Budget planning for 2011-2012 and beyond is further complicated by what is being called the “Funding Cliff”:
- Amendment 23, which guarantees that K-12 education will receive annual increases of inflation plus one percent, sunsets in 2011.
- All federal stimulus funds to Colorado and to LPS will be gone in 2011.
- Referendum C, passed by Colorado voters in 2005, allowed for a time-out from the revenue limits of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR). This time-out allows Colorado to keep all of the revenue it brings in for five years. Referendum C sunsets in 2011, and TABOR's revenue collection limits will be in place again.
The economic downturn and smaller student populations exacerbate funding challenges for LPS.