Colorado, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.
State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.
Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.
Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining
Approximately 30% (165,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% FPL (2022). This number represents a decrease from 33% (197,000) in 2017.1
Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High
Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% FPL than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.2
State General Fund Appropriations: Growing
Colorado’s governor signed the state’s fiscal 2025 budget bill into law in April of 2024. According to the Long Bill Narrative released by the Joint Budget Committee, the budget includes $42.89 billion in operating appropriations from all funds and $16.0 billion in general fund operating appropriations. This represents a 3.7 percent increase in total fund spending and a 6.5 percent increase in general fund spending over fiscal 2024 levels. After accounting for rebates and other expenditure adjustments, transportation and capital projects, and transfers and diversions, general fund spending obligations total $18.25 billion, an increase of $218 million from fiscal 2024. The budget is based on a gross general fund revenue forecast of $18.1 billion for fiscal 2025. The budget invests $525.8 million in education, including $344.1 million to build Colorado’s successful Universal Preschool.3
Key Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):4
Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls.
State Budget Rules:4
Permanent State Funding Stream Dedicated to Early Childhood: Yes
Colorado earmarks excess collected nicotine tax revenues for free preschool for 4-year-olds statewide. An earlier successful ballot measure raised the nicotine tax to fund a variety of health and education programs, including universal preschool, however the state constitution requires the state to either refund excess tax revenue or seek voter approval to retain it. In 2023, Colorado voted to retain the excess and dedicate it to universal pre-k. (Colorado also recently repealed a state ban on local tobacco taxes.)
In addition, Colorado state law allows local voters to create special local taxing districts called Early Childhood Development Special Districts that dedicate their revenue to funding services for children birth through 8. Once created, the districts can seek voter approval to levy property taxes and sales and use taxes in the district to generate revenues to provide early childhood development services.
Political Alignment: Aligned Democrat
During the 2024 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Democrat controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Democrat.5
Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:6 Six
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:7
A Colorado coalition of advocates is working with Child Care NEXT funding on a sustained effort to pursue bold transformation for the state’s child-care ecosystem.
Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:8
House Bill 24-1311, the Family Affordability Tax Credit, creates a refundable tax credit for Colorado families with children 16 and under for tax years 2024-2033. It specifically prioritizes low income families with young children. The amount of the credit depends on the age of the child or children and the family’s adjusted gross income (AGI). The credit is available to single filers with a federal AGI up to $75,000 or joint filers with AGI up to $85,000. Combined with highly effective Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, the Family Affordability Tax Credit would result in Colorado cutting the state’s child poverty rate in half and making our child poverty rate 40 percent lower than the second-best state–making Colorado an exemplary model for other states. 45 percent of Colorado families will benefit from this credit.
House Bill 24-1312 creates a refundable $1200 care worker tax credit, available annually for four years (for work completed in tax years 2025-2028) for eligible individuals working in Colorado’s care economy. Joint filers who are both eligible care workers can claim up to $2400. Licensed child care workers, Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) child care workers, and qualifying personal care aides and home care workers are all eligible for the credit. The vast majority of these workers are women, who are disproportionately from communities of color. This bill is an important first step toward building a Colorado that pays care workers what they’re worth. We know that every Coloradan either relies on care themselves, or relies on someone else who relies on care. This tax credit will have far-reaching positive impacts on the stability of the care workforce, and also on the well-being of Colorado’s families, communities, and economy.
House Bill 24-1223 makes several important changes to Colorado’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP), making the program work better for families and child care providers. The improvements include extending eligibility to families participating in substance abuse disorder treatment programs, adjusting income requirements for CCCAP to align with Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program, creating a pilot program for FFN providers to seek license-exempt status and offer CCCAP, studying the feasibility of de-linking CACFP from CCCAP, and requiring that counties provide information about parent fees in Spanish, English, and other languages. It also begins the process of phasing in the new federal requirements for changes to CCCAP, including simplifying Colorado’s child care subsidy application, paying CCCAP providers for enrollment rather than attendance, and capping family copayments at no more than 7 percent of the family’s monthly income by 2026.
