Chalkbeat

Study finds segregation increasing in large districts — and school choice is a factor

2024-05-06T07:00:00+00:00

Read more of Chalkbeat's coverage of the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

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Over the last three decades, school segregation has been increasing — and it has increased the most within the large school districts that enroll many of the nation’s students of color.

Schools have become more segregated in these communities even as neighborhoods have become more racially mixed and as economic inequality between racial groups has declined.

Two main factors are driving the increase: the end of most court oversight that required school districts to create integrated schools, and policies that favor school choice and parental preference.

Those are the findings of new research on school segregation from Sean Reardon of Stanford University and Ann Owens of the University of Southern California. Their analysis coincides with the 70th anniversary this month of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended legally mandated racial segregation in public schools and overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal.” They said the findings should “sound an alarm for educators and policymakers.”

“Although school segregation is much lower than 60 years ago, both racial and economic segregation are increasing,” the authors wrote. “Those increases appear to be the direct result of educational policy and legal decisions. They are not the inevitable result of demographic changes — and can be changed by alternative policy choices.”

The analysis includes an interactive map that allows users to see school integration and segregation trends in their communities.

Reardon and Owens looked at national school enrollment data, including going back to 1967 for communities where older data was available. School segregation fell sharply after the Supreme Court’s Green v. New Kent County decision in 1968. The decision banned “freedom of choice” plans that states had used to undermine integration efforts and mandated desegregation plans in many districts.

The study measures segregation using a normalized exposure index, which compares the demographic makeup of schools attended by students of a particular racial group. The number 1 represents complete segregation and 0 represents fully integrated schools.

Overall, schools remain far more integrated today than they were before 1973, the analysis found. The 1970s saw widespread busing programs to create racially balanced schools, programs that continued into the 1990s in some communities.

Between 1991 and 2019, Black-white segregation increased by 3.5 percentage points in the 533 districts that serve at least 2,500 Black students, an increase of 25% from historically low levels. But in the 100 largest school districts, which serve about 38% of all Black students, the analysis found segregation increased by 8 percentage points — a 64% increase.

Hispanic and Asian American students attend more integrated schools on average than Black students, but rates of white-Hispanic and white-Asian American segregation have nearly doubled since the 1980s, the analysis found.

In Denver, advocates found that Latino students and English learners are especially likely to attend very segregated schools. A study last year that looked at wealthy California school districts found that white families move away as more Asian American families move in — and fear of academic competition may be a factor.

Economic segregation increased considerably in that same time period, Reardon and Owens found. In 2019, the average Black student attended a school where the rate of students receiving free- or reduced-price lunch was 18 percentage points higher than in schools attended by white students in the same district.

Segregated schools affect student opportunities

The high rates of poverty in predominantly Black and Hispanic schools contribute to the test score gaps and opportunity gaps associated with segregation, Owens said.

“It’s not that sitting next to a student of a certain race makes the school good or bad,” she said. “But we’ve never done ‘separate but equal.’ Until we eliminate broader systemic underlying inequalities in our society, we haven’t shown an ability to actually serve kids equitably.”

Owens said previous research on contemporary school segregation has focused more on metropolitan areas, finding more segregation between school districts than within them. That continues to be the case. But those analyses obscured how much segregation was increasing in large school districts where most Black and brown students attend school, she said.

Smaller school districts tend to have fewer schools overall and serve relatively fewer students of color. The result is that those schools are more racially integrated.

In larger school districts, neighborhood segregation contributes to school segregation — but it hasn’t driven the increases in school segregation over the last few decades, Reardon and Owens said, because neighborhood segregation has been declining during the same time period.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, their analysis found that the end of widespread court-ordered integration efforts, along with other voluntary school integration policies, has played a major role in schools becoming less integrated. School re-segregation accelerated starting in 2000, after court oversight ended in the 1990s. They estimate that school segregation would be less by about 20% if court orders had remained in place.

The researchers also found that charter school expansion was strongly associated with less integrated schools. The study did not look at the impact of private school choice programs, such as school vouchers, or district open enrollment policies. Instead, the authors treated charter expansion as a proxy for a robust school choice system, as those policies often go hand in hand.

Studies have found that school choice policies can accelerate gentrification, allowing affluent families to buy homes in low-income communities while opting out of the local schools — one reason racially integrated neighborhoods don’t always lead to racially integrated schools.

Reardon said they didn’t look at whether charter schools themselves are more segregated than district-run schools. That type of analysis can be misleading if, for example, a school district closed schools that mostly served Black and Hispanic children and replaced them with charters. Instead, they looked at the growth of charter schools over time within a school district and whether the district as a whole became more segregated. They found a strong association between the two.

The analysis estimates that school segregation would be less by about 14% without charter expansion.

Previous research by Brian Kisida of the University of Missouri and Tomas Monarrez and Matt Chingos of the Urban Institute also found that charter schools contribute to segregation. However, the effect was more modest, accounting for about 5% to 7% of school segregation. Students crossing district lines to attend charter schools offset some of the segregating effects.

In a separate paper, the same authors found that in neighborhoods with more Black and Hispanic representation, charter, private, and district schools contribute equally to school segregation, while in neighborhoods with less Black and Hispanic representation, private schools contribute the most to school segregation, though charters also play a role.

Brian Gill, a policy fellow at Mathematica who has studied charter schools, said people should not make a leap between charter schools contributing to less integrated schools and charter schools contributing to achievement gaps between students of color and their white peers. Many parents of color choose charter schools because they believe they will better serve their children. The better outcomes urban charter schools produce for Black, Hispanic, and low-income students should be considered alongside the potential harms of less integrated schools, he said.

“Whatever we have now is nothing like the legally imposed separation that existed before Brown,” he said.

Reardon said he’s not arguing that charter schools are bad or that parents having choices is bad.

“We’re saying that one consequence, empirically, of the expansion of this kind of choice regime is that it leads to more segregation,” he said. “And that should be taken into account in policy thinking about how we design school systems.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

LGBTQ students wonder what’s next as conservative states seek to block new Title IX rules

2024-05-01T01:19:00+00:00

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For LGBTQ youth whose rights have been under attack by Republican state officials, new federal regulations protecting them from discrimination at school were a welcome sign that someone in power had their back.

But within two days of new Title IX rules being published Monday, top officials in 15 states announced they were suing to block the new rules from going into effect. In four separate lawsuits, Republican officials alleged the new rules endangered free speech and represented an attack on the very group Title IX was designed to protect: women.

Officials in many of these states had already warned schools not to implement the new rules, which would protect students’ ability to use restrooms that match their gender identity and use the names and pronouns they prefer.

“Do not comply,” Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told schools at a Monday press conference announcing his state’s lawsuit. “Allow this process, this legal process to unfold, rely on our office if you need support, but do not comply with these radical rules from the Biden administration.”

The lawsuits highlight an ongoing culture war centered on the rights of trans students at school. Republican states have passed a host of laws limiting trans youth’s participation in sports, which bathrooms these students can use, and which names they can go by. Supporters of these laws say they protect fairness, privacy, and free speech. Advocates for LGBTQ youth say they endanger vulnerable students and actually infringe on privacy and free speech, and that the new Biden Title IX rules give students key legal safeguards.

Some legal experts believe the new Title IX rules — which clarify that gender identity is covered by laws prohibiting sex discrimination — are likely to withstand conservative challenges. In the meantime, teachers and school administrators are caught between federal law, which usually takes precedence, and state law, which can loom larger in the classroom.

And queer youth and their allies say their states’ defiance of federal law reinforces the idea that their existence is a problem and that their government is targeting them.

“You already had kids who literally did not use the bathroom at school,” said A’Niya Robinson, an advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Louisiana. “They were afraid that they would be targeted for just completing a bodily function. These rules are a reprieve from kids having to experience that, and then to have your state want to undo that, it’s just unfortunate.”

States say new Biden rules undermine Title IX

In 2016, under former President Barack Obama, top officials at the Education and Justice departments issued guidance to schools saying that transgender students were protected from discrimination based on their gender identity under Title IX.

But that guidance was quickly rescinded by the Trump administration.

When President Joe Biden took office, officials moved to make the Obama-era interpretation binding by going through nearly two years of formal rule-making. The final rule, which the Biden administration announced April 19 and is slated to take effect Aug. 1, gives LGBTQ students and others explicit protection from sex discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

The backlash has been swift. Within days, top education officials in several states told schools to disregard the rule changes. This week, 15 states filed four separate lawsuits seeking to block the rules from taking effect.

At a Monday press conference announcing one of the lawsuits, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the new regulations sought “to remake American societal norms through classrooms, lunchrooms, bathrooms, and locker rooms of American schools.”

“These rules eviscerate Title IX,” Murrill said.

The following day, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said the text of Title IX refers “over and over again to a sex binary, to men and women, to one sex or the other.”

Though each lawsuit is slightly different, they all essentially argue that the U.S. Department of Education exceeded its authority by expanding the definition of what constitutes sex discrimination, and that the changes run contrary to the original intent of Title IX.

Even though the new rules don’t address sports and the Education Department is working on separate sports guidance, opponents of the new rules have said they believe they open the door to widespread participation by trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.

That view was underscored at Tuesday’s joint press conference with the attorneys general of Tennessee and West Virginia, which featured elite swimmer Riley Gaines. Gaines became an outspoken advocate for keeping transgender women out of women’s sports after having to compete against and share a locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

Similarly, West Virginia is engaged in ongoing litigation to prevent a 13-year-old from competing in girls’ track.

The bulk of the concerns in the lawsuits focus on trans girls being permitted to use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, and that school staff will be compelled to call trans and non-binary students by their preferred names and pronouns.

Skrmetti said the facilities concern is not just about gender identity. He fears that the new Title IX rules could require that any boy be allowed in girls’ restrooms. A girl who expressed discomfort with that could be liable for creating an illegal hostile environment because she questioned that student’s gender, he said.

But the Title IX rules make clear that schools can still maintain single-gender restrooms.

While the new rules bar invasive medical tests or burdensome documentation to establish gender identity, schools can request a written confirmation from the student, a parent, or other adult. Schools can also rely on the child’s consistent self-identification.

Several states’ laws forbid trans students from accessing bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity and permit school staff to use the pronouns and name a student was assigned at birth, even if the student now uses a different name or pronouns.

National surveys have repeatedly found that these kinds of policies negatively affect LGBTQ youth, who often feel unsafe at school, struggle with mental health, and are more likely to consider suicide than their peers. When the Education Department gathered feedback on a draft version of the rules, officials said many students reported that schools ignored bullying, threats, and harassment based on their gender identity, leaving them in constant fear and anxiety.

For Zelda Duitch, who is trans and co-president of the Gender Sexuality Alliance at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, finding a supportive school has been critical to his educational success.

“When I was socially transitioning, all of my teachers were really supportive,” he said. “That was integral not just for my mental health, but for my education. I would not have been able to learn if I hadn’t been accepted.”

When Florida adopted its “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Zelda felt sorry for queer youth there. Now his own state has a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and a package of anti-LGBTQ bills is sailing through the Louisiana Legislature.

“It’s hard to describe how much anger and pain there is,” Zelda said. “It made me feel like my state was trying to kill me.”

Why the new Title IX rules matter

Practically, the new rules matter because they give students, families, and advocates sturdier ground to stand on when they file a federal civil rights complaint or a lawsuit seeking to challenge a school’s policy.

The Title IX complaint process can be slow and cumbersome, but it’s a powerful tool for students to protect their rights, said Craig White, who runs the supportive schools program for the Campaign for Southern Equality. That’s especially true for students in small towns who may not have access to attorneys or large advocacy groups.

Students can say: “This discrimination is wrong, and I’m standing up,” White said.

The new rules explicitly state that denying a trans student access to a bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity causes harm to the student in a way that generally violates Title IX.

If a teacher repeatedly refused to call a student by their preferred name and pronouns, leaving the student feeling unwelcome at school, that could violate Title IX, too.

Suzanne Eckes, a professor of education law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the big legal question now is whether the definition of sex in Title IX can include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Supreme Court decided in 2020 in Bostock v. Clayton County that employees are protected from sex discrimination, including based on sexual orientation and gender identity, under Title VII, another federal civil rights law.

And while there are a few outlier cases, plenty of federal courts have already ruled that Title IX should be interpreted the same way, Eckes said.

“The vast majority of federal and state courts have ended in favorable results for trans students,” Eckes said.

But Matt Sharp, senior counsel for conservative legal group the Alliance Defending Freedom believes the Bostock case doesn’t apply in many of the scenarios covered under Title IX, an interpretation shared by many Republican AGs.

Access to bathrooms and locker rooms implicates personal privacy, he said, and courts have found that physiological differences between men and women justify separate facilities.

Protesters chant outside the Indiana House of Representatives during an education committee hearing about that state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill. Indiana is among the states suing the federal government to overturn new Title IX rules.

Advocates say anti-LGTBQ laws silence allies, spread fear

White, of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said the climate fostered by states’ policies can send ripple effects through the school day.

A student might be misgendered by a teacher in first period, attract scrutiny for which bathroom they use in second period, be unable to use a locker room in third period, then get bullied at lunch — only to be told by a lunch monitor that other students don’t agree with their “lifestyle.”

“Students do not experience these as isolated incidents,” White said.

But he also noted that such laws can spread fear and silence allies. In Indiana, for example, where a new law requires schools to notify parents if a student wants to go by a different name, Gender Sexuality Alliance clubs have stopped meeting in many schools, as students fear sponsors would be required to out them, said Chris Paulsen, CEO of Indiana Youth Group, which supports GSAs across the state.

Indiana is among the states that have directed schools not to change their policies to comply with the new Title IX rules, and it has joined Tennessee’s lawsuit.

Peyton Rose Michelle, who leads Louisiana Trans Advocates, remembers being bullied as early as first grade and called slurs she didn’t understand. By middle school, she had trained herself not to use the bathroom until she got home around 4:30 p.m.

She hears about students doing the same thing today — as well as skipping school to avoid bullying. The new Title IX protections are about doing the right thing for kids, she said.

