Denver Post Front Page: Most School Districts Face Budget Cuts

by: Great Ed

Mon May 12, 2008 at 08:51:29 AM MDT

Voters in most of Colorado's largest school districts will be asked to dig into their pockets this fall to help schools that are suffering from escalating food and fuel costs and a sagging economy.

Districts contemplating fall ballot initiatives to stave off more cuts include Jefferson County, Douglas County and Cherry Creek school districts.

Others across the state are choosing to forgo ballot initiatives but are making deep cuts to offset the lack of tax revenue.

The article provides a good explanation of why the Consumer Price Index (CPI) underestimates real district costs:

Many districts projected an inflation rate of 2.8 percent for their 2008-09 budgets based on the skyrocketing costs of living.

Fuel costs were up 10.3 percent and food costs had risen 4.3 percent, according to Adams 12 officials.

But the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - which sets the inflation rate based on a variety of costs - put the increase in the Denver metro area at 2.2 percent, effectively cutting the amount of revenue districts get from the state.

About 40 percent of the Consumer Price Index calculation is based on housing.

As is often the case, State Treasurer Cary Kennedy states it most succinctly:

"[District's] primary expenses are teacher salaries, insurance, then it's fuel costs," [Kennedy] said. "There is a real mismatch there. In the long run, it would serve the education community better to have a growth index that is more reflective of their actual costs."

Ultimately, the article underscores both the insufficiency and inequity of our current finance system.  The larger districts must go to their voters -- not to move their schools forward into the 21st century with new technology, increased individual attention and/or improved professional development, but rather just to stop and (if lucky) reverse cuts.  At the same time, smaller, less wealthy districts will simply swallow the cuts and try to minimize their impact on kids -- as they have for years now.

It's a statewide problem that requires a statewide solution.

Must See TV: 9News Nails It in Story About School Budget Cuts

by: Great Ed

Wed May 07, 2008 at 19:00:00 PM MDT

http://www.9news.com/video/pla...

Great thanks are due to Adams 12 Superintendent Mike Paskewicz who eloquently summed up the situation faced by most districts in Colorado:

Mike Paskewicz has spent too much time staring at what's called his "Implication Board." It is a series of more than 500 effects created by basically one cause - budget cuts.

"Sixteen million dollars over three years," said Paskewicz, superintendent of the Adams 12 Five Star School District. "Now, you're going to be cutting into things that are going to impact student achievement."

Paskewicz and his staff use the Implication Board to visualize just how far reaching budget reductions will be. The initial goal is to keep them from impacting the classroom. But, Paskewicz says the cuts are now getting too deep.

"We're at a point right now in Colorado that the issues for financing will not be solved at the local level," said Paskewicz.

Westminster parent Heidi Swetich -- whose daughter will not be able to attend full-day Kindergarten this coming year because of budget cuts -- sums up the situation this way:

For her kids, Swetich says she'd be willing to pay more taxes.

"I'm OK with that. I'd rather put my money into my children's education," said Swetich. "It's scary. You want the best for your children and this is a situation where you really can't do anything more than I've already done."

Watch it and pass it on.  This one says it all.

TABOR/Amendment 23 Measure to Change Venues?

by: Great Ed

Mon May 05, 2008 at 08:15:00 AM MDT

The author of a proposed state budget fix announced Sunday he's bypassing his Capitol critics and making his case directly to voters, in a move sure to ignite a fierce ballot battle over the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

Collecting the 76,000 signatures needed for a ballot initiative will be easier than persuading two-thirds of the House and Senate to support the budget plan, said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.

As introduced in the legislature:

The state would keep revenue beyond the TABOR limits approved by voters in 1992 and put it into the education fund and a savings account for economic hard times. It would also end guaranteed yearly education funding increases provided under Amendment 23, approved by voters in 2000.

Taxpayers would no longer receive TABOR refunds, but they would retain the right to approve tax hikes.

The citizen initiative discussed in the article was submitted in a slightly different form than Romanoff's legislative proposal, providing greater protection for education spending by delaying the repeal of Amendment 23 for two years.

In considering the merits of the proposal, here is one entry on the "pro" side of the ledger:

State Rep. Douglas Bruce, the Colorado Springs Republican who authored TABOR, testified against Romanoff's plan when it was discussed in a committee.

Setting the Record Straight on "Maintenance of Effort"

by: Great Ed

Thu May 01, 2008 at 08:30:00 AM MDT

Unfortunately, the complex workings of school funding have led to a great deal of confusion about what the "Maintenance of Effort" (MOE) amendment does.  For instance, the Denver Post described the MOE amendment this way:

The Senate on Wednesday gave initial approval to the annual school finance act, minus a provision that would allow a portion of Amendment 23 education funding increases to continue beyond their expiration date.

Mandated funding of 1 percent above inflation is scheduled to expire in 2011, and then schools would be funded at the annual inflation rate.

When House Democrats extended the 1 percent increases in the annual school funding bill - House Bill 1388 - it dealt a major blow to House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's plan to untangle the state's constitutional knot. (Emphasis added).

However, that is not what the amendment would have done.  Here's the story: Amendment 23 has a number of provisions, the most well-known being the requirement that per pupil funding increase each year by inflation + 1% until 2011, and inflation thereafter.  The "Maintenance of Effort" amendment in the news had nothing to do with that part of Amendment 23.  In fact, the amendment didn't have anything to do with how much the state spends on schools.

