Colorado Program That Benefits Homeschoolers Faces Budget Axe

Lawmakers in Colorado are poised to scale back an education enrichment program for homeschooled children in ongoing efforts to close a massive state budget deficit.

On March 23, the Centennial State legislature’s Joint Budget Committee voted to draft legislation that would change the program’s funding formula and reduce the number of reimbursed program hours to save up to $40 million per year. Members are concerned that, under current assembly rules, the measure might not get passed ahead of the 2026–2027 academic year, so they also agreed to push Colorado’s Department of Education to seek more immediate reductions to the program.

The part-time and “half-time” homeschool enrichment funding has covered a variety of activities, often in settings where students interact with their peers as well as adults for supplementary lessons they can’t get at home. This includes the arts, physical education, sports, outdoor education, field trips, and higher-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) instruction.

Even though families maintain control of the curriculum, the state funds some operating costs.

“If we don’t have money for health care for kids, then I don’t think we have money for jiujitsu,” state Sen. Emily Sirota, a Democrat from Denver and the Joint Budget Committee chair, said at the March 23 meeting.

Democrats hold a wide majority in both state houses. Members largely blame the $1 billion-plus state spending deficit on skyrocketing Medicaid costs and maintain they’re working to prioritize education and core services for the state’s most vulnerable people, according to a March 19 news release from Colorado Senate Democrats.

Homeschooling is deregulated in Colorado. The state Department of Education website says that, other than shared services under the enrichment program, the state does not fund non-public education options.

Colorado residents pay local, state, and federal taxes that fund the public schools, regardless of whether their children attend them.

Andrea Uhl, principal legislative budget and policy analyst for the Joint Budget Committee, advised members that it’s difficult to gauge long-term savings, considering that some homeschooled children might enroll in public schools if enrichment programs, which saw more than a 100 percent increase in enrollment since 2019, are reduced.

The publicly funded Education reEnvisioned BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) program, based in Monument, Colorado, is one of several partners in the enrichment program. It also works with online schools. Superintendent Ken Witt said his homeschool support offerings currently serve more than 13,000 students, nearly a 300 percent increase from the 2022-2023 academic year.

“This is what homeschool families need,” he told The Epoch Times, adding that there’s been a surge in the number of students interested in career and technical education training, such as welding and toolmaking.

Enrichment program locations are scattered throughout the state. Some take place in public school facilities, while others are found in churches, libraries, or leased spaces in strip malls. BOCES contributes to the fixed facility costs. Local school districts aid in the program administration process, but are not supposed to receive program money unless their employees take on added tasks.

State lawmakers or the Department of Education could consider maintaining many of the enrichment course offerings by moving them to public school campuses and allowing their staff to oversee instruction. However, Witt said that’s unacceptable.

“They don’t necessarily want to go to neighborhood public schools for part of the day,” he said. “It’s important for Colorado to respect homeschooling families and support them.”

The Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) breaks down the demographics of children schooled at home: There are 54,000 total, out of the state K-12 population of 900,000, and not everyone follows a religion-based curriculum. Forty-one percent of the children are a racial minority—black, Hispanic, Asian, or other. The parents are politically diverse, with 44 percent identifying as Republican and 29 percent as Democrat, according to its website.

Kashia Davis, CHEC outreach director, said ongoing research from her organization indicates that school bullying in public schools is the top reason for homeschooling in Colorado, followed by concerns over academic quality and religious liberty.

Davis, who homeschooled her own children, knows many parents who rely on the enrichment program. Some of them will be joining her at the Stand for Homeschool Freedom lobby day at the state capital, Denver, on April 9. Families will meet with their local lawmakers and urge them not to cut programming. The event also serves as a lesson in civics, as the children will be recognized on the legislative floor and lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

She and many other parents will ask for continued autonomy in choosing curriculum and standards for their children.

“This is a major event, because the constituents are moms and dads,” Davis told The Epoch Times.

This is also an opportunity, she added, to discuss major cost savings through shared services and volunteer efforts, which homeschool families have relied on for decades.

“History has consistently shown that when government funding increases, so does government control,” Davis said.

“Across Colorado, there are privately funded co-ops, enrichment programs, and local communities ready to come alongside you. The strength of homeschooling has never been in programs. It has always been in parents.”