Colorado school funding signed into law

Two Colorado education bills aimed at restoring school budgets hurt by years of budget cuts have been signed into law.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bills Wednesday.

One of the K-12 bills includes $110 million for public school districts to begin restoring recession cuts. That bill also sets aside money for certain programs, including $20 million for early literacy programs and up to $40 million from marijuana taxes for school construction.

Another spending bill devotes $17 million to adding slots for young pupils in preschool and kindergarten. That’s enough for 5,000 more students. That measure also adds $27 million for schools to help students learning English.

Public school budgets were slashed a cumulative $1 billion during the last recession.