Who’s the head of public school education: local school districts, the state, or the federal government?  Colorado’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) and its 'national standards' has become a Medusa-like controversy.

The Colorado State Board of Education voted August 2 to accept Common Core Standards on a contentious 4-3 vote.  The vote broke along party lines, with the exception of Vice Chair Randy DeHoff (R-South Denver metro), who supported adoption.

Arguments against standards did not address the benchmarks themselves.  Opponent Peggy Littleton (R-Colo Spgs) argued that CCSSI is a 'takeover' of education by the federal government.  DeHoff and other board supporters said the standards address the challenge of educating Colorado students to compete for jobs across the nation and the world.  

Standards created independently of the federal government
The standards were not developed by the federal government.  They were written under the auspices of The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Other education groups, including the National Association of State Boards of Education, joined in.  Teachers added input and direction.  (Myths and Facts about CCSSI)

DeHoff said that standards’ opponents in Colorado have not directly attacked the benchmarks themselves because they are closely aligned to current state guidelines.  The CCSSI project allows states to adjust up to 15 percent of the standards to accommodate local needs.  (See standards k-12 by subject)

Local school districts will implement the standards based on the State Board of Education’s vote.  But according to the Colorado constitution, education is the responsibility of local school boards, not the state or the federal government.

Money has strings
With funding resources so low at the local and state level, however, local school boards are relying on federal dollars to backfill missing state dollars (Colorado budget cuts to education). The recent federal allocation of $10 billion to help local schools stay staffed up is critical to Colorado school district budgets.  Without that money, additional cuts over $200 million across all Colorado school districts would occur this year.

Once an entity above the local puts money into the education pot, that entity wants some say over the use of the money.  Colorado helps local school districts at about a 60/40 ratio.  Since the state started massive contributions to local schools in the 90’s, it’s demanded more and more authority over school districts.  

The federal government at this point is much less invested in individual school districts.  But the federal government has given dollars now to help schools through the recession.
The bottom line is that money talks.  School districts in Colorado lost absolute control of local education when the state moved in with funding and added many requirements for that funding.  The federal government added more requirements for its funding.  

These issues obscure whether the standards are any good.  Funding public education has taken on the quality of putting together a billion piece puzzle without a picture as a guide.  The puzzle box is titled “Who heads public education?”  As it turns out, the picture is of Medusa with all those snakes.  PEN

This post was published on August 18, 2010. Permalink ». Comments are disabled at this time.

Proponents of three anti-revenue initiatives in Colorado, known colloquially as the ‘three blind mice,’ argue that Colorado citizens are over taxed and that state government is inherently wasteful. They make these claims even though Colorado ranks 46th lowest in combined state and local taxes.

Colorado revenues will take big hit with three initiatives
The three initiatives attack state revenues, already low from the recession and other constitutional amendments, in novel and imaginative ways.

• Proposition 101 will cut $2+ billion in car fees, income tax and phone bill rates. The vehicle ownership fee will plummet to $2, cutting funds directly out of school budgets.
• Amendment 60 will cut local school property taxes by 50%; the state will have no money to backfill the loss. The amendment will also override previous local elections in which citizens voted to exempt themselves from the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) effects. Most inventive, citizens will be able to run elections to reduce their mill levy.
• Amendment 61 will prohibit the state from using any debt for any reason. All capital expenses will have to be paid with cash, upfront. School districts that borrow from the state at 0% interest to cover payroll in the months when property tax collections are low will be prohibited from doing so. The school year in those districts would have to run from March to November when property tax dollars are highest. Winter will be the new summer.  (see Colorado Blue Book on Amendments and Propositions)

Great Futures Campaign v. Doug Bruce's anti-tax team
The Great Futures Campaign, a coalition of community groups led by Great Education Colorado, has decided to take the fight to the streets, and to Doug Bruce's anti-tax movement. Great Futures believes that the three initiatives will decimate k-12 public education and public higher education. Public schools will become overcrowded and higher ed will become unaffordable.

Public school funding tanks since 1988
Colorado’s per student funding has dropped steadily in comparison to other states since 1988. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Colorado was $1397 below the national average in per-student funding in 2007, before the recession. The Colorado legislature gouged out $354 million in prek-12 cuts, or $400 to $500 per student, in its 2010-11 budget. 2011-12 looks no better, and may be worse.

Colorado higher ed funding 48th in the country
The legislature now allows state colleges to increase their tuition up to 9% per year to offset the state’s 48th ranking in per capita spending, which has plummeted to $159/year. Neighboring state Wyoming spends $709 per capita, New Mexico $581 per capita, Nebraska $404 per capita, Kansas $360 per capita, and Utah $296 per capita (State Higher Education Executive Officers, SHEEO). Even Mississippi substantially exceeds Colorado’s spending at $372 per capita.

Will it be cheap car registration or very high college tuition for CO?
Voters face a huge choice in 2010. If the initiatives pass, the state will not be able to construct any new buildings or put down a new highway or improve bridges and roads using its borrowing powers. School districts will not be able to do capital improvements without cash on hand. There will be no more physical improvements to the University of Colorado medical facility and no money for more construction at any state college or university.

