Category Archives: State Legislature

Today is one of those terrific days when I’ve discovered a great new education blog. I’m talking about Education Debate at Online Schools, authored by the mysterious Matthew. He got my attention by linking to a post I wrote and calling me “the sharpest 5 year old in the entire education debate.” Let me tell you. No matter what you’ve heard, in some cases flattery indeed will get you somewhere. Anyway, last week Matthew wrote a great post bringing attention to a financial transparency development in Kansas’ Wichita School District. Local officials posted the district’s checkbook online, a mildly positive step that Matthew rightly addressed with a critical eye: On the financial disclosure: B for effort, D for execution. On the PR supporting it: A+ for selling a mediocre, indecipherable product to those who never bothered to pop the hood. Ouch. I wouldn’t want that to be my report card.

Well, it’s that time of year again…. Hey, stop giving me those blank stares! Time to preview Colorado’s upcoming legislative session and the debates over bills and policies that could affect K-12 education in our state. Session starts in two days, and Ed News Colorado has posted the annual preview by Todd Engdahl — a must-read for local education transformers. Of course, anyone who has been paying attention or reading what I have to say, knows what the driving theme will be. Engdahl’s story hammers it home:

What’s in store in the world of K-12 education for 2011? I’m too young and naive to make any worthwhile predictions myself, but I invite you to check out the “7 for 11” prophetic musings of Fordham’s Mike Petrilli. In about 360 days or so we can fully judge how accurate his educated guesses prove to be, but for now I want to hone in on the last of the seven: Diane Ravitch and the teachers unions will criticize budget cuts but offer no alternatives. As states and districts make difficult decisions in the months ahead, Ravitch and the education establishment will attack every specific suggestion. Raise class sizes? Ask teachers to pay more of their healthcare costs? Freeze salaries? Cap stipends for master’s degrees, or years of experience? They will find fault with all of these, but will offer no serious suggestions of their own. As a result, they will implicitly encourage districts to take the path of least resistance: fire their youngest teachers; get rid of art and music classes; and pass along costs to parents in the form of new fees. There’s definitely something to what Petrilli says here. It’s not exactly a startling prediction. But it […]

Twenty-eleven is here, and I’m back with my youthful optimism looking toward a better, freer education future. While a lot of states — including Colorado — look forward to convening their legislatures with a focus on tackling budget problems, truly bold education reform is at the forefront of conversation in at least one place: Florida. Education Week State Education Watch blogger Sean Cavanaugh recently took note of some recommendations made by Governor-Elect Rick Scott‘s transition team. The 20-page document covers a wide range of ideas in various areas, including teacher quality, school choice and digital learning. Most of the focus is being drawn to a “universal voucher” idea that Gov-elect Scott had hinted at, and is now being fleshed out in the form of education savings accounts. As Cavanagh reports:

So you just got elected (or re-elected) to the Colorado state legislature. But it’s not as much fun as you thought, because they say there’s this big budget deficit that has to be made up. And that means some spending cuts, which won’t make you the most popular person with a lot of the interest groups that depend on funding from tax dollars. That includes K-12 education, which makes up the biggest part of the state’s general fund budget (about 45 percent). Some cuts will have to be made. But does that mean bad times for schools and students? Not necessarily, not if state leaders are willing to make some tough decisions. What sort of decisions? Well, I’m glad you asked. The Independence Institute has created a really thick report known as the Citizens’ Budget to show how legislators can find lots of ways to save money without harming important services. This big project helps to show in detail what my mom and dad have taught me so well: it’s not about how much you spend as much as how smart you are about spending it. (That’s saved me from breaking the piggy bank on a couple occasions.)

It’s the day after a late night election. There are some yawns and droopy eyes around here. But I did want to share you with some initial reactions. Let’s start in Colorado. First, we learned that Republicans won the state house and closed the gap on the Democrats’ state senate majority. Democrats hold on to the governor’s office, with John Hickenlooper taking the place of Bill Ritter. Alan Gottlieb opines in this morning’s Ed News Colorado commentary that a Hickenlooper administration will be “more in tune with the Obama administration and Democrats for Education Reform than with traditional Democract [sic] influencers, including teachers’ unions.” I sure hope he’s right.

Look, I’m going to admit up front that little Eddie isn’t inherently balanced, not when it comes to discussions education issues anyway. I have a point of view. It’s no secret. I try to back up my arguments with evidence as much as I can, but in the end I have some pretty strong beliefs of which I also try to persuade my readers. But then again, I’m not a public affairs television program on PBS. If I were, then maybe you could add Studio Eddie to your regular boob tube viewing routine. Instead, PBS viewers last week were treated to this hour-long Studio 12 panel discussion, inspired by the new film Waiting for Superman, about current, pressing education issues:

Nobody in the education world is talking about anything else, so why not just make it official and call this “Race to the Top week”? The fallout continues. In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, State Board of Education member Marcia Neal told my Education Policy Center friends that we might see an effort to slow down or roll back Senate Bill 191: Colorado’s landmark teacher tenure and evaluation reform. I’m not sure if she was thinking it would happen this week, but open up the opinion section of today’s Denver Post, and you’ll see a guest column written by Cherry Creek educator Brian Kurz titled “Go back and fix SB 191.” My modest suggestion would be for the author to go back and check some of his facts and assumptions. First: [Bill sponsor] Michael Johnston authored SB 191 and pushed its passage as a way to better position Colorado for Race to the Top money. Johnston knew first-hand the obvious flaws with both the language of [sic] bill and the ambiguity of how to achieve its goals. Despite the lack of specifics, the bill was Colorado’s chance at a $175 million lottery. While Johnston certainly expressed hopes of winning Race […]

Not to spend too much time today dwelling in the past — it’s been 11 days now since the State Board regretfully adopted the Common Core standards — but I felt impelled to bring your attention to a guest column in today’s Denver Post. State senator Keith King, a charter school administrator and education expert, explained why he believes last week’s State Board vote forfeited a chance for Colorado to be an education leader: This capitulation to national standards in pursuit of federal funds is misguided. Colorado could have led the nation in setting high standards for our public schools, not jump on the bandwagon of uncertain, still-evolving national standards. Following the pied piper of new federal funding has proven to be a trap many times in the past. When will we stop being enticed into federal programs with some up-front federal funding and then be left hanging when those initial funds run out? Besides the obvious problem of relying on federal funds that soon will disappear, Senator King raised a specific point I haven’t seen discussed much. Namely, that Colorado’s own high-quality writing standards figure to be forfeited once our state begins relying on regional or national assessments. I […]

Writing over at Education Next, experts Emily Cohen and Kate Walsh explain how reformers should be focused on changing the levers of state policy to improve the quality of teaching, rather than grousing about what locally-negotiated collective bargaining contracts won’t allow them to do. In their piece “Invisible Ink in Teacher Contracts”, Cohen and Walsh pour the spotlight on our backyard: No legislative success, however, trumps that achieved in Colorado in May 2010. The perfect storm—a charismatic, Democratic legislator who is a Teach For America alumnus, the lure of Race to the Top funds, and a whole array of advocacy groups that included the Colorado chapters of Democrats for Education Reform and Stand For Children—pulled off teacher legislation that was bitterly opposed by the state union and which no one dreamed possible a year ago. The success of SB 191 is becoming conventional wisdom nationwide, and it’s hard to disagree about its national significance — even if the implementation of the bill is slow and its actual effects promise to be somewhat modest. Maybe the best news s that Colorado achieved this remarkable legislative success despite the fact our state tends more than most toward the local control end of […]