“Bathrooms in middle school are for peeing and looking at yourself in the mirror,” Michelle said, “and trans kids should be able to do both of those things without fear of bullying and harassment.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Ante los problemas del formulario FAFSA, los consejeros quieren que los estudiantes sigan enfocados en sus sueños universitarios

2024-04-16T23:13:31+00:00

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Christian Rojas Linares no puede terminar de rellenar sus formularios de ayuda financiera porque está recibiendo un sinfín de mensajes de error. El estudiante de último curso de secundaria de Nueva York ha recibido incluso correos electrónicos incorrectos que le decían que su solicitud había sido cancelada.

En Filadelfia, Yasmeen Mutan tuvo más suerte: sólo tardó una hora en rellenar el formulario. Pero el gobierno federal ha sido tan lento a la hora de procesar y comunicar sus datos que, cuatro meses después, aún no sabe cuánto recibirá en ayuda financiera. Sin eso, no puede decidir a qué universidad ir. Y eso significa que tampoco puede solicitar ayuda financiera del estado.

“Me conecto cada un par de días, sólo para asegurarme de que no me he perdido nada”, dijo Mutan. “Es que no sé qué hacer”.

Ante la inminente finalización de los plazos para tomar una decisión universitaria, miles de estudiantes de último curso de secundaria se han quedado en un limbo debido al fallido lanzamiento de la nueva Solicitud Gratuita de Ayuda Federal para Estudiantes (FAFSA, por sus siglas en inglés).

Se suponía que la denominada FAFSA Mejorada (Better FAFSA) simplificaría la gestión de la ayuda financiera para los estudiantes. Sin embargo, los errores han sido tantos y tan graves que los consejeros de secundaria y los defensores del acceso a la universidad temen ahora que estudiantes con mucho futuro de la promoción de 2024 acaben por no ir a la universidad.

Desde finales de marzo, un poco más de un tercio de los estudiantes de último curso de secundaria han completado con éxito el formulario FAFSA, según los datos de la Red Nacional de Acceso a la Universidad. En años previos, a esta altura casi la mitad de los estudiantes de último curso ya lo habrían hecho. Los estudiantes que completan el formulario FAFSA tienen muchas más probabilidades de ir a la universidad, por ende los bajos índices de estudiantes que han completado el formulario FAFSA es preocupante por su impacto a largo plazo en la clase que se gradúa este año.

Y la disminución documentada por la red es notablemente mayor en las escuelas que tienen muchos alumnos con familias de bajos ingresos y estudiantes de color.

Restringir las oportunidades de ayuda financiera crea “enormes problemas”, afirmó CJ Powell, director de incidencia política de la Asociación Nacional de Orientación para la Admisión a la Universidad, especialmente para los estudiantes cuyas familias tienen menos recursos. Estos estudiantes, que suelen ser estudiantes de color e hijos de inmigrantes, dependen especialmente de las becas Pell y otras modalidades de ayuda para poder pagar la universidad. Y cuando retrasan la universidad, dijo Powell, tienen menos probabilidades de acudir a ella.

“Que la gente se vaya me mantiene despierto por la noche”, dijo Bill Wozniak, vicepresidente de comunicaciones y servicios estudiantiles de INvestED, una organización sin ánimo de lucro que promueve la educación terciaria en Indiana. “Las personas que son más vulnerables y hacen todo bien y no les está yendo bien, eso sí me preocupa”.

Una avalancha de problemas con el nuevo formulario de FAFSA

No debía ser así.

Completar el formulario de FAFSA es la puerta de entrada a subvenciones, becas y préstamos subvencionados que hacen que la universidad sea asequible para millones de estudiantes. Durante muchos años, los estudiantes y los padres decían que el formulario era complicado y estresante.

En el 2020, el Congreso aprobó una ley para simplificar el formulario, con muchas menos preguntas y mucha información financiera de la familia extraída directamente de las declaraciones de impuestos que el gobierno federal ya tiene. Pero la transición resultó ser mucho más difícil desde el punto de vista técnico de lo previsto y recayó en un Departamento de Educación de Estados Unidos que también tenía la responsabilidad de supervisar unos complejos programas de cancelación de la deuda estudiantil, según varios informes.

El lanzamiento del nuevo formulario se retrasó y, cuando por fin estuvo disponible en línea a finales de diciembre, estaba repleto de fallos técnicos.

Los estudiantes de familias de estatus mixto, familias en las que uno o ambos padres no tienen número de Seguro Social, se enfrentaron a algunos de los obstáculos más grandes. Las alternativas que estos estudiantes han utilizado durante años, como introducir todos los ceros en lugar del número del Seguro Social, ya no funcionaban. Y durante semanas no hubo forma de que estos estudiantes - la mayoría ciudadanos estadounidenses - añadieran la información financiera de sus padres.

En marzo, el departamento de educación anunció que el problema se había solucionado. Pero muchos estudiantes todavía encuentran problemas incluso al intentar verificar la identidad de sus padres.

Es el caso de varias alumnas de Danielle Insel en el Instituto de la Asamblea Urbana de Matemáticas y Ciencias para Mujeres Jóvenes de Brooklyn. Siguen “dando vueltas para conseguir que se reconozca la identidad de sus padres y así poder rellenar la sección de padres de FAFSA”, explica Insel, directora de preparación postsecundaria de la escuela.

“Después de cinco, seis, ocho intentos, quieren darse por vencidas”, dijo. Las estudiantes ya se lo están diciendo, a veces en broma y otras no tanto: “No voy a ir a la universidad, no voy a recibir ayuda financiera”.

“Es desmotivante, frustrante, y sí, puedo ver que tiene una relación directa con una disminución de las inscripciones. Si no la inscripción, sí la matriculación”, añadió.

En grupos de chat y foros, los orientadores universitarios intercambian consejos para que los estudiantes superen los obstáculos técnicos. A veces suenan como trucos de videojuegos retro.

Hace poco, en la escuela secundaria West High School de Denver, Federico Rangel, orientador universitario de la Fundación de Becas de Denver, compartió un truco con el estudiante René Torres, que recibía un mensaje de error cada vez que intentaba añadir a sus padres a su cuenta, un paso necesario.

“Pulsas dos veces el botón de retroceso”, le dijo Rangel a Torres. “Debería llevarte de vuelta a la página original y entonces podrás avanzar. Entonces debería permitirnos hacer la cuenta”.

Al principio, el truco no funcionó, pero entonces a Torres le apareció una pantalla distinta.

“Oh,” dijo Rangel. “Estás en la página de verificación de identidad”.

“Es un paso en la dirección correcta”.

René Torres, de 18 años, prepara su solicitud de ayuda financiera en el Centro del Futuro de la escuela secundaria West High School de Denver.

Muchos estudiantes no tienen paquetes de ayuda financiera

El departamento federal de educación también ha tardado en compartir los datos de los estudiantes con las universidades y recientemente anunció que volvería a procesar muchos formularios para corregir discrepancias en los datos fiscales. La publicación “Crónica de la Educación Superior” informó de que los gestores de ayuda financiera de las universidades están notando muchos errores, lo que provoca más retrasos y frustraciones. Las universidades no quieren enviar paquetes de ayuda financiera que luego tengan que modificar.

En un año normal, los estudiantes recibían los paquetes de ayuda financiera junto con las cartas de admisión de las universidades y tendrían semanas o meses para comparar las ofertas y considerar sus opciones. Este año, los estudiantes reciben cartas de admisión de las universidades, pero en la mayoría de los casos no reciben los paquetes de ayuda financiera.

“Los estudiantes deciden a dónde ir y si ir o no basándose en los paquetes de ayuda financiera”, dijo Bill DeBaun, director senior de datos e iniciativas estratégicas de la Red Nacional de Acceso a la Universidad. “Están mirando estas opciones diferentes sin tener idea de cuáles son accesibles para ellos”.

Para los consejeros, esto significa que todavía están trabajando con los estudiantes de último año en lugar de empezar a trabajar con los estudiantes de tercer año en sus composiciones universitarias como lo harían normalmente. Es más difícil organizar eventos presenciales para “llenar el formulario FAFSA” cuando las familias se marchan frustradas. Y darle el seguimiento a los distintos plazos se ha convertido en un dolor de cabeza.

Para los estudiantes, no poder decidirse por una universidad puede retrasar o complicar otras decisiones.

Mark Stulberg, director de orientación universitaria en la escuela secundaria Lincoln Park de Newark, dijo que los intentos de los estudiantes para conseguir un lugar en donde vivir, pasantías y otros aspectos de la vida universitaria para el próximo año están todos “casi como en pausa en este momento.”

Lincoln Park forma parte del sistema de escuelas chárter de la Academia Estrella del Norte (North Star Academy Charter School system), donde la mayoría de los alumnos son negros y proceden de familias de bajos ingresos. Las escuelas hacen hincapié en el ingreso a la universidad desde el kinder.

Este año, el 85% de los estudiantes han completado el formulario FAFSA, un porcentaje muy por encima del promedio estatal, pero todavía es un 5% a 10% menor que en un año típico de Estrella del Norte.

Stulberg dijo que los maestros y consejeros están haciendo todo lo posible para animar a los estudiantes que sean pacientes y vean los retrasos como un obstáculo relativamente pequeño en un largo viaje. Por ahora, las familias están siguiendo el proceso.

Sin embargo, le preocupa que algunos de sus alumnos “hayan dedicado los últimos 10 a 12 años de su vida para prepararse y tener éxito en la universidad”, sólo para elegir otro camino que no los conducirá al éxito cómo puede hacerlo la educación terciaria.

Los consejeros les dicen a los estudiantes: céntrense en los objetivos a largo plazo

Wozniak, de Indiana, dijo que su equipo de orientadores universitarios, que atienden las líneas directas y participan en eventos, quiere que los padres y los estudiantes sepan que no están solos y que no es culpa suya. Muchas universidades y sistemas estatales de ayuda financiera están retrasando los plazos para adaptarse a los retrasos, y las ofertas de ayuda financiera llegarán luego.

Powell dijo que los consejeros pueden ayudar a los estudiantes a solicitar otras becas mientras esperan, o repasar cómo leer una oferta de ayuda financiera para que puedan comparar opciones en un tiempo reducido.

Rojas Linares intenta ser optimista. Ha sido aceptado a varias universidades públicas y privadas, aunque está en un limbo hasta que pueda enterarse de sus becas Pell, programa de trabajo y estudio, préstamos federales y su beca a través del Programa de Asistencia para Matriculación del Estado de Nueva York.

“¿Cuánto más tenemos que esperar para conocer los resultados de la ayuda financiera?” se pregunta Rojas Linares. “Sólo espero que todo esto termine para no tener que estresarnos más”.

Mutan está decidida a ir a la universidad, pero es posible que tenga que esperar un año si no recibe pronto información sobre la ayuda financiera. Sus padres son inmigrantes palestinos que hablan árabe y poco inglés, y su padre es el único sustento de la familia. No quiere presionar económicamente a sus padres ni endeudarse.

“Quiero ser capaz de poder pagar la universidad, y FAFSA es gran parte de ello”, dijo.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

Amy Zimmer y Michael Elsen-Rooney, ambos periodistas de Chalkbeat, basados en Nueva York, Catherine Carrera, basada en Newark, Carly Sitrin, basada en Filadelfia, y Jason Gonzales, basado en Colorado, contribuyeron a la redacción de este artículo.

Erica Meltzer es la editora nacional de Chalkbeat y está basada en Colorado. Puede ponerse en contacto con ella enviando un mensaje a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

A bungled FAFSA rollout threatens students’ college ambitions

2024-04-05T20:09:03+00:00

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Christian Rojas Linares can’t finish his financial aid forms because he’s been blanketed with error messages. The New York City high school senior has even received incorrect emails telling him his application was canceled.

In Philadelphia, Yasmeen Mutan had better luck: Finishing the form only took her an hour. But the federal government has been so slow to process and share her data that, four months later, she still doesn’t know how much she’ll get in financial aid. Without that, she can’t decide where to go to college. And that means she can’t apply for state financial aid either.

“I’m logging in every couple of days, just to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything,” Mutan said. “I just don’t know what to do.”

With college decision deadlines looming, thousands of high school seniors have been stuck in limbo due to the bungled rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The so-called Better FAFSA was supposed to make it simpler for students to receive financial aid. Yet the mistakes have been numerous and serious enough that high school counselors and advocates for college access now fear that promising students from the Class of 2024 will end up not going to college at all.

As of late March, just over a third of high school seniors had successfully submitted the FAFSA, according to data tracked by the National College Attainment Network. In previous years, nearly half of seniors would have done so by now. Students who complete the FAFSA are far more likely to go to college, so the low completion rates raise concerns about the long-term impact on this year’s graduating class.

And the decline tracked by the network is much greater at schools serving a lot of students from low-income backgrounds and students of color.

Closing off routes to financial aid creates “enormous issues,” said CJ Powell, director of advocacy for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, especially for students whose families have fewer resources. These students, often students of color and children of immigrants, are especially reliant on Pell grants and other aid to afford college. And when they delay college, Powell said, they are less likely to go at all.

“That people will walk away is keeping me up at night,” said Bill Wozniak, vice president for communications and student services with INvestED, a nonprofit that promotes postsecondary education in Indiana. “The people who are most vulnerable and they do everything right and it’s not working, I do worry about that.”

Cascade of problems with new FAFSA form

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Completing the FAFSA is the gateway to grants, scholarships, and subsidized loans that make college affordable for millions of students. But for years, students and parents found the form to be complicated and stressful.

In 2020, Congress passed legislation to simplify the form, with far fewer questions and more family financial information pulled directly from tax returns that the federal government already has. But the transition proved to be far more technically difficult than anticipated and fell to a U.S. Department of Education that was also tasked with overseeing complicated student debt forgiveness programs, according to numerous reports.

The launch of the new form was delayed, and when it finally came online in late December, it was riddled with technical glitches.

Students from mixed status families, in which one or both parents don’t have a Social Security number, faced some of the biggest hurdles. Workarounds that these students have used for years, such as entering all zeros in place of a Social Security number, no longer worked. And for weeks there was no way for these students — most of them U.S. citizens — to add their parents’ financial information.

In March, the education department announced that the problem was fixed. But many students are still encountering problems even attempting to verify their parents’ identities.

