In November 2012, Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, legalizing marijuana for adults over age 21. As part of that amendment, the Colorado General Assembly was required to enact an excise tax on wholesale sales of marijuana, with the first $40 million in revenue each year earmarked for the Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund, according to Ballotpedia.com.In an article posted on The Denver Channelís website April 26, 2018, Jeremy Meyer, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, was quoted: ìAmendment 64 was specific on where the money would go, the only thing it said about education specifically was the first $40 million of excise taxes would go toward school construction projects so thatís what voters approved.îHowever, the article noted that most of the money would go to schools through the Building Excellent Schools Today program.According to the CDEís website, the B.E.S.T. program was established in 2008 and ìprovides an annual amount of funding in the form of competitive grants to school districts, charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind.îFunds from the B.E.S.T. program are dispersed through grants, which the 178 school districts must apply to receive, the website states. Each of the entities that can apply for B.E.S.T. grants must make a minimum funds match, ranging from 9 percent to 86 percent for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. El Paso County Colorado School District 49ís minimum funds match is 85 percent.An article posted on Colorado Public Radio News website Oct. 22, 2018, states that almost none of the money obtained from marijuana sales tax goes to schoolsí operations budgets, which pay for things like teachersí salaries, supplies and anything related to daily operations.ìTotal marijuana tax revenue for Coloradoís public schools, including the B.E.S.T. fund was $90.3 million in 2017-18,î the article states. ìThat is 1.6 percent of the entire K-12 school budget of $5.6 billion.îThe Colorado Department of Revenueís website states that for calendar year 2018, from January through November, total marijuana sales reached $1,410,946,626, up from $683,523,739 in 2014.With more than twice the amount of marijuana sales, schools across the state would expect to see an increase in the amount of funding they receive from the sales tax, said Sen. Paul Lundeen, District 9. ìI have been a champion for getting tax money to the schools,î he said. ìI want to get the money to the districts, students and classrooms but that is just not how the system is set up.îThe article on CPRís website breaks down where the marijuana sales tax goes as follows:
- A 15 percent excise tax on marijuana growers, the first 90 percent ñ- or $40 million, whichever is greater ñ- going to the B.E.S.T. fund
- A 15 percent special sales tax on retail sales is split 90-10 between Coloradoís state government and local governments, with a ìsmall shareî going into the CDEís State Public School Fund
- A 2.9 percent regular state sales tax on medical marijuana, which goes into the Marijuana Cash Tax Fund, some of which was dispersed to schools in the form of grants in 2017-2018
- Local marijuana taxes, which vary from location to location
- 15.56 percent to the stateís general fund
- 71.85 percent to the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund
- 12.59 percent to the State Public School Fund, which is then dispersed to all school districts
