Senate Approves Bipartisan FY 25-26 Budget that Protects Investments in K-12 Education, Medicaid
DENVER, CO – The Senate today approved the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 bipartisan state budget which protects critical investments in K-12 education and Medicaid, caps tuition for higher education, and makes responsible reductions across programs and agencies to achieve a balanced budget. The budget now moves to the House for further consideration.
“This is a budget that no one is happy with but that everyone can be proud of,” said Joint Budget Committee Chair Jeff Bridges, D-Arapahoe County. “Thanks to the rationing equation in TABOR, the Joint Budget Committee faced difficult decisions that resulted in painful tradeoffs. But unlike Washington, we made these cuts thoughtfully, strategically, and with bipartisan support. We eliminated dozens of programs and invested those savings in public education, and public safety, and public lands. It’s not a perfect budget, but it’s responsible and responsive to our TABOR constraints while keeping our commitment to the people of Colorado.”
“After months of precise and careful decision-making to minimize the impact of $1.2 billion in cuts to the state budget, we have crafted a responsible budget that invests in the well-being of every Coloradan by protecting funding for Medicaid, K-12 education, and food stamps,” said Joint Budget Committee member Judy Amabile, D-Boulder. “Despite a challenging budget situation exacerbated by federal uncertainty, we remain committed to creating every possible opportunity for Colorado communities and families to thrive.”
The state’s $43.9 billion budget contains a $16.7 billion general fund. This year’s budget, SB25-206, is accompanied by 63 “orbital bills,” which move through the legislative process alongside the budget and make statutory changes to balance the budget.
Protecting Investments in K-12 and Higher Education
Protecting K-12 Funding: In just the last few years, we have increased total funding for our schools by nearly $3 billion. Per pupil funding has increased from $8,000 to over $11,000, and will increase again next year. This year’s budget builds on steady progress to increase the resources going to our classrooms by directing an additional $150 million more from the General Fund into schools as compared to the FY24-25 budget.
Capping Tuition Rates for Higher Education: In recent years, Colorado Democrats have limited tuition increases by boosting funding for higher education and financial aid. This year’s budget includes a 3.5 percent cap on tuition increases for in-state students.
Continuing Medicaid Services for Vulnerable Populations
Protecting Medicaid Services that Coloradans Rely On: This year, Colorado Democrats rejected proposed reductions to provider rates and instead secured a moderate 1.6 percent increase and protected Medicaid eligibility, mitigating the impact to Coloradans who rely on Medicaid services. However, the state’s budget outlook is still challenging, and this progress is further threatened by potential cuts to Medicaid from the federal government.
Continuing Dental Services Provided Through Medicaid: This year’s budget protects funding for Coloradans on Medicaid to receive dental care.
Supporting Colorado Kids and Families
Early Intervention Support for Colorado Children: The budget increases support for early intervention services that help bridge developmental gaps for infants and toddlers who were born premature or with other special needs. This year, Colorado Democrats acted swiftly to plug an unexpected gap in funding in FY24-25 by providing $4 million to halt planned service reductions, and are investing an additional $16.5 million to sustain the program in FY25-26.
Bolstering Child Care Assistance: The budget invests $15 million in FY24-25 and $10 million in FY25-26 to increase support for the child care assistance program, a vital resource for low-income families to ensure access to quality child care which has been facing waitlists and frozen enrollment in many counties due to funding restrictions.
Healthy School Meals for All: This budget fully funds the Healthy School Meals for All program through the end of the year, preserving what voters previously approved. This November, voters will decide whether to continue the program or scale it back.
Funding for Public Assistance Programs Administered by Local Governments: This year’s budget protects programs administered by local governments that serve the most vulnerable like TANF and SNAP.
Supporting Hardworking State Employees: This budget provides a fair pay increase of 2.5 percent to the state workers responsible for providing essential services and caring for our most vulnerable. At the same time, the budget pushes state agencies to efficiently manage staff costs by reducing salary budgets by 1.5 percent, in line with typical savings due to vacancies during normal turnover.
Preserving Colorado’s Public Lands and Natural Resources
Investing in State Parks: This budget utilizes TABOR-exempt revenue like the Keep Colorado Wild pass to preserve and improve Colorado’s state parks, including $52 million in investments to protect critical habitats, maintain park facilities, and reinforce parks infrastructure, and $6.6 million to support amenities and educational programming.
Promoting Water Conservation: This year’s budget protects funding for water conservation and resource management projects, including exempting $17.1 million in interest earned in the Colorado Water Conservation Board cash fund and Water Plan Implementation Fund from a change in statewide policy to re-direct cash fund interest earnings into the general fund.
Safeguarding Colorado's Civil Liberties
Maintaining Election Security: The Trump administration abruptly halted support for election security, including from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. This budget keeps Colorado’s elections safe and secure by providing $410,000 to ensure that robust security assessments will continue and that critical Endpoint Detection and Response technology is provided to all local elections systems.
Defending Against Unlawful Federal Actions: Amidst ongoing uncertainty from the Trump administration, the budget allocates an additional $604,000 for increased support in the Attorney General’s Office to fight dangerous, unlawful federal actions and protect federal funding streams.