Union president claims Denver school funding not adequate, but data tells different story

(The Center Square) – Denver Public Schools (DPS) recently announced it was cutting 76 positions from its budget.

The reductions triggered a response from Robert Gould, the president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.

Gould told KCNC-TV, “We’re in a place where because school funding is inadequate in the state of Colorado, we’re always having to make choices.”

Yet school funding data shows that per-pupil funding has increased well above the cost of inflation in Colorado.

In terms of school funding for Colorado’s public schools, in 2021-22, the average per pupil funding was at $9,014, which is up 36% since 2013-14 for the entire state of Colorado. That per-pupil figure includes local and state funding for state schools and not federal dollars, according to the Colorado Department of Education. When factoring inflation, per-pupil local and state funding has increased 19% from 2013-14 to 2021-22.

For DPS, total revenues have increased from $1.3 billion in 2018 to $1.48 billion in 2021, according to the district’s audited budgets. That amounts to a 14% increase in total revenues.