Colorado isn’t cutting the amount it pays for homeschool enrichment students. Here’s why.

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. This spring, state lawmakers considered cutting funding for homeschool enrichment students as a way to bring down costs in a growing, but mostly unregulated corner of Colorado’s publicly funded education system. But in the last days of the legislative session , they opted instead to rein in funding in a different way: by putting guardrails on the group fueling most of the growth. The move will save the state tens of millions of dollars by eliminating some homeschool enrichment programs authorized by the Monument-based group Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services , or ERBOCES. The homeschool enrichment debate flared as lawmakers grappled with a $1.5 billion budget hole and revelations emerged that some homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES fund activities such as sports camps, martial arts lessons, and even ski passes . While many school districts and charter schools also offer enrichment programs to homeschoolers, their offerings tend to be more similar to public school classes such as art, music, physical education, and sometimes academics. The state spends more than $100 million a year on part-time students, a group that consists mostly of homeschool enrichment participants. The rest are private school students who take classes at public schools that their schools aren’t able to offer. For now, the state will continue paying the current part-time per-pupil rate for homeschool enrichment programs — about $6,000 a year on average, typically for one day a week of classes. That rate is half the full-time rate for public K-12 students, who attend classes four or five days a week. Lawmakers may reconsider cutting that rate in future years. “I definitely think that that is still going to be an important conversation going forward,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who is chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee. She said with continued budget shortfalls expected in the next couple years, lawmakers will need to look everywhere for savings. Sirota said the Joint Budget Committee pivoted away from cutting the homeschool enrichment funding rate this year in part because the proposed change didn’t address the root problem: that one authorizer, ERBOCES, was responsible for the explosion of new programs. The co-op has more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs scattered across the state, most created in the last few years. All are operated by private contractors. Sirota said stopping the spread of homeschool enrichment programs that provide activities outside the bounds of what is normally considered public education was the first priority. Simply halving the homeschool enrichment rate would have hurt school district enrichment programs that are operating appropriately, “but wouldn’t have stopped the horseback riding lessons and ski pass programs,” she said. “Those probably would have proliferated even further.” The legislature curtailed the power of co-ops like ERBOCES to authorize schools and programs outside their member school districts through an amendment to the School Finance Act. ERBOCES has only two member districts: District 49 in El Paso County and the Elizabeth School District in Elbert County. The amendment would bar homeschool enrichment programs from providing activities not generally available to students attending public schools. It would also ban publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs from enrolling private school students. Some of the homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES provide one day of free programming a week to students who attend private school the rest of the week. State estimates indicate the changes will save about $21 million next year and about $30 million the following year, though the amounts could vary based on several factors. Even with the changes to the School Finance Act, some existing homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES will be allowed to continue operating even if they are outside its territory. They’ll have to meet certain conditions, including approval by the State Board of Education or the school district where the program is located. They won’t be allowed to enroll more students next year than they have this year. The new restrictions mean that some homeschool enrichment programs in the pipeline will not open. ERBOCES, which is overseen by a five-member board, was slated to launch at least two dozen enrichment programs next fall, according to board documents and meeting audio recordings. They included a forest school in Lakewood, an arts program in Pueblo, and classes on Japanese language and culture in the Denver area. Since they are new and outside ERBOCES’ two member districts, they wouldn’t be eligible for public funding next school year. ERBOCES officials have declined to provide Chalkbeat a list of the group’s current and planned homeschool enrichment programs. Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org .

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