On the other hand, vehicle registration will be really cheap and Colorado will have no new debt.

This post was published on August 18, 2010. Permalink ». Comments are disabled at this time.

The Principal and Teacher Effectiveness bill received a new name: Great Teachers and Leaders bill. This larger name reflects the size of the bill, with its 200+ amendments, so many that legislators had to huddle frequently to understand their own language.

Democrats in internecine fight on bill
The contentious bill has pitted Democrat against Democrat, mostly. The majority of Dems oppose the bill, but at least seven support SB10-191, providing a slim majority vote for the bill. Republicans, except for bill sponsor Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, have stayed out of the mud slug, watching with delight as Democrats go after the bill and each other.

Over 200 amendments obscure bill content
The fight has played out through the amendment process. One amendment, L163, would change the nature of teacher evaluation, discriminating between those deemed highly satisfactory and those deemed unsatisfactory. Teachers who are highly effective will receive a scantier review than those deemed less than satisfactory.

Rep. Murray asserts that the amendment would allow principals to spend more time with problem teachers. Rep. Judy Solano, D-Adams County, believes the amendment subverts the annual evaluation of every teacher, and the amount of time and money it takes to implement the bill. The amendment was been pulled to clarify.
Similarly, an amendment to pp. 32-33 was withdrawn when Rep. Jean Labuda, D-Denver, reminded the bill sponsors that the two pages had already been eliminated from the bill.

Testing assessment at heart of contention
Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, brought amendment L180 to enable school districts to create incentives for teachers to work at schools with high poverty levels. Rep. Solano added her own views on assessments, and their "flatness" in determining student achievement. "The results of exams should never be used as a basis for important decisions related to student achievement," said Solano, citing the testing industry.

Levy argued strongly against bill's premises
Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, says that "teachers themselves do not believe they've been heard in the bill." "My children have had highly effective teachers and ineffective teachers. I have found that ineffective teachers could have been let go if the teacher's principal had taken steps. How are teachers supposed to achieve higher performance just as we're forcing larger class loads, or principals achieve higher performance when resources are stripped from schools?"

Amendment to gut bill failed
Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, brought L164, several pages of "a minor, little amendment" that would allow the Governor's Council to create the state's teacher evaluation system, gutting SB10-191, and putting the whole process back with the Governor's Council.
Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, was particularly annoyed at what she deems the lack of fiscal credibility in the bill. She asserts the bill cannot be implemented on $300,000. Each teacher assessment, she says, will take at least 16 hours to complete. That means either certain principal duties will need to be filled by someone else, or teacher evaluators will give up some of their instructional time to do teacher appraisal job. The amendment lost.

Student attendance amendment offered and pulled
Rep. Max Tyler, D-Lakewood, offered amendment L203 to give teachers a break related to student attendance. If students miss a minimum of 10 days a term, teachers would not be evaluated on that student's performance. Rep. Christine Scanlon, D-Summit County, at first supported the amendment, then withdrew her support, stating that too many minority kids lose out because of inadequate attendance. Rep. Tyler withdrew his amendment.

McCann offers vigorous defense of bill
Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, supported the bill based on a visit with teachers and children in a low performing school in her district. "If I'm going to be held to high standards," said one student at Bruce Randolph School, "then teachers should be held to high standards too." Rep. McCann also talked about the Clayton Early Learning Center and its excellence in preparing children. Rep. Benefield noted that Clayton does have excellent results because of its one teacher to three children ratio.

Solano's addition to principal evaluation cut down
Rep. Solano brought forward an amendment to the principal evaluation portion of the bill. The amendment stated that 50 percent of principal evaluation should be derived from a leadership survey based on teacher opinion. The amendment failed.

Schafer questions bill's "assessment" theory
Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Lakewood, asserted that no research backs up the "theory" of the bill that aggressive teacher assessment leads to improved student performance. Rep. Merrifield said that the bill is a "measure and punish" bill. At 11:14 pm, with 46 minutes to spare, the bill came to a vote and passed.  

This post was published on May 12, 2010. Permalink ». Comments are disabled at this time.

Sometimes body language tells more about legislators' views on a bill than their actual vote.  Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, advocated for HCR10-1002, a resolution to go to the voters for education funding, citing the need for more money to help children with physical and intellectual challenges.  While she spoke, Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Jeffco, Laura Bradford, R-Collbran, and Bob Gardner, R-El Paso, laughingly played a "sad song" on their imagined violin, in unison. PEN CCW

This post was published on May 11, 2010. Permalink ». Comments are disabled at this time.

HB10-1284, the medical marijuana bill, finally passes 49-16, rejecting Rep. Sol Pace's request that the bill be sent back to committee for one last revision.  Members had many questions related to the bill as they tried to confirm their understanding of the bill.

As it is, the bill allows cities to reject dispensaries, pushing them into larger urban areas.  Caregivers are limited to five individuals.  The bill, if signed by the governor, will probably be revised again next year. PEN, CCW

This post was published on May 11, 2010. Permalink ». Comments are disabled at this time.