Free Resources — VAO Collaborative
Resources

Free resources, starting with the new funding formula.

Colorado's school finance formula is changing, and most of the questions we hear are the same ones. So we're sharing two of the models we use in client work with the community, free. Both run on HB24-1448 as amended by SB26-023, including the FY27–FY32 phase-in and the hold-harmless floor.

01
For operating schools

What's My Funding?
School Check

Choose a district and a school. You get total program funding and the per-pupil rate under the FY27 formula, at this year's 30% phase-in blend. If the hold-harmless floor is what's holding the number up, the tool says so. Factor detail (at-risk, ELL, cost-of-living, rural share) is broken out line by line, and the enrollment and demographic assumptions behind it are editable, so you can test your own.

District & school lookup Editable assumptions Print / save as PDF
Open the tool
What's My Funding? School Check, showing total program funding and per-pupil rate for a selected school
02
For founding teams

New Charter School
PPR Calculator

Are you a new school founder trying to project your PPR through your opening years? We built a calculator for exactly that. Pick your opening year, enter the enrollment and demographics you expect each year, and it projects revenue out to FY33. Run it against different authorizing districts to compare what each one would mean for your budget. Message us and we'll send it over, free.

FY27–FY33 projection Compare authorizing districts Free on request
Message us for the tool
New Charter School PPR Calculator, projecting per-pupil revenue across opening years

A note on the numbers. These are planning estimates, not official figures. Counts stay provisional until the state true-up, and pass-through and admin retention terms differ by authorizer. Check both before a number goes into a lease, a loan application, or a board vote. The models reflect our current reading of statute, worked out alongside CSI's and CDE's interpretations, and we update them as that guidance develops.

Client engagement

A five-year forecast built for your school

A model of your school under the funding formula from now through full implementation, year by year. Enrollment and demographic projections are editable, so you can run your own scenarios and see what each one does to total program and per-pupil revenue.

We build these one school or network at a time, as a scoped engagement rather than a download. Tell us what you're planning and we'll talk through what it would take.

Start a conversation
Six-year funding projection page showing year-by-year total program and per-pupil revenue