Denver Post Lauds Great Futures’ DECIDE Effort (But Says It Doesn’t Go Far Enough . . .)
The Denver Post editorialized today about DECIDE, the Great Futures Colorado coalition’s proposal to prevent and reverse cuts to education.
Democratic lawmakers and public education supporters should earn extra credit for hatching an idea to get around TABOR restraints to raise more money for education. . .The Great Futures plan comes after the legislature has been forced to cut funding for higher education and is set to slice $260 million from public schools. The funding reductions represent serious challenges for educators. And it’s only expected to get worse next year when the stimulus money from the federal government dries up.
It’s highly unlikely that the coalition will be able to convince the required two-thirds of lawmakers to send the measure to voters. However, this is a good chance for Great Futures to force the issue into the public eye and possibly pave the way for a citizen-issued ballot measure.
We may be inclined in the future to support the coalition if they take on the broader problems of TABOR, and not just carve out an exception for education.
The Post is reporting the conventional wisdom that it is “unlikely” that we’ll be able to gain the 2/3 vote necessary to place the referendum on the ballot.
But here’s what the conventional wisdom doesn’t take into account: public education supporters (preschool, K-12 and higher ed) haven’t yet let their legislators know just how devastating the upcoming cuts are going to be, and how dedicated they are to preventing deeper cuts.
Take the first step here.
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