As volume six of a nine-volume, six-state study of the impact of school finance reform on minorities and the poor, this report examines the history, status, and effects of finance reforms in Colorado. The authors chronicle Colorado's school financing methods since 1936 and discuss the Colorado School Finance Act of 1973. They then describe disparities in the state's school finance system, school district wealth inequalities, the concentration of Colorado's poor and minority students in rural and central city districts, and the relationship of ethnic and income group distribution to school financing. Using correlation coefficients, regression analysis, percentiles, and averages, the authors assess the effects of the 1973 reform law. Among their conclusions are that the law caused a slight reduction in revenue and spending disparities but did not change the patterns of school financing for minority and poor students in rural and urban areas. (RW)