Not so fast! CEA opposing SB 191

A critical component of student achievement is a quality teacher. Ensuring we have quality teachers in every classroom depends in part on an effective and fair evaluation system. But, Colorado’s current system doesn’t work. That’s why the Governor appointed a Council for Educator Effectiveness to assess and recommend a new evaluation system. Unfortunately, State Senator Michael Johnston has introduced a bill, SB 10-191, which circumvents the Council’s work. His bill defines an outcome before a real assessment is done. While it presents some interesting concepts, they need a lot more work by everyone involved before they should be set forth as unfunded mandates to school districts.

This bill is not good for Colorado, and for all of these reasons and more, CEA is opposing SB 191. Here is our new radio ad that talks about some of the issues.

Join CEA’s Red Pen E-mail Campaign

People across Colorado are joining CEA’s “Red Pen E-mail Campaign” to convince 100 legislators to reprioritize the state budget (called the “long bill”) and find the money in the budget to prevent cuts to K-12 education. Versions of the long bill are now being finalized by both the Senate and the House.

We anticipate the bill will be kept on a fast track and completed by the end of next week. Therefore, there is a need for urgent action.

Please join our Red Pen E-mail Campaign and send a message to your State Senator and Representative urging them to take their red pen to the state budget to support our schools. Use the basic message found on our Web site and add your personal story about what budget cuts will do to your school and district. Every e-mail helps!

Schools Face Unprecedented Cuts

Colorado’s 178 school districts are currently developing their budgets for the next school year. The challenge for districts is that they have no idea how much money they will get from the state. What they do know is that it will be less than what they received this year.

Colorado's State Capitol

Statewide, public schools are facing the largest cuts in school funding ever. State revenues are down dramatically, and the Legislature must make major cuts in order to adopt a balanced budget as required by law. Since K-12 education funding is the largest single item in the state budget, we know that cuts will have to be made in the funding the state sends to school districts.

Last week the Pueblo County School Board voted to go to a four day school week, simply to save money. Other ideas being considered by school districts are eliminating “non-essential” programs and instituting fees or increasing those already in place for both extracurricular programs such as athletics and instructional programs such as science.

Education is a people business. Over 80% of school district expenditures are for personnel – teachers, educational support professionals, administrators – the people who work with our students every day.  Some districts are notifying probationary employees that they will not be reemployed next year. Vacant positions will not be filled.  The result – increased class size, more students in every classroom, and less time for teachers to work with individual students.

These decisions are being made to save money, but what impact will they have on student achievement? We know these cuts will affect students. Unfortunately, we don’t know to what extent because we have never had this level of cuts before. We’ll tell you more as the funding situation unfolds.

 

To learn more about what your school district and others across the state are dealing with, check out this map developed by Great Education Colorado.

Colorado Makes First Cut in Race to the Top

The Colorado Education Association is pleased that Colorado was selected to interview for Phase 1 of the Race to the Top competitive education grants. Colorado is one of 16 finalists who will travel to Washington D.C. the week of March 15 to present their proposals. Winners of the first round of grants will be announced in early April.

CEA President Beverly Ingle said, “So much work has gone into this process. All parts of Colorado’s education community have been engaged in working together to develop a program that will help advance student achievement. It is great that this effort has been recognized at the federal level.

“Colorado’s approach differed from some other states. This was a collaborative process designed to capitalize on the many advances we’ve made – CAP4K , Colorado Growth Model, new content standards, accountability measures – and move them to the next level. We believe that these programs will make a significant difference in how our schools operate and in improving student achievement. This work will guide the state going forward, because it’s what’s right for our students and what’s right for our public schools,” Ingle stated.

“We applaud Governor Ritter for recognizing how important a fair and effective system of evaluation is to improving teacher and administrator effectiveness. By creating the Governor’s Council on Educator Effectiveness to examine this critical issue and make recommendations, he acknowledges that good evaluation is foundational and must be addressed carefully. We look forward to the first meeting of the Council on March 11.

“We cannot move forward on other issues of teacher effectiveness if our evaluation system doesn’t work properly. ‘The Widget Effect,’ reporting on evaluation in this state and country, pointed out the failures and fallacies of our current evaluation system. In Colorado we believe that we must get this right. It is the basis for other programs and systems.

“We are building a system that will be good for our students, our school employees, and the state of Colorado. That is what’s important. If we have federal funding to help us, we can implement it sooner. If not, we will still continue our collaborative work to improve and enhance Colorado’s public education system,” Ingle concluded.