Instead, the amendment would have extended a different provision of Amendment 23 -- the maintenance of effort (MOE) provision -- which ensured that dollars set aside in the State Education Fund are used for education.  Also due to expire in 2011, the MOE provision prevents the legislature from using the State Education Fund to supplant the "general funds" that the state traditionally spent on schools.  In other words, the MOE provision was designed to protect the State Education Fund so that it would add to -- not replace -- what the state would be spending on schools anyway.  The amendment would have extended the MOE requirement in statute.

At this writing, it is unclear whether the provision will be a part of the final School Finance Act.  Regardless of that outcome, however, it is important to clear up misunderstandings about what the substance of the debate was really about.

Gov. Romer's op ed

by: JaneF

Sat Apr 26, 2008 at 17:48:11 PM MDT

http://www.denverpost.com/opin...

Fuel, Tests (and Poor Funding) Crowd Out Field Trips (and More)

by: fundraised out

Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 09:07:16 AM MDT

The blow is worst for low-income, at-risk kids who would never have the world opened up to them by Museums or Zoos if were not for field trips through school.  

My only quarrel with the article comes in its first sentence:

Whiteboards replaced chalkboards, computers shoved aside typewriters, and now the time-honored field trip is fighting for survival.

Whiteboards haven't replaced chalkboards in any schools I've seen, and although typewriters are nowhere to be found, there aren't many instructional computers either.

Budget woes go a whole lot deeper than field trips.

Post Reiterates Support for BEST

by: Great Ed

Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:20:05 AM MDT

State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, a key architect of the Romanoff/Groff plan, reports that 80 Colorado school districts have such a small tax base that even if they issue the maximum amount of bonds they are permitted by law, they can't raise enough money for even one new building.

Students in such poor districts not only have to cope with dilapidated and inadequate facilities, they often face real health and safety risks: including failing roofs, structural problems, inadequate fire safety, faulty and even dangerous boilers and the risk of contamination by asbestos and carbon monoxide.

HB 1335 . . . will begin to close that gap by leveraging up to $40 million in annual revenue from about 3 million acres of public school trust lands given to Colorado when we entered the union. That tactic would raise up to $500 million in bonds to repair or replace school buildings. With local matching funds, the program could provide up to $1 billion - enough to build 125 new elementary schools at an average cost of $8 million each, by Kennedy's estimate.

That money won't build any country clubs. But it will give thousands of Colorado children the fair start in life promised to them in 1876.

H.B. 1335 has passed both the House and the Senate and will be sent to the Governor for his signature once minor differences between the House and Senate versions are worked out.

When Great Education Colorado and Children's Voices took Speaker Romanoff on the first of a series of school tours last June, we hoped that the visits might spur some concern on the part of state leaders.  Though it will only begin to address the vast capital problems facing Colorado schools, the B.E.S.T. plan far exceeded our most optimistic expectations and stands as a testament to the dedication, concern and creativity of leaders like Romanoff and Kennedy.  We owe them a debt of gratitude.

Denver Public Schools to Present to Great Ed Supporters

by: allenGEC

Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 11:29:27 AM MDT

Please contact Allen Byrne at (303) 722-5901 or email allen@greateducation.org if you plan on attending.

Tuition Rising -- Again

by: Great Ed

Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:43:03 AM MDT

The 9.3 percent tuition increase approved Tuesday for University of Colorado-Boulder students is the latest example of financial hardship caused by years of reduced state funding while salaries and expenses at the school have surged.

Many Colorado students at the Boulder campus will have to pay more than $1,300 a year more for tuition, room and board and fees next fall.

(You can see School Stories videos about higher ed funding here.)

This year the legislature has addressed some parts of the higher education funding quandary -- including S.B. 218, which will create a fund for higher education construction and maintenance (using some funds that would otherwise have flowed into the State Education Fund).  Great Ed Action supports SB 218, as well as long-term efforts to ensure that P-12 and higher education are no longer pitted against each other.

Moving Forward on TABOR/Amendment 23

by: Great Ed

Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 13:48:11 PM MDT

There are very strong pros and cons to the proposal (as it has been reported).  On the positive side, permanently eliminating TABOR's revenue limit is essential to the long-term health of Colorado's economy and quality of life.  However, this proposal has the potential to place the cost of achieving that goal on the backs of today's K-12 students.  Because Amendment 23's moderate spending mandates would be repealed by the proposal, school districts could face even deeper cuts than those they have experienced in recent years (even with Amendment 23's protection).

The fact that these cuts would come at the same time that a) highway funding would be protected and b) demands upon schools will be increasing assuming passage of the Governor's "CAP4K" education reform legislation presents reason for concern, as well.

And so, as the Legislature considers the Romanoff proposal, we hope that Members ultimately will craft a plan that pursues this value: "K-12 students should be held harmless in our effort to rid Colorado's constitution of budget mandates and revenue limits."

How?  For a start, the Legislature could take Amendment 23's spending requirements -- which still have popular support -- out of the constitution and put them in statute, thereby showing its commitment to upholding the will of the voters and investing in Colorado's children.