Training a prime precedence as Colorado legislature convenes
Colorado lawmakers opened the 2022 legislature with a pledge to invest more in education and provide more opportunities for the state’s students after two years of pandemic backlash. Legislative leaders say there might even be a way to fully fund K-12 schools for the first time since the Great Recession.
The Democrats touted their record – they made kindergarten free for families and paved the way for a universal preschool – and thanked the educators for their work in two badly disrupted school years. However, Republicans said four years of one-party rule in Colorado failed students and families left on their own during distance learning. They demanded more money for schools and more power for parents in education.
Colorado is rich in funds this year from federal aid dollars as well as a better-than-expected economic recovery, even as a surge in Omicron-related COVID cases poses new challenges for schools that are already faced with staff shortages, student mental health issues , and uneven learning. Enrollments in colleges have declined, particularly two-year colleges, which weighs on school finances, while government funding has not kept pace with inflation.
The opening day speeches and competing agendas create an election year in which Republicans will seek to convince voters that the Democrats have failed to keep important promises and that they should have a chance at power.
Colorado House spokesman Alec Garnett, a Denver Democrat, said investment over the years has helped create a framework that will enable the Coloradans to successfully weather the pandemic. He highlighted his party’s investment in the state’s universal preschool initiative and proposed record spending on education that year.
“We’re going to save people money on childcare by expanding the universal preschool,” Garnett said.
Garnett also praised educators for their work during the pandemic, as more and more teachers are considering leaving the profession due to pandemic fatigue.
“I would like to take a moment to recognize the dedication of every educator in the state who has bent backward to make sure our students can continue their education despite the turmoil,” said Garnett. “In recognition of your heroic efforts and sacrifices, I vow to fight with all my might to ensure that we don’t divert a single cent from public education.”
Hugh McKean, a Republican from Loveland and the minority leader in the house, instead focused on how difficult distance learning had been for families. He called for more choices for parents and said students should have a variety of options to get from school to work.
“The students in Colorado were lagging behind in reading comprehension and math and science. And now we’re finding that we’ve lost even more ground, ”he said. “We need better opportunities when it comes to our children’s education.”
House Minority Group Chairman Hugh McKean, front, and House Speaker Alec Garnett, set out competing visions in their opening day speeches. AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post
In the Senate, President Leroy Garcia, a Pueblo Democrat, taught education on the bread-and-butter issues that Colorado families discuss around the dining room table.
“We will invest in our most important resource, our children, to ensure they get the education, training and support they need for a bright future,” he said.
Senate minority leader Chris Holbert contrasted the heated national educational debates over critical racial theory and police in schools with a much more fundamental challenge that less than half of Colorado’s students can read at the class level.
“You want you to read Ibram X. Kendi? Great, ”he said. “I might want you to read John Locke. But to this day the problem is that many students cannot read. “
The Republican legislative agenda includes proposals to require districts to publish curricula and educational materials for parents, allow parents to convert a troubled school into charter, and allow people to use tax-exempt accounts to pay off student loans.
But at the heart of their education agenda is a proposal to eliminate what is known as the budget stabilizing factor, money that despite constitutional requirements, withholds Colorado from K-12 education every year to pay for other budget priorities.
The $ 40 billion budget proposed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis calls for a record $ 6.6 billion spending on education and the least amount of reluctance the state has seen in 13 years. It’s still $ 422 million schools should get but aren’t getting.
Education advocacy groups, typically affiliated with Democratic lawmakers, notably the Colorado Education Association, the state teachers’ union, and organizations representing district and school boards, meet at the Capitol each year, with increasing funding and reducing budget stabilization paramount Have priority. Given the fiscal constraints in Colorado, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike have not viewed this as realistic.
Could this year be different?
State Sen. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican who sits on the joint budget committee, believes this is possible and sustainable. Enrollments are declining so there are fewer students to pay, and counties are collecting more property taxes thanks to rising property values, the repeal of the Gallagher addition, and tax changes passed by the Democrats last year.
But the Republican proposal is tied to a plan to give parents direct money to educate their children, an idea that Democrats and teachers unions have kept shutting down.
Democrats say they are also working on a plan to get rid of the fiscal stabilizer – and welcome Republican support for these efforts as long as public money does not go into private hands.
“It’s good to know that there is bipartisan consensus on full funding for K-12,” said Senator Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat who serves on the joint budget committee. “We’re looking at different ways to get there. There is a way. It requires some careful discussion. “
Polis’s budget includes some large claims, such as $ 500 million to secure unemployment insurance, that would make it harder to invest more in education, and even in education, there are trade-offs between the district base budget increases and skill of the state, spend more on certain groups, such as special school students, Hansen said.
House Education Committee chairwoman Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat and retired teacher, said she plans to come up with a bill every year to fully fund schools until that happens.
“We have to stop spending money on anything but education,” she said. “If someone owed me money since 2008, I would be pretty angry too.”
The comments from the Democratic leaders made it clear that they will focus heavily on the implementation of the state’s universal preschool program, an important element of the Polis educational platform.
Colorado will begin offering universal preschool free to families in fall 2023. The program is funded by the proceeds from the passage of a nicotine tax that went into effect last year. The program provides a minimum of 10 hours of preschool per week, with some children receiving additional hours and services as needed.
Heads of State have created an Office of Early Childhood to oversee the new program, but much remains to be done to ensure a successful start. Polis’ budget is to spend an additional $ 13 million on prep.
U.S. senior Janet Buckner, an Aurora Democrat, said during a Chalkbeat Colorado bill Tuesday that the state is overcoming numerous hurdles to ensure the upstart program goes smoothly.
“Some of these ideas can take vendors a few years to meet the bar because that is a high bar,” she said. “So we’re very realistic about that. It won’t happen overnight. “
Early bills tabled by Senate and House leaders included several educational priorities. Senate leaders plan to improve access to higher education for foster children, improve K-12 reading scores, and enable community colleges to offer a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Homeowners also plan to expand access to affordable childcare, offer high school students more career opportunities, improve student education and create a new tax break for early childhood educators.
While the opposing speeches showed the differing views of Democrats and Republicans in recent years, this year there should be consensus on some educational issues.
Legislators chairing the Interim Legislative Committee on School Funding plan to propose bills that would increase funding for special schools and change the way K-12 schools charge students and families with financial challenges. Legislators from both courses expressed their support at an early stage.
The state also has plans to use billions in federal funds to fuel pandemics, and at least some of that will go towards staff development and professional training. A new report released earlier this week was intended to reach consensus on retraining adults, who are hardest hit by the pandemic.
Democratic leaders in particular, hope the report makes the investment needed to help businesses and Colorado’s colleges and universities connect students with meaningful careers. And professional training is an issue that has broad support from Republicans.
Check out the Chalkbeat Colorado Law Preview for 2022.
