That includes Arickaree RE-2 in Washington County, which is at 14.181 mills, Woodlin R-104, also in Washington County, at 19.772 mills, and Briggsdale RE-10 in Morgan and Weld counties, which is at 11.565 mills.

Yuma 1 is at 18.345 mills and Wray RD-2, also in Yuma County, is at 15.032 mills. The bill does not consider voter-approved overrides that provide more property taxes to those districts and which result in higher total mills.

The Wray School District has obtained a mill levy override at 13.057 mills; Yuma has an override of 8.753 mills.

The bill is silent on overrides.

A second bill that would include only mill levy equalization is at the ready, according to sources, in case the School Finance Act gets bogged down in controversy over the mill levy provision.

That provision led Republicans on the education committee who have supported the School Finance Act in the past to vote against it on Saturday. That included Rep. Jim Wilson, Salida, who has been a champion for State-funded full-day kindergarten and a former school district superintendent. The bill passed on a largely party-line nine to four vote and now heads to House Appropriations, likely on Monday.

In other news: the House Health and Insurance Committee met on Sunday to debate a vaccination bill that seeks to improve the State’s overall vaccination rate to 95 percent and to require parents who want exemptions to obtain permission from a health care provider or take a State-developed course on vaccinations. Religious exemptions would be granted only if the person’s religious beliefs include teachings on vaccinations. A personal-belief exemption is still allowed, but only after a parent takes the State course. The exemption is for one year only and must be repeated annually, under the bill.

Colorado’s vaccination rates for kindergarten students is among the lowest in the nation, at 88.4 percent. The bill would require schools to report their immunization rates.

A sampling of schools in northeastern Colorado that have reported immunization rates show most either meet or exceed statewide averages for vaccinations.

Democrats this week also unveiled a package of 14 bills designed to provide relief during the pandemic. They also rolled out a controversial bill on law enforcement accountability that would strip governmental immunity from law enforcement officers who commit civil rights violations and require body cameras on all police officers. That measure is Senate Bill 217, which is awaiting Senate action.

Lawmakers hope to wrap up the rest of the session, at least for now, by the end of the week.