Category Archives: Education Politics

I tend not to get into all the icky Valentine’s Day stuff (flowers, pink hearts, greeting cards), except to the extent I can stuff my face with candy. Even so, some events that transpired yesterday at the Capitol nearly broke my heart. Ed News Colorado reports on the Thursday afternoon state senate committee hearing that resulted in the sad and awkward — but given political realities, not terribly surprising — death of two tax credit bills that would have increased students’ educational options. Senate Bill 131 would have provided up to a $500 credit for families who pay for an outside “education or academic enrichment service.” The only downer on SB 131 was the small negative impact forecast for the state budget. Also going down on a 4-4 vote, Senate Bill 69 would have provided a direct credit to families paying private school tuition (up to 50 percent of state per pupil revenue) or home school expenses (up to $1,000). The Colorado Education Association lobbyist expressed skepticism at the nonpartisan fiscal analysis showing the proposal would save tax dollars, claiming instead that research of an Arizona program showed a negative impact on that state’s treasury.

It’s been almost two years since I last brought your attention to the overwhelming research findings that the nearly-50-year-old Head Start program has not made a real difference in education outcomes. But a new Wall Street Journal story by Stephanie Banchero points out that some federal officials appear intent on doubling down. In an article last month, Heritage Foundation scholars not only summarized the lackluster findings regarding the latest Head Start research but also some disturbing news about how it was released:

These are momentous days in Douglas County, Colorado. A 60,000-student school district charting new horizons for parental choice and academic excellence through cutting-edge, performance-based systems? An organized labor interest group frustrated at being stripped of monopoly power? Yes and yes. A lot of eyes are watching what unfolds in the growing suburbs south of Denver. While we wait for the Colorado Court of Appeals to weigh in on the fate of student educational opportunity through the district’s groundbreaking Choice Scholarship Program,opponents of the bold, outside-the-box school board have been trying to make waves.

Local education leaders want to transform a rigid, bureaucratic system — re-imagining the delivery of instruction, giving more freedom, flexibility, and accountability to teachers and principals at the school level. But then some interest groups or just plain old naysayers come along to protest, saying “We’ve never done it that way before.” Or maybe a little self-doubt creeps in and the leader wonders if that’s really something he or she should do. Well, into the fray comes American Enterprise Institute (AEI) education scholar and guru Rick Hess with an Education Next essay to help infuse a little can-do attitude into the discussion:

You know how much I have to restrain myself when it comes to using the “it’s for the kids” mantra, so I simply couldn’t resist quickly bringing your attention to some important new insights from local pension system analyst Joshua Sharf. With the tongue-in-cheek title “PERA – It’s All for the Kids,” he paints full-color pictures showing that dollars per student spent on the state retirement system have been growing dramatically, the heaviest burdens borne by taxpayers. Is it any wonder why many school districts might be feeling the pinch? Does it make sense now why I told you a few months back that a better solution than yelling at TABOR is fixing PERA?

Little Eddie has been so busy, his head is spinning. But I didn’t want to leave everyone hanging. If you are a teacher or know a teacher, you might encourage them to check out this new report from Mike Antonucci at the Education Intelligence Agency: [National Education Association] Gave $15 Million to Advocacy Groups in the 2011-12 fiscal year. The report includes a list of all the reported beneficiaries, everyone from the AFL-CIO and America Votes to We Are Ohio. Of course, that money overwhelmingly comes from member dues.

One of the education proposals giving me the 5-year-old equivalent of heartburn as Colorado’s legislative session gets rolling is the attempt to add regulations to the state’s full-time online schools. For those who have been following the scene for any length of time, that probably sounds like a broken record (“like a damaged MP3 file” is probably more up to date, but doesn’t have the same ring to it). Over the past couple years there’s been a lot of controversy in Colorado about cyberschools. No time to rehash here all charges, counter-charges, questions, and concerns. It’s also escalated at the national level with a report from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC). And this week brings a great response from the Brookings Institution’s Matthew Chingos at Education Next. A quick taste:

A couple days ago I brought to your attention the looming heartburn the Colorado legislative session portends for those who support parental choice, school accountability, and the transparent, effective use of tax dollars in K-12 education. If you want to keep tabs on your needed antacid intake by checking the status of introduced legislation, you ought to join me in bookmarking Ed News Colorado’s bill tracker for the next four months. Anyway, as has been pointed out, the big education issue before the state legislature this year will be changing the School Finance Act with a tax increase referral to voters tied at the hip. From now to May, the drum will continue to bang loudly for “adequate funding.” Before the tears and drama take over, it will be important to remember that Colorado’s K-12 funding debate really could use some important facts. But in the meantime the state’s largest teachers union — its concrete headquarters stationed a good stone’s throw away from the State Capitol — has produced a series of videos calling for greater “economic investment” in education. It’s for the children, of course. Yes, this is the same Colorado Education Association that resists commonsense entitlement reform that […]

Run for cover, and hold onto your wallets! Tomorrow marks the beginning of the first session of the 69th Colorado General Assembly. At first, I thought about just re-posting last year’s pre-session warning. Yet while there may be some similarities between 2012 and 2013, it would end up being a lazy thing to do, and less than accurate to boot. At the risk of being repetitive, though, I first will point readers to the legislative preview by Ed News Colorado’s Todd Engdahl. He notes that: The question of school finance is expected to overshadow all other education issues. Democratic Sens. Mike Johnston of Denver and Rollie Heath of Boulder are crafting a plan that would significantly overhaul the school funding formula – contingent on subsequent voter approval of new revenues for schools. A big looming question then is just how significant the proposed school finance changes will be. If they’re not pushing toward real student-centered backpack funding — as Senator Johnston and others discussed last month at a packed Capitol event — then selling voters on a tax hike will become that much more difficult. While the statehouse shouldn’t be as consumed with K-12 education issues last year, Engdahl does […]

A few weeks ago I was one of the first to share the bad news that a judge had struck down one of Louisiana’s school choice programs that offered hope and opportunity to so many students. Well, I couldn’t think of a better way to end a year of blogging — yep, this is the last one from me for 2012 — than to share a powerful story of a young life negatively affected by the ruling. The American Federation of Children brought my attention to a piece written by school choice champion Kevin Chavous about 14-year-old Louisiana voucher scholarship recipient named Tyrell. This young man’s outlook improved greatly at the private school he’s been able to attend the past few years. Troubled so much by a lawsuit against the program that enabled his turnaround that he was losing sleep, Tyrell showed up at the courthouse where the program’s fate was being decided: