Jason Gonzales

Jason Gonzales

Higher Education Reporter, Chalkbeat Colorado

Jason Gonzales is the Higher Education and Legislative Matters Reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado. Previously, he covered K-12 and higher education for The Tennessean and Brunswick County for the Wilmington Star News. He is a 2018 Education Writers Association Reporting Fellow and 2020 Woodrow Wilson Higher Education Media Fellow. He is a Colorado native and graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder. You can find him on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.

Education was a big issue in 2024, with a school funding formula rewrite dominating the last weeks of the legislative session.

The pro-Palestinian encampment at the Auraria Campus is the largest such protest in the state. Students at the schools have mixed feelings about it.

State Rep. Matthew Martinez said a cleanup bill this year will finally allow about 300 incarcerated students to get more time off for attending college.

The immediate financial impact on districts' budgets, especially for rural schools the formula is designed to help, would likely be a mixed bag, superintendents say.

The funding formula rewrite cleared a major vote in the House after bill sponsors introduced numerous amendments.

The Colorado Education Association says it’s concerned about whether there’s enough sustainable funding for the new formula, but indicated that it’s open to further talks.

The CEO of The Learning Source, which provides adult education at locations across the state, said thousands of Colorado adults will lose out.

Changing how Colorado funds schools has bedeviled legislators for years, but they hope the new proposal will represent a breakthrough.

David Carrilllo took only a week to adjust after getting released from a Colorado prison. Now, he’s teaching students again.

The plan would provide relief to five different types of borrowers but won’t be put into action for some time.