That’s the case for several of Danielle Insel’s students at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women in Brooklyn. They are “still going back and forth with just getting their parent’s identity recognized so they can finish the parent section of the FAFSA,” said Insel, the school’s director of postsecondary readiness.

“After five, six, eight attempts, they want to give up,” she said. Students are already telling her, sometimes jokingly, and sometimes less so: “I’m not going to college, I’m not going to get financial aid.”

“It’s demoralizing, frustrating, and yes, I can see it having a direct link to a decrease in enrollment. If not enrollment, then definitely matriculation,” she added.

In group chats and on message boards, college advisers trade tips for getting students past technical hurdles. At times they can sound like a retro gaming cheat code.

On a recent afternoon at Denver’s West High School, Denver Scholarship Foundation college adviser Federico Rangel shared a hack with student Rene Torres, who was getting an error message every time he tried to add his parents to his account, a necessary step.

“You press the backspace button twice,” Rangel said to Torres. “It should take us back to the original page and then we can move forward. It then should allow us to make the account.”

At first, the trick didn’t work, but then Torres got a new screen for the first time.

“Oh,” Rangel said. “You got the identity verification page.”

“It’s a step in the right direction.”

Rene Torres, 18, works on his financial aid application in the Future Center at Denver's West High School. College advisers continue to work with seniors late into the spring when they would normally be shifting their focus to juniors.

Many students don’t have financial aid packages

The federal education department has also been slow to share student data with universities and recently announced it would be reprocessing many forms to correct discrepancies in tax data. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that college financial aid officers are encountering a lot of mistakes, leading to more delays and frustrations. Colleges don’t want to send out financial aid packages that they later have to change.

In a typical year, students would get financial aid packages alongside college acceptance letters and would have weeks or months to compare offers and weigh their options. This year, students have acceptance letters from colleges but in most cases no financial aid awards.

“Students decide where to go and whether to go on the backs of these award letters,” said Bill DeBaun, the National College Attainment Network’s senior director for data and strategic initiatives. “You’re looking at these various pathways with no idea which ones are accessible to you.”

For counselors, this means they’re still working with seniors instead of starting to work with juniors on their college essays like they normally would. It’s harder to hold in-person “complete the FAFSA” events when families might just leave frustrated. And keeping track of shifting deadlines has become its own headache.

For students, not being able to decide on a college can delay or complicate other decisions.

Mark Stulberg, director of college counseling at Newark’s Lincoln Park High School, said students’ attempts to line up housing, internships, and other aspects of college life for next year are all “kind of on pause right now.”

Lincoln Park is part of the North Star Academy Charter School system, where most students are Black and from low-income families. The schools emphasize college-going starting in kindergarten.

This year, 85% of students have completed the FAFSA, a rate far above the state average but still 5 to 10 percentage points lower than in a typical year for North Star.

Stulberg said teachers and counselors are doing everything they can to encourage students to have patience and see the delays as a relatively small bump in a long journey. So far, families are sticking with the process.

Yet he’s worried some of his students “will have put in the last 10 to 12 years worth of work to prepare themselves to be successful in college” only to choose another path that won’t set them up for success like higher education can.

Counselors tell students: focus on long-term goals

Wozniak in Indiana said his team of college advisers, who staff hotlines and events, want parents and students to know they’re not alone, and it’s not their fault. Many colleges and state financial aid systems are pushing back deadlines to accommodate the delays, and financial aid offers will come.

Powell said counselors can help students apply for other scholarships while they’re waiting, or go over how to read a financial aid offer so they can compare options in a shortened time frame.

Rojas Linares is trying to remain upbeat. He has been accepted to a number of public and private universities, though he’s in limbo until he can find out his Pell grants, work study, federal loans, and his award through the New York State Tuition Assistance Program.

“How much longer do we have to wait to get the results of financial aid?” Rojas Linares wondered. “I’m just hoping this will all be over so we don’t have to stress about it any more.”

Mutan is determined to go to college but may end up waiting a year if she doesn’t get financial aid information soon, she said. Her parents are Palestinian immigrants who mostly speak Arabic, and her father provides the household’s only income. She doesn’t want to put financial pressure on her parents, and she doesn’t want to take on debt.

“I want to be able to put myself through college, and FAFSA is a big part of that,” she said.

Chalkbeat journalists Amy Zimmer and Michael Elsen-Rooney in New York, Catherine Carrera in Newark, Carly Sitrin in Philadelphia, and Jason Gonzales in Colorado contributed reporting.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Should kids learn about LGBTQ issues at school? Many teachers and teens say no, new surveys find.

2024-02-23T21:21:25+00:00

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Should elementary schoolers learn that people of the same gender can love each other? Do teens want to learn about how slavery’s legacy matters today? Should parents be able to opt their kids out of lessons they disagree with?

As Republican-dominated state legislatures limit how teachers talk about race and restrict transgender children’s access to bathrooms and sports, and as school board elections turn on book bans and parents’ rights, three new national studies from the Pew Research Center, the research corporation RAND, and the University of Southern California’s Center for Applied Research in Education shed light on how teachers, parents, and students themselves think about these questions.

For all the attention LGBTQ issues receive in national politics, teachers said topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation rarely come up. And many said they don’t believe these topics should be taught in school.

In fact, large swaths of the public also don’t think gender and sexuality should be discussed in school, the studies found. However, there were wide partisan divides, as well as differences along racial and ethnic lines.

Adults and teens felt more comfortable with teachers teaching about racism than LGBTQ issues. They were also more comfortable with teachers talking about past injustices than present-day inequality, and more comfortable with gay rights than trans rights. And they were more comfortable with any of these topics coming up at the high school level — though many teens reported their own discomfort.

So it is perhaps unsurprising that two-thirds of teachers in one study said they decided on their own to limit how they talked about potentially contentious issues. One reason: They feared confrontations with upset parents.

“The topics of race and LGBTQ issues are often lumped together in discussions about these so-called ‘culture wars’ and how that’s playing out in K-12 education,” said Luona Lin, a research associate at Pew. But teachers and students actually “feel very different about these two topics.”

Here are some of the major takeaways of the three new reports:

Many teachers are censoring themselves

More than a third of American teachers work in states with laws restricting how teachers talk about issues that are considered divisive or controversial. But a study released this month by the research organization RAND found local restrictions and teachers’ own fears are having an effect as well.

In a survey of 1,500 teachers taken last year, two-thirds reported deciding on their own to limit how they talked about social and political issues in the classroom. Meanwhile, about half of teachers told RAND they were subject to either a state or local restriction. These limits could be formal, such as a school board policy, or informal, such as a principal’s comments.

More than 80% of those who were subject to a local restriction said they had made changes to their teaching, regardless of state law. That should not be surprising, said Ashley Woo, an assistant policy researcher at RAND.

“If your principal is telling you to do something, that is the person who is there with you at the school and can see what is happening in your classroom,” she said.

At the same time, more than half of teachers who were not subject to any restrictions said they had limited how they talked about certain topics, with self-censoring more common in conservative communities but still widespread in liberal ones.

A major reason teachers cited for limiting instruction, especially in communities with local restrictions, was a fear of confrontation with upset parents and that their administration would not support them if they faced a challenge.

LGBTQ issues raised less often than racism in classrooms

Though LGBTQ issues are prominent in local and national politics, a report released this week reveals a striking finding: Most teachers say gender identity and sexual orientation hardly get discussed in class — and many teachers say they shouldn’t be.

According to a nationally representative survey conducted last fall by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds of K-12 public school teachers said topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity rarely or never came up in their classroom last school year. Around 3 in 10 said the topics came up sometimes or often.

Half of teachers, meanwhile, said they thought students shouldn’t learn about gender identity at school, with an even higher share of elementary school teachers agreeing with that view.

The findings come as anti-trans legislation creates a more hostile environment for gender non-conforming youth in many states.

In contrast, more than half of teachers said they discussed topics related to racism or racial inequality at least sometimes. Around 4 in 10 teachers said the issues rarely or never came up.

Nearly two-thirds of teachers said students should learn about slavery and how it affects the lives of Black Americans today, while just under a quarter said slavery should be taught only as a component of history — without any bearing on the present.

Lin, the Pew report’s lead author, says it’s likely that school board policies, local politics, and state laws are influencing what teachers discuss, though the survey doesn’t measure those factors.

What should young kids learn about gender and sexuality?

In Searching for Common Ground, a study released this week by a team at the University of Southern California, researchers surveyed a representative sample of 3,900 adults, about half of them parents of school-aged children, and asked them about dozens of scenarios related to race, sexuality, and gender.

Democrats were more comfortable than Republicans with almost every scenario, with independents and others roughly in the middle. But even Democrats were less supportive of discussing gender identity or asking students’ pronouns in elementary school than discussing racism or different family structures.

Nearly half of all respondents thought it was appropriate for an elementary teacher to have a picture of their same-sex spouse on their desk. And almost as many were OK with elementary students reading a book about two male penguins adopting a baby penguin.

But just 30% of respondents and only half of Democrats thought it was appropriate for an elementary classroom to display LGBTQ-friendly decorations, such as a Pride flag.

Democrats were far more likely to want gay or trans children to see themselves reflected at school, while Republicans were far more likely to fear discussing these topics would change children, leading to them thinking they are gay or trans.

“The largest partisan examples seem to have to do with LGBTQ and family issues in elementary school,” said Morgan Polikoff, a USC education professor and one of the study’s lead authors. “Democrats think that kids can handle that and Republicans do not.”

The rollout of Advanced Placement African American Studies reflects widespread interest among some students and teachers in learning more diverse history, but some conservatives have targeted the course.

More students feel comfortable discussing racism than LGBTQ issues

Students in grades 8-12 also tend to feel less comfortable discussing LGBTQ issues than issues of race and racism at school, and are more likely to say they shouldn’t be learning about them, the Pew report found.

In a nationally representative survey of 13- to 17-year-olds conducted last fall, around 4 in 10 teens said they felt comfortable when topics related to racism or racial inequality came up in class.

But only around 3 in 10 said the same about topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity. And just under half of teens said they shouldn’t learn about gender identity at school. That rate was somewhat higher for teens who identified as Republicans than Democrats.

Only 11% of teens, meanwhile, said they shouldn’t learn about slavery. Around half said they should learn about slavery and how it affects the lives of Black Americans today, while 40% said they should learn about slavery only in a historical context.

Black teens and teens who identify as Democrats were much more likely than white, Hispanic, or Republican teens to say they want to learn about how the legacy of slavery affects Black people today — a finding echoed among Black parents and Black teachers in other surveys.

Bridging these divides is tricky

The University of Southern California study found strong support for public education across the political spectrum.

But there’s a gap of nearly 39 percentage points between Democrats and Republicans on whether public schools should teach children to embrace differences. Nearly three-quarters of Democrats said yes, compared with just over a third of Republicans.

This underlying belief was a strong predictor of responses to specific scenarios. Those who said kids shouldn’t be taught to embrace differences also expressed more discomfort with race, gender, and sexuality being discussed in the classroom.

“Democrats on average think schools are exactly the place to do this — it’s one of the last places where everyone comes together regardless of their differences,” Polikoff said. “And Republicans don’t think that is an appropriate role for schools. And they think that because they perceive, in part correctly, that schools are a liberalizing force.”

There was broad support for parents having the right to opt their child out of certain lessons, but when researchers prompted respondents to consider downsides, such as their child missing out on the opportunity to learn critical thinking skills, support fell.

Understanding the values that drive differences and building on common ground, such as agreement that children should read books by authors of color and learn about historic injustices, could lead to a healthier conversation than what’s happening now.

“We need to have this conversation,” he said. “Instead we have Ron DeSantis saying we’ll ban everything, and Democrats sticking their fingers in their ears and saying you’re all bigots.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Florida settlement’s limits on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law may give teachers and students breathing room

2024-03-13T20:50:30+00:00

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Florida teachers can place a photo of their spouse on their desk. School libraries can stock books featuring LGBTQ characters. And anti-bullying efforts can protect LGBTQ students. But restrictions on classroom instruction related to sexuality and gender identity remain.

Those are the terms of a settlement agreement that puts an end to a lawsuit challenging what’s commonly known as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. Advocates are hailing the lifting of a “shadow” that had fallen over the state’s schools. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who made challenging “woke” ideas in schools a cornerstone of his political brand, also declared victory.

The resolution calls attention to the enormous gray areas created by laws restricting how teachers talk about gender, sexuality, race, and history. These laws simultaneously touch on issues of personal identity where federal law protects students and teachers, and issues of curriculum and instruction where states have broad authority.

Fearful of lawsuits and state investigations, teachers have emptied out classroom libraries, taken down Pride flags, and quit their jobs. A high school class president was told he couldn’t mention being gay in his graduation speech. State officials have blamed local leaders for going beyond the requirements of the law, but never formally clarified what was and wasn’t covered — until the settlement agreement was signed Monday.

Essentially, the agreement means that the law won’t force teachers back into the closet or prevent students from talking about who they are.

Under the agreement, the Florida Department of Education will also disseminate guidance about the law to all 67 school districts.

“The vagueness of this law was intentional,” said Joe Saunders, senior political director at Equality Florida, a statewide LGBTQ rights group and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “At any point, [state officials] could have offered deeper guidance and didn’t. The only reason they’ve done it now is because we sued them in federal court and forced them to end the most harmful aspects of this law.”

Laws restricting teaching have wide-ranging impacts

As classroom restrictions proliferate, a survey by the research group RAND found that two-thirds of teachers reported self-censoring how they talk about certain social and political issues in the classroom, whether they lived in a state with formal restrictions or not. RAND also found — in a study released this week — that a majority of teachers thought these restrictions harmed learning and made students feel less welcome and less empathetic.

Teachers in Florida were the most likely to be aware of their state’s restrictions, and the most likely to report having changed instruction in response, RAND found. Florida also had more laws restricting instruction than other states.

A recent Washington Post analysis of FBI data found that school-based hate crimes against LGBTQ students quadrupled in states that passed restrictive laws, which include laws governing teaching as well as which bathrooms and sports teams transgender children have access to.

The relationship between state policies and bullying has been in the national spotlight after the death of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary student who died in February after a fight in their Oklahoma high school.

