Gov. Jared Polis signs bill sending $24 million to Colorado schools seeing influx of immigrant students

DENVER — Colorado will distribute $24 million in one-time funding to public school districts and charter schools impacted by the unprecedented influx of immigrant students who arrived after the annual October headcount that determines districts’ state funding.

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed the bipartisan bill, HB24-1389, authorizing that money to be distributed this fiscal year from the State Education Fund.

The Colorado Department of Education now will determine how much school districts receive using a multitiered funding model that’s based on how many new-to-the-country students they enrolled following the count.

“What is going on now really has been quite substantial and unusual in terms of scope, and these thousands of new students coming require services,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who helped sponsor the legislation. “It is our obligation still to make sure everybody entering our public schools are getting an education. There is a need for more paraprofessionals, more teachers, more English language services, more wraparound services.”

Denver has borne the brunt of the impacts of newly arriving immigrants.

Nearly 42,000 immigrants have arrived in the Mile High City in a little more than a year, according to city records updated this week. Thousands of new students have enrolled in Denver Public Schools over the past several months.

In Denver, per-pupil funding amounts to about $11,000 per student per year. In February, Denver Public Schools said the district had enrolled 1,900 new students outside of the October count, leaving it short more than $20 million in state funding.

Bill Good, a DPS spokesperson, on Thursday said the state’s largest school district anticipates receiving between $3 million and $5 million from the new funding bill.

“Denver Public Schools joins school districts across the state in thanking the Colorado legislature and Gov. Jared Polis in passing and signing HB24-1389,” Scott Pribble, another DPS spokesperson said. “This additional funding will help our district continue to support our newcomer students as they thrive in Denver Public Schools.”

The money will be distributed before the end of this school year, Sirota said.

“We felt it was important to provide some additional resources in this school year to meet these pressing needs we see not only on the Front Range but even in some of our mountain communities and rural communities, as well,” she said.

The funding distribution mechanism accounts for students who transferred to other school districts, as well, to ensure there is no double-dipping on per-pupil funding, Sirota said.

“This bipartisan law helps ensure school districts receive the funding they need to educate students where they are currently attending school,” Polis said in a statement. “I applaud the Joint Budget Committee for their work on this legislation and am happy to sign it into law to help more schools and educators get the resources they need.”

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