Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law on Thursday that allocates additional funds to Colorado schools to accommodate increased immigrant student enrollment that came after the annual pupil count.

The state adjusts district’s funding according to the count, which takes place on Oct. 1.  

Polis signed House Bill 1389 into law, directing $24 million in one-time funds from the state education fund to the Department of Education. This allocation aims to help districts address any increases in enrollment that occurred after the pupil count. Many of the newly-enrolled students are immigrants who came to the United States with their families, who ended up in Colorado after crossing the southern border illegally.    

“This is good because there is an influx of students and they’re going to be funded this year, so I’m very excited that our legislature came together around that,” said Polis, who expressed hope that the state would implement multiple student counts throughout the year to prevent an undercount of students from happening.

Bill sponsor Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R- Brighton, estimated that more than 7,000 immigrant children arrived in the state between October and February.

“I am delighted to be here for this bill signing, and I’m so grateful to my colleagues, to the governor’s team, to our school districts, and everyone coming together to figure out how to solve for this unique and somewhat urgent crisis,” said bill sponsor Rep. Emily Sirota, D- Denver. “Schools are scrambling to ensure that they have the funds to be able to support both our new students and the needs that they have with, as well as supporting all of the students who were already in our schools.”

Sirota added: “We came together with, I think, a very good proposal for this one-time situation to ensure that our districts across the state have a fair and easily accessible mechanism to receive some additional support for this school year.”

The illegal immigration crisis spilling from the southern border into America’s interior cities has hammered Denver, in particular, hard. More than 40,000 immigrants have received assistance in the city, a task expected to cost Denver $90 million.

Mayor Mike Johnston has requested city agencies reduce their budgets by up to 15%, and the city implemented budget adjustments, including reduced hours at recreation centers and “rotating closures” at Department of Motor Vehicles facilities. While the state and federal governments have contributed $14 million to support the city in managing the migrant influx, the remaining expenses will be covered by taxpayers.

Notably, Denver Public Schools has seen a steady pace of new students each week. Back in February, district staffers warned during the board’s regular meeting that, if the enrollment numbers continued to climb, budget “adjustments” may arise this year and next, which could potentially mean cuts.   

Although enrollment ebbs and flows throughout the year, the steady increase meant the district had received 3,402 immigrant students this academic year, according to the February update. Because students arriving after the October count were not included in the enrollment numbers used to determine funding, DPS lost roughly $14 million, officials reported earlier.

House Bill 1389 was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, and in the House by Rep. Rick Taggart, R-Grand Junction.  

Reporter Nico Brambila contributed to this article.