House Bill 24-1009 provides sustained funding for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood’s Bilingual Licensing Unit. The unit had been previously established and funded using federal one-time pandemic stimulus dollars. The unit provides child care licensing resources in plain language in English and Spanish, with the opportunity to add additional languages in the future, as funding allows. The Department of Early Childhood is required to report to the General Assembly by March 2026 on language barriers that exist for providers in obtaining child care licenses. This bill also appropriated one-time funds to update Colorado’s mobile licensing application in Spanish and ongoing funds for translation services and supports.
House Bill 24-1262 changes the regulation of midwives from registration to licensure, requires the civil rights commission to establish certain parameters when receiving reports for maternity care, and adds a midwife to the environmental justice advisory board and the governor’s expert emergency epidemic response committee. The bill also adds midwifery as a preferred area of expertise for members of the health equity commission, requires a health facility that provides maternal health services to notify certain individuals before eliminating the services, and allows the department of public health to:
Senate Bill 24-064 creates a monthly Residential Eviction Data & Report. National research shows that families with children are more likely to experience an eviction, yet court data about evictions within Colorado is inconsistent across jurisdictions and hard to access. This new law will improve the way Colorado collects and publishes data on eviction trends across the state, leading to better policy solutions to keep families housed.
Another win for renting families is House Bill 24-1099, which eliminates the fee for a defendant filing a response in an eviction proceeding. People defending themselves against eviction actions were required to pay court filing fees to appear in court. This bi-partisan bill recognizes this expense was a true barrier to court access and eliminated the fee entirely for everyone, not only indigent respondents.
House Bill 24-1331 establishes a grant program to fund out-of-school time programs for public school students, managed by the Department of Education. Eligible nonprofit organizations can receive grants to offer academic enrichment and related services during non-school hours. The State Board of Education will distribute grants based on available funding. The bill allocates $3.5 million annually for the program over three fiscal years. Grantees must use funds as outlined in the bill and submit annual reports to the Department, which will then report to relevant education committees in the legislature.
Senate Bill 24-001 extends the “I Matter” youth mental health services program indefinitely, ensuring its continuation beyond its scheduled repeal on June 30, 2024. This program serves Colorado youth under 18 and provides up to three free counseling sessions to youth. The bill mandates an annual report due on June 30 of each year from the state Department of Human Services to the General Assembly and stipulates the program vendor must annually provide information and data to the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA). The BHA, in turn, is tasked with conducting surveys of participating youth and providers, as well as collecting data from providers and the program vendor for the annual evaluation.
Our lead allies in Colorado are Clayton Early Learning and the nonprofit, non partisan, research, policy, and advocacy organization Colorado Children’s Campaign. Clayton prepares young children for school through family-centered classrooms and home-based practices, research/program evaluation, and professional development. The Colorado Children’s Campaign is a policy, advocacy and research organization that partners with an extensive statewide network of child advocates and serves as the leading voice for kids at the state capitol. The two organizations partner closely with a wide array of advocates to advance well-being for children throughout the state.
They are working to advance early childhood policies in several areas:
Preschool and Pre-K
Child Care
Child Care Workforce
Maternal Health
Infant & Child Health
Family Economic Security
Early Childhood Governance
Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.
Colorado allies forged new advocacy relationships for bold and ambitious changes for their communities. As a result, a plethora of legislative bills passed to strengthen equity and access by addressing critical issues facing Coloradans.
NOTES:
1 Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.
2 National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, March 2023, NCCP analysis of ACS 1-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2021.
3 National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.
4 Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.
5 National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.
6 Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.
7 Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.
8 Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.
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The Alliance for Early Success does not endorse or advocate for specific legislation or candidates.
