Colorado Supreme Court Rebuffs School Funding Challenge

The Colorado Supreme Court has rebuffed a challenge to how the state funds public schools. The decision has big implications for how lawmakers are allowed to tackle school budgets during a recession.

The case had to do with an amendment to the state constitution that requires lawmakers to increase so-called "base per pupil funding" each year. That amendment was approved by voters in 2000.

But when the state hit a recession a decade later, lawmakers had to rely on some fancy accounting to comply with the schools amendment and still balance the books. They created what's called the "negative factor," where total funding to school districts went down, but not the per-pupil funding.

On Monday, the Supreme Court sent the lawsuit to a lower court with instructions to dismiss it.