Grassroots Action Matters — Victories at the Statehouse
This session, Great Ed had two priorities at the legislature: repealing the Arveschoug-Bird 6% limit, and minimizing cuts to Colorado’s public schools and colleges.
On the 6%, we joined the coalition headed by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute to make this critical change to Colorado’s tangled budget laws. Through our action alert, we generated over 1,800 e-mails to state leaders in the Capitol, asking them to support SB 228. That bill is now on the way to the Governor’s desk for his expected signature.
On protecting public schools from deep cuts, Great Ed (and a whole bunch of parents and kids) delivered 1200+ signatures and comments to every state legislator and the governor calling on them to “provide the leadership necessary to pass a budget that truly values public education — preschool through higher ed.”
As reported by Ed News Colorado, legislators listened to those concerns and improved the School Finance Act, while still responding to the realities of Colorado’s economic distress:
The key remaining issue was whether there should be a $110 million reduction in the overall increase in state aid to K-12 schools next year. The Senate proposed a $150 million cut, to help preserve the solvency of the State Education Fund. An early House version proposed a $110 million cut, but that was stripped on the floor.The conference committee voted 5-1 to give school districts the $110 million – but to tell them it can’t be spent until Jan. 6, 2010, after the Joint Budget Committee has reviewed December revenue forecasts and decides if further state budget cuts are needed.
(**UPDATE: The final version of School Finance passed both houses on Tuesday with a small tweak: districts can’t spend the $110 million until January 30, and the whole legislature (rather than the JBC) will decide the fate of those funds.**)
Likewise, the legislature was able to avoid the $300 million in cuts to higher education threatened earlier in the session.
These are important victories that reconfirm the importance of grassroots engagement. And now that we’ve helped prevent precipitous backsliding in education investment, Great Ed’s goal is to build on these grassroots efforts to move Colorado forward, toward well-resourced, sustainable educational reform that will best serve our children, students and economy.
Stay tuned . . .
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