Over the last several months, I have met with hundreds of Coloradans across our state, including many teachers, students, parents, school board members, school administrators, and others concerned about the level of our state’s support for our K-12 schools. A core concern is that we are not setting up our students to succeed as we are losing teachers. And rising teacher frustration is understandable, as captured by this Time magazine cover story.
The stories of teachers working extra jobs, relying on food banks to make ends meet, struggling with medical debt, and unable to afford a home are harrowing. We must do better. That’s why my Colorado Blueprint calls on us to invest in K-12 education, paying our teachers a living wage and promoting the best outcomes for our students.
At a recent roundtable with Jefferson County teachers, they shared how many of them (over 50%) worked second jobs. All of them worried that they could never afford to buy a home. Stated simply, there were no homes they could afford in their communities. And they all were struggling to afford health care.
For a picture of the challenges facing school districts, take, for example, Adams 12 School District, north of Denver. This year, the District announced it was cutting nearly $30 million and 150 jobs due to budget reductions. Like 80 percent of school districts across Colorado, Adams 12 faces declining student enrollment. And its teacher salaries already rank 10th out of the 15 nearest districts. To address these funding gaps, some districts have asked voters for more funds to pay teachers better, support career and technical and STEM education, and invest in youth mental health and school safety. These are not new challenges. In 2024, Adams 12 pushed an education funding ballot measure to address them, but it failed. But thanks to a grassroots effort led by school administrators, board members, and teachers knocking on doors, a similar funding measure passed in 2025, providing critical support to improve teacher pay, offer mental health support to students, and support critical staff like bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
The story of Adams 12 begs an important question–what will be the consequences if we fail to make such critical investments across all districts throughout our state? Colorado statistics on teacher retention tell a painful story and hint at one possible answer. Notably, some report that nearly half (47%) of Colorado teachers are considering leaving the education profession in the near future, citing heavy workloads, burnout, high stress, and low pay.
At a time when we are already desperate to recruit and retain teachers, many are already leaving the profession for better salaries elsewhere. Nearly one-third of those teaching in Colorado don’t stay in the profession more than 5 years. Moreover, in some communities, like Cortez, the low pay for teachers means that neighboring communities (in this case, New Mexico) pose a serious competitive threat when it comes to recruiting and retaining talented teachers.
Our teachers and students deserve better. That’s why I am committed to addressing our affordable housing challenges—so we can ensure that teachers have access to homes they can afford in the communities where they work, by providing them downpayment assistance and better pay. I am also committed to working with Colorado teachers on ways to create better options for health insurance. And, as our Colorado Blueprint education plan highlights, I am committed to leading an effort at the ballot so we can better invest in our K-12 schools, teachers, and students’ futures.
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An added hurdle is that Colorado is on our own in meeting the challenge of improving our K-12 education system. Rather than helping, the Trump Administration has worked to undermine public education time and again—threatening to withhold critical education dollars from our schools, cutting teacher training programs, and slashing youth mental health funding for our kids. In each of these cases, I sued the federal government to protect Colorado. Now the latest challenge from the federal government—a push to pressure Colorado to accept a school voucher-like program. I welcome more federal support for education and investing in our students’ future, but I will never support privatizing our public K-12 schools or siphoning off scarce public education dollars to private and religious schools.
As Governor, I will make our students’ future–and investing in public education–a top priority. I am ready to take on this important challenge and welcome your thoughts on how we can improve our education system.