There has been a lot of noise about school reform lately. Many
state legislators, especially Democrats, are talking about more
oversight while local school superintendents are worried about
losing more local control.
At the beginning of the legislative session, the Colorado Senate
submitted 24 bills relating to education while the House submitted
23. Some of these have been postponed indefinitely; others are
sitting in committee. A few are waiting for Gov. Bill Ritter’s
signature, and one – funding for all-day kindergarten classes – has
been signed.
The bills include provisions to:
* Mitigate energy costs.
* Allow fast-growing schools to get bonds more
quickly.
* Create an early education commission and councils.
* Allow school district employees to act as truant
officers.
* Change the minimum school age from 7 to 6.
* Set minimum graduation standards.
* Create a grant fund to upgrade buildings and other
infrastructure for safety and security.
Several bills look at charter schools, CSAPs and higher
education tuition. At least one looks at online learning.
Woodland Park RE-2 Superintendent Guy Arseneau said, “I like to
think of it as education improvement not reform. What I want is
more support for teacher development, helping our teachers improve
their teaching skills and training them on new technologies that
are always changing – the computers we installed just two years ago
are already obsolete – we need help to keep up with that
too.”
Sue Holmes, superintendent of Cripple Creek-Victor Schools, said
one of RE-1’s biggest issues is funding.
“The schools are asked to do a lot of things but we don’t see a
lot of dollars,” she said. “And I’m not thinking of just funding
for academics. There are a lot of school districts that can’t get
bonding for capital improvements. We’re probably going to be asking
for a bond this year to improve our school buildings, but there are
some school districts that don’t even have that option – they’re
just too poor. Other states do a good job with capital improvements
for their schools; why can’t Colorado?”
Now making its way through the various committees is Senate Bill
07-053, which would create a legislative committee to oversee and
coordinate preschool through college education – the P-16 Education
Council. Sponsored by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, and Rep. Mike
Merrifield, D-El Paso, the bill, which as of Monday has been taken
up by the senate appropriations committee, would create a 29-member
P-16 Council and a six-member legislative oversight committee. The
stated objective is to streamline, unify and invest in education at
all levels.
Both Arseneau and Holmes expressed skepticism.
“Adding another layer of government at the top isn’t going to
help us here at the bottom,” Arseneau said. “Most legislators don’t
know what we deal with on a daily basis. Many of them haven’t
stepped foot into a classroom since their college days.”
Holmes said she would like to see more local control.
“The more control they take from us the more difficult it is for
us to do what is needed for our students,” she said. “It’s one
thing for the Legislature to offer guidelines; it’s another for it
to make mandates. Something that could help a school like Cheyenne
Mountain may not be helpful to us. School districts are not one
size fits all.”
Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Douglas, El Paso, Teller, also is skeptical of
SB07-053.
He stated in an e-mail sent Monday: “My feelings about ‘advisory
committees’ are summed up in a quote I once heard. ‘If Columbus had
an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock.’ The
most disturbing part of the bill further reflects my aversion to
this bill. The bill sets up, not one, but two separate committees.
One is composed of SIX members to oversee the work of another
committee (Council) composed of TWENTY-NINE members who are
supposed to advise the first committee. Of the 29 members of the
Council, only TWO are to be parents and one of them must be
representing the state PTA.”
He also is against several other bills, which he said “put the
system ahead of the student.” Instead, he gave his own idea of
school reform.
“Most meaningful reform is really done one step at a time, and
in legislation that looks at what is working and takes the ‘next
step’ along the pathway to reform,” Weins stated. “This is
particularly true in the field of education where we are often
swept up in a new trend that is then found to be ineffective in
just a year or two. The state government should do more to
incentivize the local districts to try innovative solutions and
then encourage the use of successful reforms by other districts
through waivers or permissive legislation. Federal and state
mandates are oftentimes more damaging than helpful on the road to
real education reform.”
Freshman Rep. Victor Mitchell, R-Douglas, Teller, who serves on
the house education committee, worries about Colorado’s public
school system falling behind the rest of the nation.
In an e-mail dated March 13, he stated: “It deeply troubles me
that our public school system in Colorado is failing a large
percentage of our children. I’m particularly interested in policies
that will raise the high school graduation rate [currently about 70
percent], improving our kids’ preparation so they can perform
college level work and/or enter the workforce with specialized
training, and increasing the 4-year post graduation rate [currently
about 20 percent].
“I believe we need continued local control to administer
programs based on quantitatively measurable standards such as CSAP.
In addition, we must continue longitudinal student and instructor
tracking systems. I definitely believe we should improve statewide
minimum graduation curriculum standards so that a graduation degree
from a high school in Colorado means that the students have the
basic levels of knowledge so they may find a meaningful job in our
high-growth economy.”
Contact Norma Engelberg at 719-687-3006 or
nengelberg@ccnewpapers.com.