Proposition 119: Voters to decide whether to raise marijuana taxes to pay for out-of-school learning

Colorado voters will decide next month whether to raise taxes on recreational marijuana to help fund a new state program aimed at providing Colorado students with out-of-school learning opportunities.

The program, called Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress, or LEAP, would pay service providers, like private tutoring companies or even public school teachers looking for extra work, to provide a wide variety of educational or development support services to K-12 students in the state.

Supporters of the measure, called Proposition 119, say that by giving kids from lower income families a chance to access tutoring and enrichment programs, the program can help those kids catch up academically to their more privileged peers and start to reverse the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning.

Public education advocates who oppose the measure, however, paint it as a slippery slope to vouchers and a threat to the state’s public education system, and argue that any new tax revenue for education should go into the existing system rather than a whole new program. Meanwhile, opponents in Colorado’s cannabis industry say the increased sales tax is regressive and may push consumers back into the black market.

Here’s a deeper look at Proposition 119:

What the measure does

Proposition 119 would create the LEAP program to provide financial support to Colorado students between the ages of 5 and 17 who are eligible to attend public school. [Read more at Colorado Sun]

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