Money from pot taxes doesn’t fix Colorado teachers’ problems

DENVER — Colorado teachers are protesting to call for higher salaries and increased funding for schools, prompting questions about why the state’s booming legal marijuana sales have not fixed the problems.

The 2012 voter-approved constitutional amendment permitting marijuana sales to adults got a boost from a commitment to send millions of dollars to Colorado schools.

But those taxes are a small share of the multibillion-dollar education budget.

Last year, for example, marijuana taxes sent to the Colorado Department of Education totalled $90.3 million, while the state budget included a total of $5.6 billion for K-12 education.

The constitutional amendment required that the first $40 million in taxes on wholesale marijuana go into a fund for school construction or maintenance. But schools say they need nearly $18 billion for capital costs through 2018.