Colorado cannot remain dependent on the federal government to support the child care needs of Colorado families.
Colorado families are already doing everything they can to stay afloat. Parents are juggling two or three jobs. Caregivers are burning out, barely making minimum wage. And child care providers — especially those trusted family, friend, and neighbor caregivers — are being pushed past the breaking point.
Now, just when support is most needed, the Trump administration tried to hit pause on billions of dollars in child care, family assistance, and social services funding to five states, including Colorado as a punishment for Colorado upholding the law.
The cuts included federal funds for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Social Services Block Grants — lifelines for working families across Colorado.
President Donald Trump’s goal of sewing chaos in Colorado is only successful, not because of his efforts, but because Colorado is unable to invest what we should in our own childcare infrastructure. Colorado’s child care budget, the funds that go to families who need tuition assistance, the funds that support centers in remaining open, the funds that support professional development, early intervention, home visiting, are 80% reliant on the federal government.
This should be a lesson to every Coloradan that the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) makes it impossible to invest in our own. We are unable to responsibly budget to the real needs of families to support making child care more affordable, or health care. We are unable to pay teachers a livable wage where they can afford child care so they can go to work and teach other people’s kids.
TABOR is failing our families. TABOR requires a flat tax rate for every income earner in the state. That means that the majority of the families in Colorado who are barely making ends meet and those who are not, are carrying a heavier tax burden than those who make $500k or more! How?
Besides having more discretionary funding, the wealthy can take advantage of many tax tools that help them pay less in taxes than someone who makes $75,000 a year. With this flat tax system, we are leaving billions of dollars on the table that could be used to invest in our own child care infrastructure.
The graduated income tax proposal that the Protect Colorado’s Future coalition is working to get on the ballot would raise more than $2 billion for child care, health care, and K-12. Importantly, it would cut state income taxes for everyone making less than $500,000 a year, and raise income taxes for people making above that. A graduated income tax system, which Colorado had until 1987, is fairer and will help pay for the things Coloradans need.
Child care is not a luxury. It is how single moms keep jobs, how low-wage families stay housed, how children with disabilities receive care, and how our smallest businesses — child care providers — survive. It’s what makes our local economies prosper. Over reliance on the federal government puts Colorado families at risk to vendettas and grudges. Freezing these funds doesn’t just stall support; it rips the rug out from under communities already hanging by a thread.
And the damage spreads quickly:
• Parents are forced to choose between work and caregiving.
• Employers lose reliable workers overnight.
• Providers — mostly women of color — face closure, laying off staff and displacing children.
• Children lose critical early learning and safety.
At Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, we see this every day. We work with hundreds of families and friend, family and neighbor providers who rely on these programs to keep going. These are not numbers — they are neighbors, teachers, grandmothers, and essential workers.
Let’s also be clear about what this funding freeze is not: It’s not about fixing fraud. It’s not about fiscal responsibility. And it’s not about improving services.
It is about punishing families — especially immigrant, low-income, and communities of color — for political disagreements they had no part in creating.
This moment demands more than technical solutions. It demands moral courage.
The moral courage to change TABOR and create a graduated income tax in Colorado so we can reduce our reliance on the federal government and generate the funding we need to take care of Coloradans.
Mirla De Low Coronado is the director of early childhood programs at the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition.
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