📊 What Colorado’s New State Budget Means for SD30 (HB26-1410)

The Colorado legislature has finalized the 2026–27 state budget — a plan that affects schools, health care, and services right here in Senate District 30 (Highland's Ranch, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Sterling Ranch, Roxborough Park, and surrounding areas).

💰 The basics:

* ~$46–48 billion total budget

* Closes about a $1.5 billion shortfall

* Goes into effect July 1, 2026

🗳️ Final votes (after negotiations):

* House: 40–21 on April 28, 2026

* Senate: 23–11 on April 28, 2026

✍️ The bill is now awaiting the governor’s signature.

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✂️ What changed to balance the budget:

* Cuts to some Medicaid provider payments

* Limits on certain health programs

* Reductions and shifts across housing and state operations

📈 Still prioritized:

* K-12 education (impacting local schools)

* Higher education

* Core state services

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⚖️ Why this matters in SD30

This wasn’t just a numbers exercise — it reflects real pressures:

* Health care costs are rising fast

* The state must balance its budget every year

* Lawmakers had to make difficult tradeoffs that can affect services families rely on

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📌 Bottom line for our community

Colorado passed a balanced budget — but it required cuts, compromises, and tough decisions.

And this is likely not the last difficult budget. Conversations about funding schools, health care, and growth in communities like ours are far from over.

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💰 Looking closer at the General Fund (core tax dollars):

• 🏫 K–12 Education: $4.67 billion (essentially flat)

• 🏥 Health Care (Medicaid): $4.14 billion (slightly reduced growth)

• 👨‍👩‍👧 Human Services: $1.42 billion

• 👶 Early Childhood: $308 million

• 🩺 Public Health: $124 million

👉 Most areas saw flat or slightly reduced funding this year

📊 A few key details:

• Health care costs increased by about $1.5 billion overall

• Schools received $100 million in additional support

• Housing programs include about $40 million in funding

• Lawmakers had to address a ~$1.2 billion shortfall

⚖️ What this means

Health care is now the largest and fastest-growing part of the budget, which puts pressure on funding for other priorities like schools, roads, and local services.

Colorado is required to balance its budget every year, so as costs rise, tradeoffs are necessary — and this year, most departments ended up with flat or slightly reduced funding.

📌 Bottom line

This budget keeps services running, but it’s more about balancing than expanding.