Related: ‘Am I not allowed to mention myself?’ Schools grapple with new restrictions on teaching about gender and sexuality

Some state laws ban discussion of certain topics or require that lessons be “age appropriate” or avoid “divisive” framings, while others require parental notification and the opportunity for parents to opt students out of lessons. Many states leave enforcement to school districts and provide little guidance.

Advocates of these laws say parents have a right to know what their children are being taught, especially on issues that might conflict with their own values, and that schools should focus on core academic subjects.

Students and teachers in states with teaching restrictions told Chalkbeat about LGTBQ student clubs receiving less support, and lessons in literature and history being scaled back to avoid talking about queer references in literature or the movement for gay civil rights.

Legal challenges to these laws are underway in a number of states, but how courts will rule could depend on specifics in individual states. Arizona’s teaching restrictions were struck down, for example, because lawmakers had wedged them into the state budget.

Keira McNett, staff counsel for the National Education Association, said the settlement is important in Florida and “for the national tenor.”

“Many states modeled their law after Florida’s and many are facing lawsuits of their own,” she said. “In many cases, they are overly broad. And when the state is required to actually explain what these vague laws mean, they explain it in a way that is a lot more narrow.”

Settlement provides clarity for classrooms, activities

Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the lawsuit, said the settlement provides immediate relief to Florida students, parents, and teachers who were living under a cloud of uncertainty.

“Every kid should be able to go to public school and have their dignity respected and their family respected,” Kaplan said.

The settlement lays out examples of what’s allowed under Florida law, known formally as the Parental Rights in Education Act:

Teachers can respond to students who choose to discuss their own families or identities and can grade essays that include LGBTQ topics.
Teachers can make reference to LGBTQ people in literature or history.
Student-to-student speech and classroom debates can touch on LGBTQ issues.
Schools can explicitly protect LGBTQ students in anti-bullying efforts, and teachers can have “safe space” stickers in their classroom.
Students of the same gender can dance together at school dances and wear clothing considered inconsistent with their gender assigned at birth.

The settlement clarifies that restrictions on classroom instruction apply “regardless of viewpoint.” In other words, teachers can’t teach a lesson on modern gender theory to elementary students, nor can they teach those students that gender identity is immutable and determined by biological traits.

Kaplan said states have significant authority over curriculum, and that the part of the law specifying such restrictions was unlikely to be overturned on further appeal.

DeSantis’ office in a press release emphasized that the law as written remains intact and “children will be protected from radical gender and sexual ideology in the classroom.”

“We fought hard to ensure this law couldn’t be maligned in court, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate actors,” Florida General Counsel Ryan Newman said in the press release. “We are victorious, and Florida’s classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”

Settlement ‘allows for a reasonable conversation’ on instruction

Suzanne Eckes, a professor of educational law and policy at the University of Wisconsin, said Florida’s law and others that are vague and broad potentially violate federal laws and protections.

As employees, teachers have limited free speech rights in the classroom, but states cannot discriminate against them on the basis of sex, which forms the basis of many legal protections for LGBTQ people. For example, they can’t penalize a teacher for having a picture of a same-sex spouse on their desk while allowing a colleague to have a picture of her husband. The federal Equal Access Act says that schools can’t limit extracurricular clubs based on their content. Bible study groups, future homemakers, and gay-straight alliance clubs all have the right to meet in school, Eckes said.

Eckes said the settlement suggests the challengers had viable claims on equal protection grounds, even as the state maintains the right to regulate curriculum and prevent teachers from offering personal opinions to a captive audience.

While the settlement creates no legal precedent, it could encourage some school district lawyers, even in other states, to reach less restrictive interpretations of their states’ laws. At the same time, even in Florida, there may be disagreements about what exactly constitutes instruction.

“If a teacher does give an opinion in class, there is this overall idea that teacher speech can be curtailed,” she said. “That is a grayer area than banning the gay-straight alliance or pulling all the books off the shelves due to your own ideology.”

Derek Black, a professor of constitutional law at the University of South Carolina, said the settlement could change the political and cultural calculus around sweeping prohibitions, even though it doesn’t set a precedent for other lawsuits.

“If DeSantis is willing to settle, maybe it’s OK for the governor of Oklahoma to settle,” Black said. “Maybe it denies cultural conservatives the ability to say that some governor or AG in another state is weak.”

The settlement also offers teachers important clarity, Black said: “This type of settlement rebalances things so you don’t have to be so afraid and that allows for a reasonable conversation about what’s instruction and what’s not.”

Michael Woods, a high school teacher in Palm Beach County who leads the Florida Education Association’s LGBTQ caucus, said he’s thrilled with the settlement even as he fears it will take decades to get back to the level of inclusion teachers and students experienced just a few years ago.

His school district’s guide for supporting LGBTQ students shrunk from 140 pages to 14 under Florida’s law, he said. And he stopped leading his school’s GSA club because he would have needed to send permission slips home, which led him to worry about outing students. He’s not sure that’s changed.

Woods also worries about colleagues in smaller, more conservative communities, and about trans educators who often face even more hostility than gay and lesbian teachers.

Still, he hopes teachers in other states feel inspired.

“One of the most hateful states in the nation for LGBTQ rights reached a settlement,” he said. “You have to fight, but it can happen.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Supreme Court ruling could give school board members more freedom to block critics on social media

2024-03-20T16:26:09+00:00

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Can a school board member block a parent who criticizes them on Facebook?

Does it matter if the parent posts one negative comment or 100? Does it matter if the school board member just sticks to official business or if they mix posts about hiring a superintendent with posts about their kids’ birthdays?

In recent years, a number of courts have found that when public officials talk about public business on personal social media accounts, those accounts become public forums — and blocking someone from a public forum because you don’t like their speech violates the First Amendment. The most prominent case involved former President Donald Trump, who was barred from blocking critics from his @realDonaldTrump account on X, then known as Twitter.

But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision lays out a new standard. The most important question, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in a unanimous opinion released Friday, is not whether a public official is discussing public business. It’s whether the public official is posting on social media in their official capacity. The key question is: Are they authorized to speak on behalf of the government and are they exercising that authority in their posts?

If they aren’t operating in their official capacity, then their posts about public business are like those of any private citizen posting about their job. Their personal social media accounts aren’t public forums — and they can block and ban who they like without violating anyone else’s First Amendment rights.

The decision seems to give more leeway to school board members and other officials who want to block critics on social media. It comes at a time when school board officials sometimes face personal attacks and harassment from members of the public they represent, and as laws and norms have struggled to keep up with the ways technology is transforming the public sphere.

But the justices also cautioned that each case requires careful consideration of the facts. Public officials who are acting in their official capacity in their social media posts can still be sued for blocking people, even if those official posts appear on a personal page next to family photos and cat videos.

“We think the rule is as plainly stated as we could have asked for, but that doesn’t mean it will be clearly applied,” said Sonja Trainor, managing director for school law and legal programming for the National School Boards Association. “It leaves open many questions that will have to be resolved by the lower courts one fact scenario at a time.”

Cases deal with public officials and personal accounts

The scenarios that drove the Supreme Court ruling are common ones.

In Port Huron, Michigan, Kevin Lindke was upset about how his city was handling COVID. He posted many comments on the public Facebook page of City Manager James Freed. Freed used his page, where he identified himself as the city manager, to post a mix of personal and professional information. Freed first deleted Lindke’s comments, then blocked him.

Lindke sued, arguing that Freed’s page constituted a public forum. But the U.S. District Court and then the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Freed because posting on Facebook was not part of his official job duties.

In Poway Unified School District in San Diego, parents Christopher and Kimberly Garnier were unhappy with their school board. They posted numerous comments about racial disparities in the district and allegations of financial misconduct by the superintendent on the Facebook pages of school trustees Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, as well as on O’Connor-Ratcliff’s Twitter posts.

Like Freed, the school trustees first deleted these comments, then blocked the Garniers, who sued. Unlike Freed, the trustees described themselves as government officials in their public Facebook pages and posted exclusively about school business — encouraging people to attend school board meetings or offer feedback on proposals.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Garniers. They looked at the appearance and function of the social media accounts and concluded they functioned like “an organ of official business.”

Because the two appeals courts reached different conclusions using different reasoning, the Supreme Court took up the case and heard arguments in the fall. The decision uses the facts of the Lindke case to develop the new standard and asks the appeals courts to apply it to their decisions in Lindke and in Garnier.

Questions about whether pages appear official or personal might still be relevant, Barrett wrote, but only if the person doing the posting is operating in his official capacity. “If the public employee does not use his speech in furtherance of his official responsibilities, he is speaking in his own voice,” Barrett wrote.

What it means for school board members and the public

Katie Fallow, who represented the plaintiffs in the Trump Twitter lawsuit as senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said the new standard is much murkier and “doesn’t take into account how government officials use their personal accounts.”

Many officials want to use one account for everything because that account represents their brand or they have a lot of followers. These accounts are “essentially public forums where members of the public go to find out information about their government and discuss and criticize and praise policy,” Fallow said. “It’s important that the government not be able to block people from participating based on viewpoint.”

Colorado last year gave public officials sweeping ability to ban people from personal accounts. These are defined as any account not supported by public resources or that the official is not required to operate. That’s a much broader definition of personal account, said Cat Ordóñez, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, and officials following state law could still violate someone’s First Amendment rights.

A Denver parent sued a school board member who blocked her last year but recently settled the case, putting an end to that challenge.

It remains unclear how the new standard would apply to Colorado’s law, which is the first of its kind in the nation — or even to the Poway trustees.

Fallow and Trainor both said school board members should strongly consider keeping conversations about school business on official accounts and keeping their personal accounts personal. That advice hasn’t changed.

But when it comes to mixed-use accounts, the court ruling draws new lines. Accounts that are labeled personal or contain disclaimers such as “the views expressed are strictly my own” are probably personal, the court found.

That means officials can more freely block and ban users, and community members face a higher bar to prove their rights were violated.

But officials can’t just label an account personal, use it for official business, then ban critics, Barrett wrote.

And the blunter the blocking tool, the more likely that a public official might violate someone’s rights, Barrett wrote. She noted, for example, that users blocked on X can’t see any posts from that account.

Trainor said school board members should talk to their lawyers about setting clear policies. Denver is in the process of doing this. Officials can disable comments entirely so they don’t have to worry about moderation, or they can set rules that apply equally to everyone.

Still, Trainor said these distinctions between the personal and official aren’t intuitive in offline life.

A school board member who ran into someone at the grocery store “wouldn’t think twice about talking about the price of milk and the new math curriculum in the same conversation,” she said. “It’s part of the give and take. And now online there is some new guidance, and you have to try to keep those two worlds separate.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Students, tell us what you think about efforts to ban TikTok

2024-03-15T19:08:39+00:00

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Congress is trying to ban TikTok. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution that gives TikTok owner Byte Dance, a Beijing-based tech company, six months to sell the app or see it banned in the United States. Lawmakers have raised data privacy and national security concerns because of the foreign ownership of such an influential social media app. Opponents of a ban say there is nothing unique about TikTok — that all social media platforms have positive and negative features.

About two-thirds of U.S. teens say they use TikTok, according to Pew Research Center, with 17% saying they are on the app almost constantly. While there are big worries about the mental health impacts of social media use, people also use TikTok as a creative outlet and to stay connected with friends.

We want to hear from students about how a TikTok ban would affect them.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey below, and let us know if we can follow up with you. We’ll keep your information confidential, and only publish your answers if you tell us it’s OK.

Not a student but know one who might have something to say? Please send them this survey.

Having trouble viewing the form? Click here.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

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Biden education budget proposal includes $8 billion to extend pandemic recovery work like tutoring

2024-03-11T21:56:58+00:00

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With a deadline looming to spend pandemic education dollars, the Biden administration has proposed making another $8 billion available to states and school districts to encourage better attendance and support academic recovery through tutoring and summer school.

The idea is a key component of President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Education for fiscal year 2025, and represents an acknowledgment that schools still have a lot of work to do to recover from pandemic learning disruptions. The proposal comes a few months after the Biden administration called on schools to prioritize spending remaining COVID relief funding in these same areas.

The president’s budget proposal, announced Monday, also calls for modest increases to federal programs supporting high-poverty schools, students learning English as a second language, and students with disabilities. The administration also wants more money to support the Office for Civil Rights, and a $750 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award to help make college more affordable.

The White House budget plan will almost certainly not be adopted as written. It heads to a dysfunctional Congress that has careened between threats of government shutdown and short-term spending resolutions. The Republicans who control the House have been particularly hostile to Biden’s efforts to increase spending in several areas , including the Title I program that supports high-poverty schools.

Overall the budget proposal calls for more than $82 billion in discretionary spending for the education department, a 4% increase from this year.

Officials emphasized that this budget proposal complies with spending caps agreed to in last year’s bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act, while still investing in initiatives they hope will improve student success.

“When it comes to education, this budget is about raising the bar,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a call with reporters. “There are historic investments promised on top of historic investments delivered.”

Budget offers way to continue tutoring, attendance outreach

American schools received a combined $190 billion in assistance across three pandemic aid packages and have until September to spend any remaining money. Many schools have come to rely on their tutoring programs and want to keep them going after the pandemic aid expires.

But how they’ll fund them has been a big question. Some states have pledged added tutoring funds, but many districts would likely struggle to keep providing intensive help to students without making cuts elsewhere in their budget.

Similarly, the rate at which students are missing lots of school remains well above pre-pandemic levels in many parts of the country. Many schools launched home visit programs or hired staff specifically to work with kids who aren’t attending regularly, but school leaders say it will take additional time and investment to re-engage students and continue to boost attendance rates.

Expanded summer school programs were a popular investment during the pandemic, though they’ve been only moderately successful in helping students catch up. They’ve also been a common place school leaders have scaled back as COVID relief funding has wound down.

The proposed $8 billion in new money isn’t intended to replace pandemic assistance but would supplement current efforts. Officials envision a competitive grant program that would prioritize high-poverty schools, schools in communities especially hard-hit by COVID, and schools identified as needing academic improvement under federal accountability rules.

More money for English learners, civil rights investigations

Biden’s budget proposal calls for a 1.1% increase, or $200 million, to local grants in the Title I program, which provides money to low-income schools. Earlier in his administration, Biden called on Congress to double spending on Title I, but that hasn’t come to fruition. Congressional Republicans have questioned whether schools need more money after the pandemic stimulus, and last year, they sought to significantly cut Title I spending.

