Pages tagged "Colorado education funding"
REPORT: Oil and gas generates more than $600 million per year in revenue for K-12 and higher education
Oil and gas generates more than $600 million per year in revenue for K-12 and higher education in Colorado, new research shows
Key state lawmakers warn “we cannot ignore the contributions of oil and gas” and “how many people in Colorado are employed in this industry.”
Denver Pipefitters Local 208: “Positive changes in energy policy are possible – we just have to keep in mind all the connections between the energy sector and other things we care about, including good public schools and good jobs.”
DENVER (Jan. 29, 2019) – Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry generates more than $600 million per year on average in taxes and other public revenues for K-12 and higher education, reinforcing recent comments from legislators and other stakeholders about the importance of the energy sector to our state. Hostile measures against oil and gas development – as opposed to constructive regulatory improvements – will cut existing budgets for public schools and jeopardize plans for new investments such as higher teacher pay and expanded full-day kindergarten.
Those are the central findings of a new analysis from Vital for Colorado titled Books, Buildings and BTUs: The $600 Million Connection Between Public Education and Colorado’s Energy Sector. The 13-page briefing (available for download here) examines the biggest and easiest to identify oil and gas funding sources for K-12 and higher education in Colorado, one of the nation’s largest energy producing states. These sources include property taxes, state-owned mineral development, and taxes paid by tens of thousands of energy workers and their employers.
Conservatively, these diverse revenue streams poured more than $3.3 billion into K-12 and higher education between FY 2012-13 and FY 2016-17. During the same five-year period, the annual average from these revenue streams was $669 million per year. Importantly, these totals do not include severance tax revenues, which are used to support other public projects and services.
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To promote the benefits of energy production in Colorado.