Colorado Voters Reject Proposition 103

Colorado voters on Tuesday showed they were unwilling to raise taxes to shore up schools decimated by years of state budget cuts.

Proposition 103 proposed slightly raising the state sales tax and income taxes from 2012 through 2016, to generate about $3 billion for education. As of late Tuesday night, with 83 percent of the ballots counted, the measure was failing by a margin of 64 percent to 36 percent.

“I voted yes. I’m in the same situation that everyone else is,” said Jan Tanner, a member of the District 11 school board who was seeking reelection Tuesday. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t step up to support education.”

Tanner said without Proposition 103, school districts can expect more cutbacks as soon as next year. She outlined what could be cuts in her district.

“We may have more furlough days,” said Tanner. “I don’t look to layoffs or pay cuts, but I suppose that’s on the table. We were looking to expand the school day, but maybe not now.”

Meanwhile, Eli Bremer of the El Paso County Republican Party said more innovation and less money should be factors in improving education in Colorado.

“There’s basically one big force in education — the state and the teachers’ union,” Bremer said. “Throwing money at the problem isn’t the solution. We want to tackle the more difficult issue of asking how do we get kids the best education. Proposition 103 just didn’t offer a solution for that.”

Proposition 103 was the nation’s only statewide tax question on Election Day.

The proposed tax hike headlined a slate of otherwise local questions. As of late Tuesday, the Colorado secretary of state said that more than 930,000 voters had cast ballots. That number will rise as ballots delivered by hand in the mostly mail-in election are counted.

Along with the schools tax, Colorado towns and counties were deciding hundreds of local elections, from school board races to ballot questions on marijuana.