Charter schools fare well in finance bill

    Charter schools got back all the money that lawmakers threatened to take away - and more - as the School Finance Act moved ahead in the past three weeks.

    An amendment that would have changed a funding formula and taken $4.5 million from charter schools statewide - including more than $530,000 from Colorado Springs' James Irwin Charter School alone - was stripped from the bill.

    Also, the annual $5 million construction allocation shared by charter schools statewide was doubled, to $10 million.

    The overall bill, which received final approval from the Senate on Thursday, also adds an additional $40 million next year to raise enrollment in fullday kindergarten and increases funding for at-risk students to attend preschool and for 108 school districts to deal with declining enrollment.