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Education Tax Overcomes Legal Challenge To Stay On The Ballot

The Denver City and County Building.
Jim Hill
/
KUNC
The Denver City and County Building.

A ballot question to raise Colorado income taxes to help improve public schools has survived a legal challenge. A Denver District Court Judge has ruled that the proposal can go before voters.

Bente Birkeland reports from the state capitol

Opponents of Amendment 66 [.pdf] argued in court that organizers failed to properly gather signatures to put the measure on the ballot. In one case they said circulators filled in voter ID information, instead of letting the notary doing it.

The court has ruled otherwise.

“There is no allegation that the information entered by circulators was inaccurate. Thus, the state’s goal was entirely achieved here,” said Denver District Judge Michael Mullins. “This was clearly a good faith attempt to comply with the statute rather than some effort to mislead voters or elections officials.”

Coloradans for Real Education Reform, which filed the lawsuit, called the ruling disappointing.

“If a vested interest can spend a million dollars to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, the least that we can expect is strict compliance with the law, " said former Democratic state Sen. Bob Hagedorn, with Coloradans for Real Education Reform.

Colorado Commits to Kids, which is backing Amendment 66, called the entire lawsuit a desperate political stunt.

Now it’ll be up to voters to decide whether to raise income taxes by 8 percent for most families. The money would pay to help at risk students, reduce class sizes and pay for a new system to evaluate teachers based on student performance.

Copyright 2021 KUNC. To see more, visit KUNC.

Bente Birkeland
Bente Birkeland has covered Colorado politics and government since spring of 2006. She loves the variety and challenge of the state capitol beat and talking to people from all walks of life. Bente's work has aired on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, American PublicMedia'sMarketplace, and she was a contributor for WNYC's The Next Big Thing. She has won numerous local and national awards, including best beat reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. Bente grew up in Minnesota and England, and loves skiing, hiking, and is an aspiring cello player. She lives in Lakewood with her husband.