(Image by Zach Dischner)
By Moira Cullen, DFER Colorado State Director
Colorado’s school reform activity this winter has been as tumultuous as the state’s weather with a few big snowstorms and wild swings in temps from 60’s to below zero. DFER Colorado has worked on multiple fronts, including: pushing for accountability on school turnarounds, a new digital learning bill, in-state college tuition for undocumented students, the adoption of SB 191 rules for teacher evaluations, new charter authorizer legislation, and a series of events on school reform.
As a sign of DFER’s impact, a blog post on school turnarounds and the federal School Improvement Grant program prompted a recent three-part series in the Denver Post. The series highlighted the difficulty of turning around low-performing schools and showed how many districts are ill equipped to effectively use these funds. DFER CO has some hope that the Colorado Department of Education will revamp the accountability for school districts but we worry that millions will be wasted on poorly designed plans and consultants.
Moreover, DFER CO recently testified in support of the Digital Learning Bill HB 12-1124, which would establish a study to set guidelines for best practices for online and blended learning schools. The bill sailed through the Colorado House of Representatives 64-0 and is now off to the Senate.
As if that wasn’t enough, the ASSET Bill SB 12-015, which will enable undocumented CO high school graduates to have access to in-state tuition (sponsored by DFER CO Board member Senator Mike Johnston), continues to gain momentum as more organizations and individuals lend their support. We are hopeful that a number of Republicans will offer their support for two reasons: economic development and a sense of fairness. The economic reality is that CO needs more college grads and denying students an education because of the immigration status of their families makes no sense. Why should children have to pay for what their parents have done?
On another note, DFER is proud to support three charter bills: HB 12-1255, SB 12-61, and SB 12-67. Two of these bills have moved out of Senate and are on their way to the House. Collectively, they will strengthen charter applications, increase transparency (while streamlining renewal or revocation decisions), increase objectivity in authorizing, and push authorizers to improve practice through incentives.