During Wednesday's Senate Finance Committee hearing Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, blasted the lobbyists for two liberal education groups that were falsely claiming the revenue generated from the Democrats’ tax increase plan would go towards K-12 education.
“These bills that we are listening to today are not going to K-12 education,” King said during the hearing. “We are actually cutting K-12 education.”
This is not the first time Democrats have used education as the justification for tax increases. The 2007 School Finance Act contained a provision that froze the state’s mill levy rates, the mechanism used to calculate property taxes. Before the legislation the rates were rolled back as property values increased to ensure that property taxes remained flat. By freezing the mill levy rates, the legislation effectively raised property tax revenue as property values increased.
At the time, Democrats promised the extra revenue would go towards K-12 education. Yet, none of the money was specifically earmarked for that purpose. King pointed out this fact during the hearing.
“How can we come here in any way and say this will affect K-12 education?” King asked during the hearing.
King's questions were directed towards the lobbyists for the Colorado Association of School Executives and the Colorado Association of School Boards. Both of them had no response to King’s questions.
Click here to listen to audio from Wednesday’s Senate Finance hearing.