Cardona characterized this budget as defending public education from a “slash-and-burn” approach that would endanger the futures of American students.

Similarly, the White House is proposing a 1.4% increase in spending to support K-12 special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as well as additional money for infants, toddlers, and preschool students with disabilities and grants to recruit special education teachers. Advocates have long called for the federal government to increase special education funding. Federal law lays out disabled students’ educational rights but leaves most of the costs to states and school districts.

The budget proposal calls for a roughly 5% increase or $50 million in new spending for Title III, which supports English learners.

Biden’s budget proposal also includes an extra $22 million, a 16% increase, for the Office for Civil Rights, which conducts investigations into allegations of discrimination in schools. Recently, the department announced it is looking into several incidents involving antisemitism or anti-Muslim discrimination at colleges and K-12 schools since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October.

The budget also calls for increased funding for preschool, student mental health, and community schools, which provide a wide range of services to support students and their families, as well as programs to encourage diverse candidates to enter the teaching profession.

The budget proposal includes a few cuts as well, including a 9% or $40 million reduction in a program that supports new charter schools and the replication of high-quality charter models.

Budget seeks to mitigate college costs

Biden’s budget blueprint would also increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $8,145, a 10% increase from current levels. Pell grants are available to college students from low-income families, and unlike loans, do not need to be repaid.

Budget analysts have warned of a looming shortfall in the Pell program after Congress expanded eligibility at the same time more students are heading back to college. The most recent continuing resolution to keep the federal government open walks back some of that recent expansion.

Advocates have argued that the maximum Pell award should be closer to $13,000 to keep pace with tuition increases and keep the door open to college for students of modest means.

The budget would increase funding for programs that allow high school students to earn college credit before graduating and for grants that help colleges support first-generation students and increase graduation rates.

The budget also calls for partnerships with states and tribes to make two years of community college free for students going to college for the first time and workers looking to change careers. Free community college was one of several education proposals that Biden ran on in 2020 that hasn’t gotten traction.

And the budget calls for more investment in the Office of Federal Student Aid amid a rocky rollout of a new federal financial aid form.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Los Angeles students get free instruments. An Oscar-winning film shows who keeps them working.

2024-03-11T13:26:56+00:00

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In the opening scene of “The Last Repair Shop,” a young girl with beads in her braids smiles at the camera. “I love the violin. … If I didn’t have my violin from school, I would probably, I don’t know what I’d do. Don’t even jinx me with that.”

The next scene takes us inside a violin, as a tool carefully moves along the wooden curves and an eye peers inside.

The Oscar-winning short documentary, directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers, tells the story of the technicians who clean and repair more than 100,000 instruments for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school district serving more than 400,000 students aims to have a music teacher in every elementary school, provides free instruments to all students enrolled in music programs, and operates its own repair shop. It’s one of the last operations of its kind in the country.

Bowers is a composer who has scored films such as “The Green Book” and “King Richard.” He’s also a graduate of LAUSD. He was exposed to music early and started playing the keyboard before he even entered elementary school. But the piano in the school auditorium was still important.

“I just remember during recess or lunch, if there was a moment that I had free, more often than not, I would find that piano and try out new ideas or things that I was learning,” he said. “I hadn’t thought about who fixed those instruments when I was a kid. I just showed up and the piano was in tune.”

The 40-minute documentary features interviews with young musicians talking about their instruments and technicians from each of the four shops — brass, string, woodwind, and piano — sharing their life stories, mixed with close-up shots of the instruments and the repair work bathed in golden light.

Chalkbeat spoke to Bowers and Paty Moreno, who repairs brass instruments, about the work, the instruments, the music, the students who make it, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

In the film we see the stories of the people who work in the repair shop interspersed with kids talking about what their instruments mean to them. We don’t get a lot of exposition about the program, how it works, how it might be unique. What was driving that choice to present the story that way?

Bowers: Starting with the people first and foremost and having that be the core of the story was a big North Star for us. As soon as we have these individuals being open and vulnerable enough with us to share their lives and share their stories, that’s going to be the thing that draws people in.

This job is about catalyzing the conversation, right? Our hope is that this film touches people on such a deep emotional level, that they’re then driven to walk away from the film and say, “How does that work? Where is this? Does my city have this? What happened?”

I think that putting too much of the explanatory context of how this system works would take away from the immediacy of the emotional connection we have with these people.

What were you trying to evoke with the title, The Last Repair Shop?

Bowers: All of these major cities that have billions of kids and even cities that are known for music, they don’t have a program like this. It felt like not only something to be really proud of, but also at the same time a call to action that this can’t be the last one. There’s a feeling of concern for the scarcity of this type of program.

Paty, one thing that’s really delightful in the movie is your treasure jar. Tell us a little more about the types of things that you find inside instruments and why you decided to keep them.

Moreno: I was working in the private sector in a music store for seven years, and it never occurred to me that the kids can put objects inside the instruments. And when I started working for LAUSD, I noticed that the instruments were coming in, and they were saying, “It doesn’t make any sound.” And then when I would start checking the instrument, they were having different objects inside, even pencils in the leadpipes or erasers, toys, batteries. I found a little rock inside a piston.

For me it was like, “OK, you send me an instrument like that as a challenge. I will try to fix it.”

I just started with a very small jar. And I started putting whatever I was finding in it. And it got to be more and more because I’ve worked downtown 19, 20 years. When I retire I’m going to keep them and I take them as my trophy, as my treasures, so that’s why I started calling them the treasure jar.

Sometimes we hear this as a reason we can’t give kids instruments for free or that we can’t let them take instruments home. When you’re working on an instrument where maybe a child was not as careful as they should have been, what are you thinking about when you’re repairing that instrument?

Moreno: It’s not for me to judge the kid. A lot of times we have these moments in our lives where we get frustrated, and we don’t know what the feeling is for a kid. I don’t know what’s going on in their lives.

So yeah, when an instrument comes to me and I can see that it has been abused, I just try to do my best to repair it and put it back together and hopefully the instrument has a little bit more care and tenderness next time.

One of the other things that you talk about in the film is how much you struggled when your kids were younger. It made me think about the role that school districts play as employers in communities. How did your life change when you came to work in the repair shop?

Moreno: I don’t live in L.A., and the school district where my kids went to school, the music program and everything [needed] to be paid for. So that’s the reason why unfortunately, when my kid asked me if he could join music, I [said], ‘No, you can’t,’ because I [didn’t have] the means to do it. When you have only one income and when you make less than minimum wage, it’s very difficult.

And when I started working for the school district, that changed, because they give me a full time [job], they give me benefits, they give me more flexibility. I was able to stay home and take care of my sick kid, which some other places where I didn’t have those benefits, I couldn’t do it.

But I want people to know that everything we do is for the love of our kids, not only my kids now, but for the love of the kids that play the instruments. We do everything based on hopefully they grew up to have a better chance than what I have.

Paty Moreno works on a tuba. Participating in the film "The Last Repair Shop" was an emotional experience, she said, knowing that instruments she worked on changed students' lives.

There’s an incredible performance at the end, where you have kids who are students currently in the program, and you have people who graduated decades ago and have made their living in the music industry. What was involved in putting that together?

Bowers: One of the things we were so struck by is this separation between these amazing craftspeople and the students that they’re impacting. We talked pretty early on about the idea of filling a room with generations of humans who have benefited from this repair shop.

Ben and I went to work on the piece of music, which was a lot of fun in our collaboration. I wrote a [first] pass of the piece of music, and then we listened to it and we visualized what we wanted the film to look and feel like. OK, the opening notes should be a little bit longer because we want a pullback shot.

The continuation of this outpouring of love was so emotional. All of these incredible musicians talking about the fact that they were going to donate their time, and making connections that this person went to the same school as this person, 10 years apart, and to have a young, middle school cellist sitting next to someone that played on half of the films that came out this year or someone that played on “Jaws” ... it was just an amazing day to be part of.

What was it like to see the shop and yourself and your colleagues on film and to see just a few of the kids whose lives you’ve touched?

Moreno: I always work with the instruments, I don’t have much interaction either with band directors or with the students at all. I feel very honored now that I met some of the kids. They helped me to raise a family myself.

I have seen those kids and how well they play and how professional the band directors are when they do the performances. I’m proud thinking how many kids really make it with music for their own passion, for their own life or their own living. I feel very proud to see how successful the kids are in the school district.

Editor’s note: This story and headlines have been updated to reflect that “The Last Repair Shop” won best short documentary at the Academy Awards Sunday.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

The SAT is going digital. Here’s what to know.

2024-03-06T21:31:36+00:00

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No more No. 2 pencils. No more bubble sheets. The SAT this year is entirely digital. And that’s not the only change for the test.

The new SAT is shorter — just over two hours compared with the roughly three hours for the previous SAT and its main competitor, the ACT. It’s adaptive, meaning students who score relatively low on the first half of the test will get easier questions in the second half. There are fewer questions. And students have more time to answer each question.

The College Board, which oversees the test, made all of these changes with the hope of creating a less stressful experience. But the SAT’s status is in flux.

The first U.S. students are taking the new SAT this week; the digital SAT launched internationally last year. The College Board is rolling out the digital test after hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities ditched test score requirements for admissions in recent years. More than 1,800 colleges, including large state systems in Texas and California, won’t require applicants to submit test scores for the fall of 2025, according to data tracked by FairTest, a research and advocacy group. At the same time, some of the country’s most elite institutions are bringing them back.

The test optional movement, as much as the spread of technology during the pandemic, shaped the College Board’s thought process.

“If we’re launching a test that is largely optional, how do we make it the most attractive option possible?” said Priscilla Rodriguez, the College Board’s senior vice president of college readiness assessments. “If students are deciding to take a test, how do we make the SAT the one they want to take?”

Rodriguez said the College Board feels confident that a score of 900 or a 1300 will tell the same story about a student that it did a year ago.

But critics of the test remain skeptical. They question how the SAT can purport to provide objective information about students while changing the test so much from previous years and giving different students different tests. They worry the College Board is essentially conducting an experiment.

“The College Board gets to do what they want, and we have to trust fall into it,” said Jennifer Jessie, an independent college counselor and tutor based in northern Virginia who is steering her students away from the SAT this year.

Digital SAT is shorter — but that’s not all

Rodriguez said the pandemic pushed the College Board to create a digital SAT after several years of internal discussion. Most students have school-issued devices, and they’re used to working on a computer, she said.

“We were hearing that this was the last high-stakes test students took on paper, and it wasn’t natural, and getting those bubble sheets was more stressful,” she said.

The digital test is not just the old test moved to a computer, though.

Reading passages are much shorter — a single paragraph — because the longer passages didn’t render well on the screen.
Students will read more than 50 short reading passages with a single question each, instead of nine long passages with multiple questions.
Students can use a built-in graphing calculator on the entire test rather than having separate calculator and non-calculator sections.
The test is adaptive. Based on their performance on the first section, students will get an easier or a harder second section.

Making the test adaptive is what allows the test to be shorter, Rodriguez said. Because it changes based on how students answer early questions, the test can hone in more efficiently on what students can do.

Students who get the easier second section won’t be able to get the highest score of 1600. Rodriguez said that’s because students need to get a lot of questions wrong in the first half to end up with the easier second section.

“The mechanics itself does not preclude you from getting a certain score, but the student performance might,” she said.

Students can take the test on a school-issued or personal device, but they can’t take it at home and they can’t take it on a cell phone. Rodriguez said the College Board will provide laptops for students who indicate at registration they don’t have access to a device.

Students must download and take the test in the College Board’s Bluebook app. It requires minimal bandwidth and can go offline without disrupting the test, Rodriguez said. If a device loses its internet connection as a student is submitting their test, their work should be saved and re-encrypted until the connection is restored.

Students should get their results in a few days, instead of waiting weeks.

Rodriguez said in addition to wanting a better testing experience for students, the College Board wants a test that’s easier for schools to administer, now that two-thirds of students take the SAT during the school day rather than at a Saturday testing site.

In addition, teachers no longer need to store and protect boxes of paper tests or monitor calculator use. And the test takes up less of the school day.

The testing landscape is shifting

The SAT has evolved a number of times since its origins as an aptitude test closely related to IQ tests, said Derek Briggs, director of CADRE, the Center for Assessment, Design, Research and Evaluation at the University of Colorado’s School of Education.

In the last decade, the College Board has pushed dual purposes for the SAT — as a predictor of college success and as a way for states to meet federal accountability requirements.

The ACT has also marketed itself that way. Now the SAT is notably shorter — and potentially less burdensome for schools to administer — than its chief rival.

“You can reframe all of these test changes in terms of this battle between these two companies,” said Sheila Akbar, president and chief operating officer of Signet Education, which provides test prep and college advising.

Briggs said a shorter, adaptive test makes sense when entire state populations of students, including those who aren’t thinking about going to college, are taking the test.

An option that includes easier questions might make for better testing experience, Briggs said, and “perhaps students who didn’t think they would go to college would think, ‘Oh, maybe I can’” after taking it.

But Jessie said she’s seen the other scenario as well, where a lower-than-expected score leaves a student feeling like they aren’t cut out for college when the reality is they could be successful at a lot of institutions.

The adaptive aspect of the test concerns skeptics like Akbar and Jessie. They worry students who take longer to warm up or who are prone to small mistakes on easy questions won’t get a chance to show they can answer harder questions correctly.

They’re encouraging students who have to provide a test score to take the ACT, which is available in both paper and digital formats and hasn’t changed much in recent years. They also feel more confident that ACT practice materials align with the test.

The College Board has said both versions of the SAT have a mix of easy, moderate, and hard questions, and there is significant overlap between the tests.

Students can take up to four practice SAT tests through the Bluebook app and get used to the interface before taking the test. Heather Waite, director of college admissions at Kaplan, a company that provides test prep services, said it’s important that students practice with up-to-date materials, not previous year’s prep books.

Waite said students have provided positive feedback about the shorter test.

College advisers expect more universities to bring back test score requirements, and a good score can boost an application at some test-optional schools.

