The Gazette reports that Colorado’s new School Finance Act changes have thrown homeschool enrichment programs into limbo, stopping some from launching and forcing others to close. These programs are public, part-time offerings that supplement homeschool education with classes, projects, career exploration, nature-based learning, aerospace, arts, agriculture, construction, and other options families often cannot build on their own.
The state says the changes are about guardrails, cost, equity, and keeping publicly funded enrichment closer to what public schools provide. Fair questions. Taxpayers deserve accountability. But the real-world result is that families who built workable education routines around these programs are now watching the state yank the rug out because the model no longer fits the sacred spreadsheet.
Colorado’s education machine is once again proving that “supporting families” means “supporting families who use the system exactly the way the bureaucrats prefer.”
The Bullet Point Brief
- The School Finance Act now says homeschool enrichment programs cannot fund activities beyond what a public school can provide, and districts, charter schools, and BOCES can only operate these programs inside their own boundaries. Innovation is wonderful, right up until parents innovate without asking permission.
- Ken Witt of Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, known as ERBOCES, told The Gazette that “very few” programs would open this fall and that “dozens” cannot continue because of the new law. That is not a policy tweak. That is a pileup.
- The state estimated homeschool enrichment funding cost about $100 million for the 2025-26 school year. Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat and prime sponsor of the School Finance Act, said concerns grew during budget talks over a $1.2 billion gap, including emails from programs worried about losing funding for things like Jiu-Jitsu classes.
- The article names programs that posted discontinuation notices, including Colorado Agribusiness and Equine Sciences Academy, Alpine International Preparatory Academy, Renaissance Innovation Academy, and Front Range Construction Academy. Apparently hands-on learning is great in a brochure, but suspicious when families actually use it.
- Families now must submit a notice of intent to homeschool to their local public school district to participate in a state-funded program, and private school students will no longer be eligible to enroll part-time in public school or a public homeschool program. The state expects savings of about $21 million next fiscal year and about $30 million the year after.
My Bottom Line
This is not about pretending every enrichment program is perfect. It is not about writing a blank check for ski passes, hockey classes, or anything else someone can cram into the word “education” with enough creativity and a grant-writing hangover. Fiscal integrity matters. So does transparency.
But Colorado’s education bureaucracy has a habit. It loves “innovation” when the right people control it, brand it, leash it, and take credit for it. The minute parents and homeschool families build something flexible, useful, and outside the approved institutional pipeline, the state suddenly turns into an IRS auditor with a clipboard and a migraine.
The anger here is not abstract. Families are scrambling. Programs are closing or unable to launch. Kids are losing options. Parents who thought they had a plan for the fall now get to stare at state policy rubble and wonder why the same people who scream “equity” panic when education dollars follow anything too close to parental choice.
So ask the obvious question: is this about cleaning up funding abuse, or is it about making sure no education option survives unless the bureaucracy can control it? Colorado can shovel money into every fashionable education experiment, administrative bloat pile, and consultant-approved ritual, but when homeschool families find a hybrid model that helps their kids, suddenly the machine discovers restraint.
Funny how that works.
Source: The Gazette
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