TABOR Tuesday

Leg session wraps

The legislature is wrapping up the spring 2026 session tomorrow. As per the last 3 years, budget cuts and TABOR constraints were prominent in the deliberations.

They did pass a balanced budget, and Governor Polis recently signed it. No one seems real happy with the cuts that had to be made.

There are still a few bills under discussion, but they cannot have major fiscal impacts and time is running short. A few AI related bills were stymied by lack of time and consensus.

Since TABOR impacts all budgets, I also wanted to highlight the projected DPS budget shortfall. Almost all school districts are losing enrollments, with lots more to come. They need to cut costs to adjust, and almost certainly close some more schools. More than half of school district funding comes from the state budget (less for DPS), so the two fiscal challenges are closely related.

As I have posted here, school closure discussions will dominate most district conversations over the next several years. Even as they also must deal with many students missing school, cell phone restrictions, AI and assessment, Trump federal cuts and policy changes, and all of the things.