“At Kaplan, our students are looking for an edge over other students, and submitting their scores is something that makes them more competitive,” she said.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Partial FAFSA fix lets students from immigrant families apply for financial aid

2024-02-21T01:24:04+00:00

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Students whose parents lack a Social Security number can finally fill out federal financial aid forms after the Biden administration announced a workaround Tuesday for one of the most glaring problems with what was supposed to be a simpler, easier form.

U.S. Department of Education officials say these students can leave their parent or spouse’s Social Security number blank for now, and manually enter the person’s income and tax information. The department provided details about the workaround to Chalkbeat, and plans to post them online Wednesday.

Chalkbeat first reported in January that the Social Security glitch was preventing potentially tens of thousands of eligible U.S. citizen students from applying for financial aid.

The workaround is meant to help students meet fast-approaching deadlines for certain state, college, or scholarship applications. The department promised a permanent fix is coming next month. It is also urging students who don’t have an urgent submission deadline to wait until then. Those who use the workaround will need to take additional steps in March to fully submit their application.

This puts significant pressure on school counselors and college access organizations to guide families through the process on a compressed timeline.

The Better FAFSA, as the new version of the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid is known, was supposed to make it easier for students to apply for aid for college. While more than 4 million students have completed the form successfully, the rollout has been plagued by glitches and delays. Far fewer students have completed the form than in previous years, and frustration and anxiety is mounting among parents, counselors, and college administrators.

Department officials said they intend to fully resolve FAFSA submission issues for parents without Social Security numbers “in the first half of March.” After that, students won’t need the workaround.

The education department is also working to fix a separate problem that’s made it difficult for parents without Social Security numbers to create a login for the FAFSA website. Officials said they will automate that process this month and add more Spanish-speaking staff to the call center that’s helping families navigate that issue.

Department officials estimate that 2% of federal financial aid applicants are experiencing issues due to the Social Security number glitch.

The announcement came the same day that over 90 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by U.S. Reps. Jesus “Chuy” García of Illinois, Colin Allred of Texas, and Jared Huffman and Nanette Barragán of California, sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona expressing concerns about the “flawed rollout” of the FAFSA.

They urged the department to quickly resolve the technical issues preventing students whose parents don’t have Social Security numbers from submitting their applications.

“Students eligible for financial aid have the right to access that aid, regardless of their parents’ citizenship status,” García wrote in a press release. “But because of a technical error in the new FAFSA form, many of my constituents from immigrant and mixed-status families were left without answers and no path forward as college financial aid deadlines crept up.”

García added that he and other lawmakers “spent weeks” urging the department to fix the issue, and that while the temporary fix was a good first step, “The Department must continue to rectify these errors in rollout so no student is blocked from the aid they need.”

The letter notes that federal officials identified the issue affecting parents without Social Security numbers on Jan. 4. Tuesday marked the first update. On past calls with reporters, top education department officials said only that they were working to fix the problem.

A paper version of the FAFSA still exists, but officials have not widely publicized it and there are downsides to using it, such as greater chance of making mistakes.

The letter writers also call on the department “to conduct outreach to proactively inform students, counselors, and other stakeholders about when families with undocumented parents can expect a solution and how to submit their forms once it’s resolved.”

Department officials said Tuesday evening that they would set up a new email list to keep students and families who’ve been affected by this issue in the loop on updates.

Without a fix, American high school students whose parents are undocumented could end up at the back of the line for financial aid, especially in the states — including Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee — that distribute aid on a first-come, first-served basis, the lawmakers note.

Justin Draeger, who heads the nonprofit National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said in a statement that he worried the temporary solution would be “confusing and burdensome” to many students and families and that it was imperative that the department met its mid-March deadline for a permanent fix.

“Any further delays would be disastrous for both students and schools,” Draeger wrote.

The Better FAFSA’s brief, rocky history

The rollout of the new federal financial aid process has been troubled from the start.

The form didn’t become available to families until January, which cut months off the normal timeline for students to fill out the form. Students experiencing homelessness, students in foster care, and students whose parents are undocumented immigrants — all students for whom financial support is critical to their college decisions — have faced major problems even completing the form.

As of mid-February, just 22% of high school seniors had completed the FAFSA, according to an analysis of federal data by the National College Attainment Network, compared with 41% of the Class of 2023 by this same time last year. Completion rates are down more than 50% at high schools serving large numbers of low-income students and students of color.

Spurred by Republican lawmakers, the Government Accountability Office has opened two investigations into the FAFSA launch, Politico reported.

Meanwhile, the education department has said it won’t be able to share student information with colleges until mid-March, a delay that means colleges aren’t able to share financial aid packages with students until later in the spring. That’s left school staff and advocates worried that students will rush to make decisions before they have all the financial information they need.

Already, a slew of colleges have announced they’re pushing back their deadlines for students to commit, a delay that has implications for those institutions’ own planning for the next academic year.

Advocates for first-generation college students and those from low-income backgrounds fear that a lack of accurate information about financial aid will cause many students to put off higher education or opt for community college.

Recent data suggests fewer than half of students who transfer from a community college to a four-year program go on to complete their bachelor’s degree, and the rate is lower among students from vulnerable backgrounds.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Amid a surprising pandemic recovery, academic inequality grew. What now?

2024-02-02T18:26:37+00:00

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Academic gaps between students from low-income backgrounds and their more affluent peers have widened, even as American students as a whole are making a surprising recovery from the pandemic’s disruptions.

And in contrast to the initial sharp decline in test scores during the pandemic, when differences among districts drove much of the decrease for low-income students, gaps have widened in the last year between students from different income levels within the same district.

Those are the findings of a new analysis of student progress between spring 2022 and spring 2023 from The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University and a team of researchers that includes Stanford’s Sean Reardon, who studies inequality, and Harvard University’s Thomas Kane, an education professor and economist.

The analysis defies some of the direst predictions about pandemic learning loss even as it confirms others — such as the fear that students who already face the most challenges would fall much further behind and not get what they need to catch up.

The new analysis presents a sunnier picture than a previous one from the testing group NWEA that found that students learned at a similar rate or slower during the 2022-23 school year than in pre-pandemic years, meaning they weren’t making up lost learning.

The analysis relies on federal and state reading and math test data from 30 states accounting for roughly 8,000 school districts and some 15 million students. Because states use different tests and have different thresholds for proficiency, the researchers used a method to put the state test scores onto a common scale and to convert proficiency rates to grade levels, allowing comparisons among school districts in all 30 states. Some states, including New York and Colorado, were excluded because too few students took state tests, while others changed tests.

Most students are still behind their 2019 counterparts, the analysis found, and likely will be for years. But they’re also making greater year-over-year gains than researchers had seen in decades of administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card.

The report’s authors called on state and local leaders to make the most of remaining pandemic relief dollars and do more to make sure tutoring, summer school, and other help reaches the students who need it.

“Recovery really is possible, but let’s focus in particular on the communities that have the furthest to go to catch up,” Reardon said in an interview. “And we should worry that the federal money is running out and some of the resources will not be there and states will have to step in.”

Here are three key takeaways from the analysis.

Many students made remarkable gains, but recovery incomplete

Between 2019 and 2022, the study estimates students missed the equivalent of half a year of typical learning in math and a third of a year of reading.

By spring 2023, the average student had recovered about a third of the loss in math — or a sixth of a grade level — and about a quarter of the original loss in reading — roughly one-twelfth of a grade level, the analysis found.

That might not seem like much, Reardon said, but in the decade before the pandemic, students “almost never” made this much additional academic progress in a year. When it did happen, it happened in small affluent districts.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Reardon said. “You moved an entire ship, not just a little dinghy. That’s the good news.”

Students in Pennsylvania and Mississippi made up more ground than the national average in math after experiencing larger-than-average declines between 2019 and 2022. Tennessee students also made up more learning in math, while Illinois students made more progress in reading — and actually did better than their 2019 counterparts.

But even with the growth students seem to be showing in the new analysis, researchers estimate the average student needs at least another year of recovery in math and another two years in reading. In math, only Alabama students scored better than their 2019 counterparts, and Oregon students actually did worse in both reading and math in 2023 than in 2022.

Academic inequality has widened between districts, within districts

One of the most striking findings from the analysis is that gaps between low-income students and those who are better-off have widened, with some of the largest gaps found in Massachusetts and Michigan.

Racial and ethnic gaps are widening too. Black students’ scores on average improved more than white students’ scores between 2022 and 2023, but because Black students’ scores declined so much during the pandemic, the gap remains slightly larger than in 2019. Hispanic students showed relatively little improvement from 2022 to 2023.

An analysis last year by many of the same researchers found that students in the same district experienced similar academic setbacks, regardless of their background. Scores for students from less-affluent backgrounds dropped more on average because they were more likely to live in high-poverty school districts where people experienced more negative effects of the pandemic.

This new analysis finds that many high-poverty districts are helping students make up for learning loss. Overall, they made similar progress to their more affluent neighbors — and the highest-poverty districts actually showed larger-than-average improvements.

But because districts serving lots of students in poverty were further behind to begin with, gaps with higher-income districts grew even when they made similar progress. And in some states, notably Massachusetts, affluent districts made big gains between 2022 and 2023 while high-poverty districts actually lost ground.

And now gaps are opening up between less-affluent students and better-off students within districts. Students’ test scores fell by similar amounts, but some fell onto a trampoline, Reardon said, while others seem to have fallen into a pit of sand.

“We do not know the reason for this, but it is troubling,” the report notes. “Even as student achievement has improved rapidly since 2022, those gains have not been equally shared, even within the same school district.”

As community-wide stresses recede for some families, Reardon said, “the ways that kids in the same places have access to different resources seem to be playing more of a role.”

Students from low-income households often are segregated in very high-needs schools, where the staff is overworked, Reardon said. Some districts may not be targeting help to those who need it most.

Of all the gaps that opened between students from different economic backgrounds, researchers estimate 60% to 70% is due to differences between districts, while the rest is due to differences within districts.

Urgency needed to help student recovery, close gaps

As of this fall, the lowest-income districts still had about 40% of the federal pandemic relief they received. States and school districts have until September to commit that money — and making the best use of it is essential, Reardon said.

The report makes four recommendations:

Schools should tell parents early in the spring if their children are below grade level.
Districts should expand summer school seats to accept anyone who signs up.
Districts should extend the recovery effort throughout the 2024-25 school year by signing tutoring contracts before the September deadline.
Communities should work together to reduce absenteeism.

States and districts should use all the data at their disposal to ensure the right help — tutoring, counseling, or attendance help — reaches the students who need it most, Reardon said.

The new analysis is accompanied by an interactive map that allows leaders and community members to identify districts making more progress and learn from them.

Districts have had a lot of leeway to decide how to spend pandemic money. States should use incentives to ensure remaining funds go toward academic recovery. And they “may need to complete the final leg of the recovery on their own resources,” the report says.

With advocates pushing states to keep paying for tutoring, those conversations are already starting in many places.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

COVID-era laptops made a dent in the digital divide. Now the real work begins.

2024-01-25T22:08:07+00:00

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When pests started attacking plants in the community garden across the street from M. Agnes Jones Elementary School in Atlanta, the students hatched a plan.

They didn’t want to use pesticides in the garden, and they had learned in their science lessons that bats eat insects. They researched how to attract bats to the garden, made paper sketches of bat house designs, then moved to digital design tools. The students could see 3-D versions of their houses, test modifications, and refine their designs — making the entrance narrower so bats would feel safe and adding rafters to create better spaces for brooding.

A new National Education Technology Plan released this week urges educators to use technology to enable this kind of engaged, hands-on learning and urges states and districts to provide the training, planning time, and technical support to make it happen.

First issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 1996 and last updated in 2017, the National Education Technology Plan provides guidance to help school systems use technology to improve learning and close achievement gaps. The latest iteration comes as virtual learning and federal pandemic relief “expedited the proliferation of technologies and connectivity on a scale and speed for which many districts and schools were unprepared.” Innovation actually slowed even as more students got laptops, and too much technology use today is essentially passive, the plan argues.

Surveys suggest more than 90% of secondary students and more than 80% of elementary students have access to a personal laptop or tablet — before the pandemic, fewer than half of students had such access. Schools are awash in digital tools and grappling with the implications of artificial intelligence. Yet a recent survey of more than 41,000 students found the main way students used technology in school was to take online tests and quizzes.

Wide gaps persist between digital haves and have-nots

The plan identifies three types of digital divides. There’s still an access divide — not all students have laptops or reliable internet. There’s also a use divide — some students log into Google Classroom to catch up on assignments while others produce podcasts and design top-notch bat houses. And finally there’s a design divide — only some teachers have the training, support, and planning time to learn how to use new technology in exciting ways.

School systems need to address all three divides to make full use of technological opportunities, the plan said. They also need to balance student privacy with responsible oversight, imbue students with digital literacy, battle the ills of social media, adapt to AI, and make smart decisions about which technology to invest in, according to the report.

Technology has the potential to help students take more control of their learning, make connections they couldn’t make before, and showcase their skills in new ways, the plan says. English learners and students with disabilities, in particular, could benefit from more ways to access material and show what they’ve learned, but if schools don’t plan carefully, these students are also at more risk of being excluded, the plan says.

The plan includes dozens of examples of educators already doing this work, including from rural and high-poverty schools, along with guidelines for decision-making and missteps to avoid.

Districts where internet access is spotty shouldn’t rely on online surveys to reach parents, for example. Consider hosting monthly in-person technology nights instead and send communication in a variety of languages. Special education directors buying screen-reading programs should make sure they also work offline and that they’re compatible with the operating system installed on district laptops.

The plan includes rubrics for assessing whether ed tech programs have evidence to back their claims and suggests regular audits of which programs teachers are actually using. An Associated Press investigation last year found school districts spent tens of millions of pandemic relief dollars on ed tech with little evidence it worked.

David Miyashiro, superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District in California, served on the technical working group that helped develop the report. He was an early proponent of embracing technology in education, and he’s led an expansion in Cajon Valley, where two-thirds of students come from low-income households and one-third are learning English.

Students get their first laptops in kindergarten and use them to deliver 30-second TED talks about what they’re afraid of and what they’re excited about, illustrated by generative AI. They’re learning presentation and communication skills while building community and connection with their classmates, Miyashiro said.

