On Aug. 17, School District 49’s board voted unanimously to dissolve Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services (ERBOCES), a co-op that had become a lightning rod over its authorization of state-funded homeschool enrichment programs. The move leaves 44 such programs without an authorizer, with a Sept. 4 deadline to find a new one and inform the Colorado Department of Education. The state had approved only 3 of the applications submitted by ERBOCES and denied 18, according to Chalkbeat. Several denials came because the enrichment funding would have subsidized students attending private schools.
Legislative trigger
The dissolution stems from SB26-023, the School Finance Act passed in the 2026 legislative session. The law added sections to Colorado statutes that bar a BOCES from operating schools, programs, or campuses outside the geographic boundaries of its member districts, unless authorized by the state or a local board. It also prohibits part-time homeschool programs from funding private activities or enrolling private school students, according to the Colorado General Assembly.
State estimates cited by Chalkbeat indicate the new guardrails will save about $21 million in the first year and about $30 million in the following year, though the amounts could vary.
State review process
The Colorado Department of Education published application materials on June 10 for local education providers seeking to operate part-time homeschool programs outside their geographic boundaries. Applications opened June 15 with an Aug. 14 deadline for state authorization, CDE documents show. In July, the department sent a four-page letter to ERBOCES requesting additional details on 42 of its 45 out-of-boundary applications, warning they were incomplete. Missing items included whether applicants were co-located on private school campuses or shared sites with private fee-based programs, both no longer permitted under the new law, Chalkbeat reported.
Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova sent a separate five-page letter to ERBOCES on Aug. 13 urging dissolution. She cited an improperly constituted board, invalid contracts, and misspent state money, according to Chalkbeat. Córdova noted that a court ruling had invalidated a 2025 board agreement that allowed Riverstone Academy to open as a so-called public Christian school, meaning ERBOCES was never authorized to submit those students for state funding.
ERBOCES had authorized more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs during the 2025-26 school year, enrolling more than 8,000 students, most in one-day-a-week classes, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported. The state reported over 13,500 total students enrolled through ERBOCES that year, including its online schools.
Some former ERBOCES programs are scrambling to find new homes. Gran Via, a bilingual outdoor education program in metro Denver, secured a new authorizer in Wildflower Montessori, an Aurora charter school, but was still awaiting CDE approval to operate at a park and library outside Aurora, Chalkbeat reported. Other programs, including Front Range Construction Academy, Alpine International Preparatory Academy, and Colorado Agribusiness and Equine Sciences Academy, have posted notices discontinuing their programs.
Earlier regulatory push
The current upheaval follows a 2024 effort by the Colorado State Board of Education to tighten rules around alternative instruction models. The proposed rules would have eliminated funding for independent study, work-study, and supplemental online learning for non-brick-and-mortar organizations. Colorado Early Colleges, which served about 2,300 homeschooled students through an online program at the time, warned the rules would pose significant barriers to homeschool students, and a legal analysis argued the proposals violated existing state statutes, as reported by Complete Colorado. That earlier regulatory effort did not pass, but it preceded the broader legislative changes that took effect this year.