BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
It has become an annual tradition for the Common Sense Institute to analyze the way our state government allocates its resources from year to year. These charts show that, over the past 14 years, the total operating appropriations for all state departments have increased by 110% while the amount allocated to Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) has gone up 267%. In FY2008, HCPF absorbed 21% of the state’s resources. By FY2022, that share had shot up to 36%.
In the area of education, K-12 appropriations have dropped from 23% of total appropriations to 18%, however the State Education Fund will receive $450 million in extra money over the next three years that is expected to result in an increase of $526 per-pupil.
The amount allocated to higher education has doubled in 14 years from $2.568 billion to $5.116 billion but its share of the total appropriations has dropped from 15% to 14% of total available resources.
Transportation accounted for 6.3% of the state’s appropriations in FY2008 and 5.6% of the state’s appropriations in FY2022 even though the population that drives on Colorado roads increased from 4.5 million people to 5.7 million people over that time.
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