Students trade up in third grade, when they go to middle school, and again for high school. An ed tech bond helped pay for devices, IT infrastructure, and a replacement fund.

Miyashiro hopes the new federal plan helps districts incorporate technology thoughtfully. And he said it feels timely, now that many more students have devices.

“A lot of districts bought computers so teachers could Zoom synchronously with their kids,” he said. “Now what are they going to do? This plan helps them course correct.”

But for John Fredericks, an English teacher at West Tallahatchie High School in the Mississippi Delta, digital access has actually gotten worse since 2021. Pandemic relief money meant students had laptops and hotspots for the first time ever — though the connections could be spotty.

“The best thing, when the students had access to the internet and a computer at home, was the ability to differentiate, the ability to challenge the kids who want more work,” Fredericks said. “And for students who have trouble completing work, I could give them more time and grace.”

Now the hotspots are gone, laptops have to stay at school, and when a student is out sick, Fredericks is back to sending home paper packets. Students who take virtual dual-enrollment classes in the school’s computer lab try to get their college coursework done during other classes.

Fredericks said it’s hard to even imagine what learning opportunities his students are missing. He just hopes policymakers don’t forget that pandemic-era laptops are already breaking down and some communities still don’t have internet, at least not at a price families can afford.

“Throwing money at the problem kind of actually worked,” he said. “That’s not always true in government policy or education policy, but if you want to solve the technology divide, keep giving schools money for technology. Let them buy computers and buy hotspots and advocate for high-speed internet in rural areas.”

Blending tech with learning takes time, vision

When Margul Retha Woolfolk started as principal at M. Agnes Jones Elementary in Atlanta, she found a state-of-the-art building where the science lab was “really a storage unit.” The school serves a high-poverty neighborhood, and students spent a lot of time drilling basic skills.

Retha Woolfolk, now an associate superintendent with Atlanta Public Schools, knew her own students had done better when lessons in core skills were coupled with hands-on projects. And she loved science. She started going to conferences, learning everything she could, and seeking out partners at local universities and in the private sector.

Jarvis Blackshear, a paraprofessional with a background in music production, would come to play a critical role providing instructional support in science and technology. He had learned how to teach himself new programs as a music engineer, and he had a knack for bringing students and parents along with him.

Retha Woolfolk wanted to buy the school a programmable robot, but it cost more than $7,000. She could get it for $3,000 if she got it disassembled. Blackshear invited fourth and fifth graders to help him build it. He’d assemble each section ahead of time, sand down sharp edges, then disassemble it and have it waiting for students.

He took the same approach as students designed the bat houses, teaching himself design programs so he could support the students’ learning. When the 3D-printed bat houses weren’t up to snuff, he reached out to a grandparent with carpentry skills to help students make their blueprints reality.

Seven years later, Principal Robert Williams said he’s proud to continue the work. MAJ offers coding alongside art, music, and physical education. Students build electric cars and learn about force and motion, circuitry, teamwork, and the engineering design process along the way. The MAJ Rapid Racers team competes in Greenpower USA regional events, “the NASCAR of elementary school.”

Aleigha Henderson-Rosser, the district’s assistant superintendent for instructional technology, said leadership at the building level makes a big difference, but educators shouldn’t feel like they have to know everything to get started.

“Don’t be scared to take risks, and the kids will guide you,” she said. “Our kids deserve to learn like this.”

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

White House calls for focus on tutoring, summer school, absenteeism as pandemic aid winds down

2024-01-18T00:26:36+00:00

Top White House officials are urging schools to double down on tutoring, extra learning time, and efforts to boost attendance as the spending deadline for pandemic aid nears.

To help, federal officials say states can now seek permission for schools to spend the last and largest pot of COVID relief money on these kinds of efforts over the next two school years. Previously, schools had to spend down their money by January 2025.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced what the Biden administration is calling its Improving Student Achievement Agenda at a White House event Wednesday with governors and state education commissioners. The new push comes at a time when many states have yet to see math and reading scores rebound to pre-pandemic levels and many students are struggling to fill in gaps in their learning.

Federal officials said they had chosen to focus on these strategies because they are proven ways to raise student achievement.

“These three strategies have one central goal: Giving students more time and more support to succeed,” Cardona said. “We must get back to pre-pandemic levels quickly. But also let’s be clear: The bare minimum that we aspire to is to get back to what it was in 2019. 2019 data wasn’t anything to write home about.”

Though the federal government doesn’t have many tools at its disposal to encourage schools to adopt certain attendance or academic strategies, Cardona said the education department would do what it could.

That includes monitoring states to make sure they are spending federal money on evidence-based approaches to improve school performance, a job they have under federal education law. For example, federal officials could look at how states are running their tutoring programs and step in to provide guidance if the model they’re using isn’t as effective as others.

Education officials also plan to prioritize these strategies for competitive grant funding.

Why the White House wants schools to focus on tutoring and chronic absenteeism

As they did throughout the pandemic, federal officials pointed to high-dosage tutoring as a worthy investment for schools. To do that, programs should tutor students one-on-one or in groups of no more than four, for 30 minutes at least three times a week. Sessions should be scheduled during the school day and take place with a trained tutor, White House officials wrote.

Last year, some states and school districts said they had abandoned efforts to tutor kids after school, finding students often missed sessions because they lacked transportation or had schedule conflicts.

The Biden administration lifted up examples of states and districts that have invested heavily in tutoring, including Maryland, which launched a tutoring corps to focus on middle and high school math this past fall, and Washington, D.C, which is tutoring students in math and English language arts.

During the White House event, Christina Grant, D.C.’s state superintendent of education, said a key part of that investment is staffing tutoring managers in the district’s highest-need schools — a finding that’s been echoed by other tutoring programs. Those managers work like an assistant principal who can set up schedules, examine student data, and group students by ability.

“They are the ones saying, ‘No, no, you can’t go to lunch, you have to come sit here,’” Grant said. “We’re making sure that we didn’t just tell teachers and principals: ‘Hey, do this extra thing.”

Absenteeism soared during the pandemic and remains well above 2018-19 levels in most communities. When children miss school, they fall behind academically and are at greater risk of dropping out. When many students in a school frequently miss class, teachers have to decide whether to repeat material for those who missed, boring their classmates, or leave some students behind.

“We simply cannot accept chronic absenteeism as the new normal,” White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said. “Fortunately, we know what works: engaging parents and families as partners in their children’s education.”

She cited the example of Gompers Elementary-Middle School in northwest Detroit. Chalkbeat chronicled the school’s efforts to keep students in school, including pairing students who were starting to miss too many days with adult mentors and working closely with families.

Family and work obligations, mental health challenges, lack of transportation, and many other factors contribute to children missing too much school.

Federal officials urged schools to make specific commitments to reduce absenteeism, such as increasing calls and texts to parents, doing more home visits, and developing early warning systems. Schools should make sure communication is available in multiple languages.

States also should adopt consistent definitions of chronic absenteeism and incorporate it as a measure in their school accountability system if they haven’t done so already, officials said.

Connecticut Education Commissioner Charlene Tucker-Russell described how the state used data to identify students struggling the most — homeless students, English learners, students with disabilities — and target support. The program trained teachers and community members to do outreach and connect families with shelter, transportation, and mental health resources. An evaluation of the program found a 16% increase in attendance after home visits, Tucker-Russell said.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Luhan Grisholm said she was “embarrassed” about her state’s sky-high rates of chronic absenteeism, including among elementary students. Working with parents is part of the solution, but schools also have to make sure students feel supported and successful so they want to be in school, she said.

“If you aren’t reading at grade level, and you can’t do math at grade level, [school] is not a place you want to be,” she said.

Federal and state officials also emphasized the importance of giving students “more time on task” — both by making sure they are attending school regularly and adding learning time.

That could mean adding time to the school day or year — a strategy many districts have struggled to pull off — or running substantial summer school programs that offer multiple hours of academic instruction per day.

Nearly half of school districts used the largest bucket of COVID relief funds to expand summer school, federal officials said, though already some have made cuts or made plans to do so.

Alabama’s state superintendent, Eric Mackey, said education officials in his state are working with lawmakers and the governor’s office to keep funding summer math and reading camps that have run for the last three years with pandemic aid. The state has provided meals, transportation, and connections to afternoon youth programming to help make it work.

“We’ve built enough momentum that our legislature said: ‘We know we can’t drop this,’” Mackey said. “We have to find a way to continue to fund it and sustain it going forward.”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

As states adopt science of reading, one group calls for better teacher training, curriculum

2024-01-17T19:43:53+00:00

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Wisconsin is creating a new literacy office and hiring reading coaches. Ohio is dedicating millions to a curriculum overhaul. Indiana is requiring new teacher training.

Dozens of states are moving to align their teaching practices with the science of reading, a body of research on how children learn that emphasizes explicit phonics instruction alongside helping students build vocabulary and knowledge about the world. But a national policy group says many states still have significant work to do to ensure strong reading instruction.

A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds that half of states don’t set specific standards telling teacher prep programs what future educators should know about teaching reading, and 28 states cede their authority over teacher prep programs to outside accrediting agencies with vague guidelines. A similar number of states administer weak licensure tests, the report said, creating uncertainty about how well prepared teachers are.

Meanwhile, just nine states require that districts adopt high-quality reading curriculum, NCTQ’s analysis found. Only three of those — South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia — require districts to choose curriculum from a state-approved list and cover the cost for districts.

NCTQ President Heather Peske hopes the report can serve as a roadmap for states looking to improve reading instruction.

“We cannot continue to accept the reading outcomes that we’ve been seeing,” she said.

Last year, NCTQ’s review of hundreds of teacher preparation programs found that thousands of educators graduate every year unprepared to teach children how to read, or trained using debunked literacy instruction strategies.

Some of the states that got good ratings from NCTQ in its new report have been at it for years. Mississippi passed its first reading law a decade ago. Colorado stepped up regulation of its teacher prep programs five years ago.

Other states NCTQ called out for their weak policies are just getting started. Illinois is poised to adopt a new literacy plan this year. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul just announced a major new literacy initiative. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy highlighted early literacy in his State of the State speech.

NCTQ makes five main recommendations. States should set well-defined standards for how teacher prep programs teach reading, review those programs thoroughly, use a rigorous licensing test that includes all components of how students learn to read, require that districts use high-quality curriculum, and provide ongoing training and support.

These types of policies often face pushback from school districts, universities, and teachers unions that see politicians infringing on educators’ authority and autonomy.

In Colorado, some school districts initially resisted state curriculum guidelines. Others struggled to find approved curriculum that felt culturally responsive. In Illinois, political opposition and lack of state funding means the new literacy plan has no teeth. In Ohio, Reading Recovery, a popular but increasingly disfavored reading program, is suing the state for banning certain methods of teaching.

NCTQ’s reports have also come in for criticism for their technical and narrow view of good teaching, for being incomplete, or for not relying on the right data — Peske said states had multiple opportunities to review the latest report and offer corrections. Other advocacy groups have laid out different priorities for reading instruction.

Melinda Person, president of the New York state teachers union, is excited the governor wants to invest $10 million in teacher training aligned with the science of reading. But she’s cautious about calls to get every district to adopt curriculum that meets a currently undetermined standard. She fears that state-approved lists could be influenced by lobbying or force districts to abandon good programs developed by local educators.

“Teaching a child to read is a very complex task,” Person said. “Don’t oversimplify this. It is brain science. Hundreds of studies are pointing us in this direction, but they are not pointing us to ‘buy this curriculum.’”

Data lacking on curriculum in school districts

Twelve states received “strong” ratings overall in NCTQ’s report, including Colorado, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

NCTQ categorized 16 states as having “weak” reading policies, including Illinois, New York, and New Jersey, while three states — Maine, Montana, and South Dakota — were marked as “unacceptable” because they had few or no state-level reading policies.

An analysis by Education Week found that 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new reading laws since 2013, but NCTQ found many of these states still had major gaps in teacher preparation or curriculum.

States with strong oversight of teacher prep programs lost points for having weak standards, and states with strong standards lost points for weak oversight. More than half of states, NCTQ found, review the syllabi of teacher preparation programs, but just 10 include literacy experts in the process.

Most teacher prep programs don’t devote at least two instructional hours to how to teach English learners to read in an unfamiliar language or to supporting struggling readers, NCTQ’s analysis found. Even fewer programs provide opportunities for student teachers to practice those skills.

Meanwhile, 21 states don’t collect any data on the curriculum their districts use, nearly half offer no guidance on picking curriculums that serve English learners, and a third offer no guidance on how to use curriculum to support struggling readers. Even in states that value local control, Peske said states have a duty to offer guidance, and many administrators likely would welcome it.

NCTQ’s analysis does not address third-grade retention policies that have been adopted in 13 states. Nor did NCTQ’s report address universal screeners that look for warning signs of reading difficulties such as dyslexia.

Advocacy groups like JerseyCAN have made universal screeners and parental notification key parts of their platform. “Parents cannot ring the alarm or participate in this goal effectively if they don’t know where their children stand,” Executive Director Paula White said.

Linking new policies to test scores can be challenging. Mississippi students’ growth on national exams has been touted as a “miracle.” But students there still have lower test scores than students in some more affluent states with weaker policies.

New York and New Jersey governors elevate literacy

New Jersey received a weak rating from NCTQ due to inadequate standards for teacher prep programs, no requirement that elementary teachers have reading training, and no curriculum requirements or even guidelines for local districts.

White, the JerseyCAN leader, said she hopes the state is turning the corner after years in which people told her “we got this, we’ll do it on our own,” or “We’re already doing what you want us to do, so why should we expend energy on state policy or legislation?”

In neighboring New York, NCTQ gave the state some credit for strong state oversight of teacher prep. But the state lost points because reading standards aren’t specific enough. Nor does New York require districts to adopt high-quality curriculum — its powers are limited under state law.

Hochul’s push on literacy comes as New York City is months into its own reading overhaul, with schools required to adopt one of three approved curriculums. It’s not clear yet how the state might encourage districts using low-quality curriculum to make different choices. State officials are also developing a plan to incorporate more science of reading into teacher prep programs.

