The Colorado Supreme Court reportedly has ruled that the state doesn’t have a constitutional obligation to spend more on K-12 education.
The state’s high court was scheduled to release its ruling this morning, but Fox31 in Denver found a copy of the ruling posted Monday afternoon, it said. It was not available on the website later in the day.
The station reported that the court ruled 4-2 against the plaintiffs, who are parents from around the state and school districts from the San Luis Valley. They wanted the state to set aside the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which limits state revenues and requires voter approval of tax increases.
The lawsuit did not seek a specified sum of money, but plaintiffs estimated that the state’s funding system falls short by as much as $4 billion a year.
“There’s nothing to celebrate in this ruling,” Kathleen Gebhardt, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday evening.
She had not seen the ruling and said it had been leaked to Fox31.
The case was filed in 2005. Denver District Judge Sheila Rappaport ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2011. The state’s high court heard arguments in March.
The state Attorney General’s Office said K-12 education already receives 45.6 percent of the general fund, and that the level of spending should be decided by lawmakers and voters.
