Goal 1: Protect public schools, colleges and universities from the worst of budget cuts.
Outcome: Great Ed delivered 1250 signatures and accompanying messages to the legislature calling on state leaders to pass a budget that values education. Ultimately, the legislature reversed $150 million in cuts to K-12 and avoided a threatened $300 million in cuts to higher education -- at least for now.
Goal 2: Promote budget reform that allows the legislature to set rational priorities (rather than make funding decisions by formula).
Outcome: Great Ed joined the successful coalition supporting S.B. 228, a bill that unties one part of Colorado's formulaic fiscal knot, the "Arveschoug-Bird" 6% limit on the growth of general fund spending. Great Ed testified in favor of the bill, and flooded the Capitol with 1800 messages from individuals all across the state, in support of S.B.228. The Governor signed the bill on June 3.
Goal 3: Encourage the legislature to create an actionable and sustainable vision for a 21st century education system.
Outcome: The best path to educational excellence is defining a vision and ensuring that we provide the resources necessary to achieve and sustain it. That's why, when the General Assembly decided to study the issue of school funding by creating an "Interim Committee on School Finance," Great Ed and a coalition of education advocates successfully promoted a set of amendments to HJRes 1020, the resolution establishing the interim committee. The amendments encourage the committee to take a broad view and consider:
How current reform efforts, both those already statutorily enacted and those proposed by various councils and public and private sources, could be synthesized into a new school finance act with other necessary supporting legislation to create an actionable vision for Colorado's twenty-first century public education system that could and would be enacted only upon the provision of new resources by the voters of the state of Colorado[.]
The Committee's work has just begun. Great Ed testified at the first hearing, and will work to ensure that the Committee maintains a focus on sustainable, long-term reform with resources.
Bottom Line: Great Ed was successful in its three main legislative goals this year. But those achievements only serve to underscore this fundamental truth: because of Colorado's restrictive budget process (TABOR, in particular), our state won't be able to invest wisely and adequately in our schools, colleges, and universities until we, the voters, pass a statewide ballot initiative to make it possible.
That is the work of Great Education Colorado and our Great Futures campaign. Link here to join us. |
