Moira Cullen, DFER Colorado State Director
When fairly technocratic bills engender controversy, there is usually an underlying narrative as is the case with Senate Bill 12-172. The bill would direct Colorado to join, as a governing board member, a consortium of states developing a common set of K-12 assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics, instead of maintaining a proprietary system – makes sense, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, not everyone is in agreement and the bill has now become a major topic of debate in the state.
Colorado currently develops and uses its own, proprietary K-12 assessments, which are neither used nor recognized by other states. The proposed legislation means that Colorado would cease to produce its own tests, and instead become one of a number of states to design, implement, and use a set of common assessments.
Over the past few weeks, there has been growing tension among elected officials around the possible passage of this bill. And the saddest part is that, unfortunately, the tension here is not over which assessment might be more useful to students and universities, but rather who will call the shots. Last week the Republican members of Colorado’s State Board of Education voted to oppose SB 12-172 by a party line vote of 4-3. This was a sign of strong opposition from Republican members. The Board of Education – elected separately from the state legislature – rarely takes an active stance on pending legislation. These Republican members voted against the bill to maintain the historical precedent of local control, and to challenge a growing perception within their ranks of an encroaching federal role.
DFER supports SB 12-172 for some simple reasons. The easiest is fiscal: the proposal to develop proprietary tests for CO has a $26 million price tag – of which the recent budget approves only $6 million. Given Colorado’s current fiscal condition and continued education cuts, $20 million is a considerable budgetary hole. Combining efforts with other states to both develop and use assessments would be far cheaper. The money to develop a Colorado-only test could and should be better spent.