Category Archives: Teachers

Last week I told you that the Colorado Springs District 11 school board had voted to open union contract negotiations up for public observation. Today, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the CSEA (the local teachers union) has blackballed the idea: The board of the Colorado Springs Education Association voted unanimously to turn down a request by the D-11 school board to hold the meetings in public. In a letter to the D-11 board Wednesday, CSEA President Kevin Marshall said Tuesday’s vote was to “protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement between teachers and safeguard the future of children by keeping the negotiations private.” “Safeguard the future of children”… from whom: Parents? Taxpayers? Journalists? “Protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement”… so that’s the priority? Let’s not be surprised here. Besides the obvious seniority-based salary and benefits, what kind of items in the CSEA-D11 master agreement (PDF) might they be trying to protect? Here’s a list of examples all found in Article III under “Association Rights”:

I’ve been to Glenwood Springs before with my parents. It’s a neat place, with the caves and the rides and, of course, the hot springs. But this has got to be the first time I’ve blogged about it here. The local Post Independent reports that the Roaring Fork School District looks like they are about to forge ahead with something quite innovative: At tonight’s meeting, principals and teachers from Glenwood Springs and Sopris elementary schools, Glenwood Springs Middle School and Glenwood Springs High School, as well as district officials, will all be on hand to explain the concept and answer questions. Called “Moving On,” the new levels approach to student placement is the next step in district’s ongoing effort to adopt a standards-based learning model. The standards approach is intended to ensure that students achieve a certain degree of proficiency in a subject area, primarily reading, writing and math, before they move on to the next level.

It’s Friday, so allow me to tease you a bit. Na na nanny boo boo. No, not like that. I mean “tease,” as in the broadcast media lingo for giving you just a little bit of info and a heads-up, while making you wait for the real deal. But first, my own curiosity was drawn in by this new Education Next article by Stuart Buck and Jay Greene, who both come from that bastion of education reform intelligence at the University of Arkansas. Taking a look at data from Vanderbilt’s National Center on Performance Incentives, they provide some interesting perspective on the whole teacher merit pay debate:

Just when I start to think I can keep up with what’s going on in the world of education, something sneaks up on me almost in my own backyard. I’m talking about a vote by the school board in Colorado Springs District 11 — the state’s eighth-largest school district (nearly 30,000 students) — to do teachers union collective bargaining in the light of day. One of my Education Policy Center friends was quoted in the story: Benjamin DeGrow, education labor policy analyst with the Golden-based Independence Institute, wrote a policy paper on the subject two years ago that concluded that negotiations should be public. “We are talking about taxpayer money and the future of children, it shouldn’t be done behind closed doors,” he said in an interview.

In a high-tech media world, it’s still lots of fun to get an actual print copy of the Sunday newspaper. That’s what my parents do. Sunday afternoon as I was digging through the newest edition of the Denver Post to find the color comics, I ran across something called the “Perspective” section. What did I find, but two (not just one) very interesting pieces on K-12 education in our state — things I have told you about before right here on the blog. How exciting is that!

I guess that United Federation of Teachers political director Paul Egan is too old to get sent to his room without dinner. Because if I tried his attitude with my mom, that would be the least of my problems:

It was exactly two years ago today that President Obama flew to town to shake lots of bills off the magical money tree for Colorado public schools. Now the federal dollars (borrowed from my future) have dried up. Our new governor John Hickenlooper bore the news to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) on Tuesday: $332 million in direct cuts from this year’s School Finance Act for 2011-12. The two main culprits? One is a projected decline of 7 percent in property tax assessments, which will cut well over $100 million from school budgets statewide. The other, as I hinted at the beginning, is the end of more than $200 million in one-time federal funds. Rather than cushion the blow, the ARRA and Edujobs money just delayed the pain.

Yesterday the superintendent of one of Colorado’s smallest school districts came before the State Board of Education. Kit Carson R-1’s Gerald Keefe was there to answer questions about his district’s innovation proposal. This wouldn’t surprise you at all if you listened to one of the newest podcasts produced by my Education Policy Center friends, in which Keefe explains why he believes his rural district should be set free from some state and federal teacher policies. I doubt the proposal will breeze through, and some details may need to be worked out. As reported in Ed News Colorado, Kit Carson’s superintendent caught some preliminary pushback from one State Board member: Angelika Schroeder, D-2nd District, said, “I haven’t heard the innovation” in the plan. She suggested Kit Carson should help pilot implementation of SB 10-191.

A few weeks ago I told you about the “voucher bogeyman” fearmongering around Colorado House Bill 1048 (PDF) — which would provide non-refundable tax credits to parents or donors supporting a student’s private school tuition or home education. (And therefore, not a “subsidy” as was headlined and reported with a strong anti-choice slant on the Denver Post‘s blog. To expound further by quoting from said post might get me in legal trouble, and I’m too young to be able to afford a lawyer.) Well, the bill finally got a hearing yesterday afternoon before the House Finance Committee. A fairly long one. And ultimately an indecisive one. Education News Colorado has the best account I’ve seen: After dark had fallen and the witness list was exhausted, [committee chair Rep. Brian] DelGrosso said, “I think we have raised several questions” and that “trying to piecemeal some amendments might not be the wisest decision.” “I’m going to lay it over a couple of weeks,” he told [bill sponsor Rep. Spencer] Swalm. “Maybe you can give the committee a couple of different options.” So now it’s time to hurry up and wait again. I’m learning that’s just sometimes how it goes in the big […]

February is a big month for awards. There’s the Oscars for movies and the Grammys for popular music. Before both of them comes the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the winner of the most-watched sporting event: the Super Bowl. So I thought today would be a great opportunity to highlight a couple of freshly-announced education-related awards. First and foremost, the group Stand for Children Colorado yesterday announced well-deserved recognition, along with giving out $1,000 each, to 10 superhero teachers across the state: At Stand for Children, we’ve seen the impact a great teacher can make. And after reading nearly 100 nominations for outstanding teachers across the state, we know you have, too. Please join us in celebrating the ten teachers listed below who have won $1,000 to recognize and reward their commitment. The list includes teachers from Evans to Grand Junction and all along the Front Range, teachers who represent the elementary and middle and high school levels, as well as six neighborhood schools, three charters and an alternative school. Congratulations to each and every one of them! Read the entries to see what their nominations had to say about them. Now for something mostly different. Matt Ladner this morning has […]