Judy Boksner, a literacy coach and reading specialist at P.S. 28 in the Bronx, recalls the “aha moment” she experienced after getting trained in the science of reading on her own time. She said the approach helps more students more reliably than the methods she was previously trained to use, but it can be slow at first.

Curriculum and training requirements are good, Boksner said, but schools still need ongoing support, including literacy coaches.

“In all these curriculums, they have tasks in them. We don’t know if they’ve all been tested in the field. Some of the tasks are so hard for kids, and if you don’t train your teachers well, kids will still struggle,” Boksner said.

Illinois on verge of adopting new literacy plan

In giving Illinois a “weak” rating, NCTQ found the state has set good standards for teacher preparation programs, but called for more oversight to ensure programs are following through. And NCTQ labeled as “unacceptable” Illinois’ lack of any guidance around high quality curriculum.

The report comes just as Illinois is finalizing a literacy plan to help school districts revamp how students are taught to read. After a two-year legislative fight, advocates successfully passed a bill last year that requires the Illinois State Board of Education to write a literacy plan, create a rubric for school districts to grade curriculum, and offer professional development to teachers.

But the new law does not mandate school districts adopt a phonics-based approach that’s key to the science of reading. Other ideas, such as reading grants and an approved curriculum list, didn’t survive the political process.

“There are really no mandates on school districts,” said Stand for Children Illinois Executive Director Jessica Handy, a literacy advocate who helped write the 2023 bill and negotiated with lawmakers. “I think reading grants would be one way to get buy-in from school districts and get more people thinking about how they can accelerate their progress to improve literacy curriculum.”

Education advocates hope to see $45 million from $550 million in new state funding go towards regional literacy coaches and state board staff that work just on literacy — and Stand is working on a new bill that Handy hopes strengthens the literacy plan.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

2024 Colorado General Assembly: The people’s guide to following education issues

2024-01-13T00:16:33+00:00

Every January, 100 men and women elected to the Colorado General Assembly gather in Denver for 120 days and make decisions that affect students and teachers in the classroom, university administrators trying to balance their budgets, and parents and students having to make tuition payments.

Legislators only have to pass two bills before they adjourn in May: a balanced budget and the school finance act. Both have profound implications for educational opportunity.

They also tackle many more education issues, from student discipline to teacher shortages, from standardized tests to career training.

But it can be hard for ordinary citizens to understand how ideas turn into laws.

To explain the lawmaking process and the opportunities for public input, we’ve prepared this guide to the legislative session.

Here’s how you can get involved:

How a bill becomes a law

Think Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill.”

Legislators get ideas for bills from a lot of places. A legislator might have a passion for a particular topic. The governor’s office or state department leaders might request a policy change. An interest group or concerned parents might ask a lawmaker to help solve a problem.

Lawmakers work with bill drafters — nonpartisan legislative staff — to write a bill. Once a lawmaker introduces it, leaders in either the House or the Senate assign it to a committee, usually one with relevant expertise.

Most education bills go to the education committee, but a bill on youth mental health might land first in the health committee or one on police in schools might be heard by the judiciary committee.

A few committees — most infamously the State Affairs committees — are known as “kill” committees, where leadership can send controversial bills, especially those from the opposing parties, to ensure they don’t reach the floor.

A bill must win committee approval to proceed to the full House or Senate. Some bills might need to go through more than one committee.

Bills must get approved twice in the first chamber, before heading to the next chamber and doing it all over again. Bills can be amended at any point in the process, and both chambers must sign off on the same final form of a bill.

Then the governor must sign it into law.

Who has a vote on the Colorado education committees

The House Education Committee has 11 members, seven Democrats and four Republicans. Find the committee schedule, documents, and live and archived audio at the committee website. Members are:

Chair Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat
Vice Chair Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Monte Vista Democrat
Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat
Rep. Mary Bradfield, ranking member, a Colorado Springs Republican
Rep. Eliza Hamrick, a Centennial Democrat
Rep. Anthony Hartsook, a Parker Republican
Rep. Meghan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat
Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, a Commerce City Democrat
Rep. Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican and assistant minority leader
Rep. Don Wilson, a Monument Republican
Rep. Mary Young, a Greeley Democrat

The Senate Education Committee has seven members, four Democrats and three Republicans. Find the committee schedule, documents, and live and archived audio at the committee website.

Chair Sen. Janet Buckner, a Denver Democrat
Vice Chair Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat
Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat
Sen. Chris Kolker, a Centennial Democrat
Sen. Paul Lundeen, ranking member, a Monument Republican
Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican
Sen. Janice Rich, a Grand Junction Republican

Find the names and contact information of all current Colorado lawmakers here. And find maps of current legislative districts here.

Can you speak on a bill or submit testimony?

If you’re interested in having your perspective heard, there are a few ways to get involved.

You can speak on the bill in person or remotely, or submit a written statement to the committee. The sign-up process is not difficult. Just fill out this online form.

Speakers are generally limited to two to three minutes, so think about how to make your point quickly and clearly.

Want to know the schedule?

The full schedule of the House and Representatives can typically be found on the Colorado General Assembly’s landing page.

The session schedule should be posted daily and gets updated as bills move through the process.

Here’s how to look up Colorado General Assembly bills

You can go to the Colorado General Assembly’s bill search page. There you can search by a bill number, the sponsor, or a topic.

When you click on a bill, you’ll see information such as a summary of what the bill does, the full text of the bill, and other relevant information, such as a fiscal note that explains how much passing the law would cost the state. Often the description of a bill in the fiscal note is easier to understand than the bill language itself.

You can also search through tabs near the bottom of the page that include the bill’s history, when it’s scheduled to be heard again, any amendments, and a summary of the committee votes.

What’s the Joint Budget Committee and why is it so important?

The six-member Joint Budget Committee is the most influential committee in the Colorado General Assembly. Why? Because it writes the budget that guides the state’s priorities. The committee members this year are four Democrats and two Republicans. The chair is state Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat.

Yes, Gov. Jared Polis does submit a budget every November. And those priorities guide the Joint Budget Committee’s work. But the committee ultimately writes the budget that gets submitted to the Colorado General Assembly for approval.

Other lawmakers also have a chance to submit budget amendments that reflect their own spending priorities — but lawmakers need to pass a balanced budget and the Joint Budget Committee will strip out amendments that endanger that goal.

The budget shapes every facet of state government, including K-12 and higher education spending.

Learn more about the budget process here.

Need a refresher on what happened last year? We rounded up the most important education issues of the 2023 session.

Want to know more about how lobbying affects the legislative process? Check out our deep dive on education lobbying from 2022 in collaboration with data reporter Sandra Fish.

Have questions? We’re listening at co.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Watch Chalkbeat Colorado’s 2024 Legislative Preview

Watch Chalkbeat Colorado’s annual discussion of key education topics likely to surface during the upcoming legislative session.

We were joined by:

Sen. Janet Buckner, an Aurora Democrat and chair of the Senate Education Committee
Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and vice chair of Joint Budget Committee
Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat and House Assistant Majority Leader
Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat and chair of the House Education Committee
Rep. Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican and House Assistant Minority Leader

A special thanks to our event sponsor, the Colorado Education Association. And thank you to our event partners, Young Invincibles and the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Education stories we’re watching in 2024

2024-01-02T14:22:00+00:00

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This spring, the students who spent most of their freshman year of high school on Zoom will walk across the graduation stage. This fall, schools will face the expiration of billions in pandemic aid that allowed them to reenvision what schools could do for students.

This is a critical year as the nation grapples with the long-term effects of the pandemic amid a technological revolution, a still-unfolding refugee crisis, and a presidential election that could intensify political tensions.

These are some of the education stories we’ll be watching in 2024:

School districts confront the ESSER fiscal cliff

This is the last year school districts will have access to federal pandemic relief, an unprecedented influx of money meant to mitigate the effects of COVID disruptions and support student recovery. Schools received a total of $190 billion in three waves. So far, roughly $122 billion has been spent or committed, and schools still need to spend an additional $68 billion.

Some schools have spent this money on programs directly related to pandemic recovery, such as tutoring and counseling. Some have stood up or expanded programs that help families find housing or provide more intensive mental health support.

Running those programs often meant hiring more people, workers whom districts might not have the money to employ after this year. And while the money is going away, students still have significant needs.

Already major districts, such as Detroit and Montgomery County, Maryland, have announced cuts to services like college transition planning and summer school that were funded with pandemic dollars.

Districts that want to maintain these programs will face tough decisions about where to find the money and what else to give up.

“There was a clear need and with the extra funds, in many cases, really hard-working people responded,” said Marguerite Roza, the director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. “But you can still say, from the outside, this was really a precarious model. It relied on one-time funds that we knew were going to go away, and we didn’t build anything to last beyond that.”

In some communities, districts have used pandemic aid to shore up budgets amid declining enrollment and to delay painful cuts and school closures. For these communities, 2024 could bring a difficult reckoning.

The expiration of pandemic aid will prompt a larger conversation about what students and schools got from that investment and whether the money was spent well or poorly.

Jennifer Reczkowicz assists a student during a typing lesson at Lincoln Elementary School in Dolton, Illinois. Max Herman for Chalkbeat

Schools must adapt to serve migrant students

Last year, many school systems across the country — but particularly New York City and Chicago — enrolled thousands of asylum-seeking students from Central and South America.

Some of these children have been out of school for months or even years. Some carry emotional wounds from things they saw and experienced on their journeys. Some are sleeping outside in tents. All are navigating a new country and a new school system with few financial resources.

In 2024, schools will need to rise to the challenge of serving these students over the long haul. Bilingual teachers were already in short supply — and bilingual counselors and school psychologists even more so. Some school districts are stepping up international recruitment to bring in more Spanish-speaking educators.

There are so many new students that cities as different as New York and Denver are seeing enrollment increases after years of declines. Increased enrollment could result in more state funding, but it’s not clear if the additional money will be enough to meet students’ needs or whether these students will stay in the cities where they first arrived or disperse to suburbs and smaller cities.

Many of these students’ needs — for mental health counseling, for academic recovery, for housing assistance — mirror those of students who were already here but at a larger scale or with greater intensity.

Even children who seem OK now may need significant support down the road, said Kevin Dahill-Fuchel, executive director at Counseling in Schools. The nonprofit provides counseling services to about 70 schools in New York City and is trying to expand its bilingual staff. Younger children, especially, may be in a honeymoon period now that they’re physically safe, getting meals at school, and making new friends, he said.

“That’s going to shift as they go from 8 years old to 12 years old. Those pains are kind of festering over time,” Dahill-Fuchel said. One smiling child his organization works with crossed the Rio Grande with about a dozen people who drowned. “That’s PTSD-kind of stuff that’s going to come up later.”

Advocates say schools need to think beyond the immediate crisis. They need to accurately assess where students are academically and think about how to serve older students with limited English skills who may be at higher risk of leaving school entirely. They also see a greater role for state education departments in offering guidance and helping school districts learn from each other.

Will our schools rise to the challenge?

AI will play a larger role in American classrooms — we’re still figuring out the ground rules

ChatGPT is a little more than a year old. In the education space, the new technology’s ability to produce an eerie mimicry of human thought and writing initially prompted fears that students would cheat widely and with impunity.

But a recent Stanford study found that cheating among high school students hasn’t increased much. And while most respondents thought it would be acceptable to use ChatGPT to generate ideas, few thought it would be OK to have AI write an essay for them. “It shows that a majority of students truly want to learn,” the lead researcher told CNN.

In the meantime, ChatGPT and other AI-powered technologies are showing up in the classroom in all kinds of ways. Students recently told Chalkbeat that they’ve used such programs to better understand concepts in history texts or to identify problems in the code they wrote for computer science class. Some schools are using AI to tutor students. The National Education Association has a guide for using ChatGPT to create lesson plans.

Given that the technology isn’t going away, K-12 schools and colleges will need to grapple with what constitutes cheating and what constitutes legitimate use that might even enhance students’ learning experience.

Researchers, meanwhile, are experimenting with using AI to read students’ college essays and grade student papers. Some observers are optimistic about the potential for AI to reduce bias and notice trends, while others worry about inaccuracy and outsourcing human judgment.

The culture wars are dead. Long live the culture wars.

November’s school board elections were generally seen as a setback for cultural conservatives, with Ballotpedia estimating that more than half of candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty lost their races. The right-wing advocacy group itself is in disarray amid associations with white supremacists and rape allegations against the husband of one founder. The founder acknowledged she had participated in a threesome with her husband and the woman who accused him of assault in an unrelated incident.

But conservative candidates still picked up seats on school boards around the country, where some are reshaping what students learn about U.S. history and how LGBTQ staff and students are treated.

Conservative concerns about progressive ideologies in public schools have also been used to justify the expansion of private-school choice in states, such as Tennessee, Florida, and Arizona.

Even as education politics remains intensely polarized, surveys find that most parents report they’re pretty satisfied with their kids’ schools — and the most negative opinions come from those without children in the schools.

This year could see some of the most intense debates recede into the background or take on new forms. The presidential election has the potential to exacerbate divisions even if education isn’t a dominant issue.

The biggest question is how these debates and policy shifts affect students and families.

Students are reconsidering the value of college — for better or for worse

This spring’s graduating class was in eighth grade in March 2020 when schools shut down, and many of them spent their freshman year — a critical year for students’ academic and social development — mostly online or bouncing in and out school due to quarantines.

These students are applying to college in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning racial preferences in admissions. They’ve had to rethink how they talk about themselves in college applications. The federal government has delayed the release of a new federal financial aid application, raising fears that fewer students will fill out the form and creating more uncertainty for families waiting on financial aid packages.

Colorado School of Mines in Golden is the most selective public university in Colorado. The science- and engineering-focused school historically has enrolled few students from low-income backgrounds.

Recent surveys show high school students are interested in education after high school but unsure about the value of a four-year college degree. They’re worried about taking on debt and not being able to pay it back. And they want to start earning money sooner.

Conservative parents, too, are less keen on sending their kids to college as they increasingly see higher education institutions as being at odds with their own values.

At the same time, Americans with college degrees still outearn those without.

The most recently available national data on college-going covers the high school class of 2022 and shows overall college enrollment increasing or stabilizing after a sharp dip during the pandemic. But enrollment is down for white, Black, and Native American students.

Meanwhile, colleges are putting more effort into retaining the students they have. High school counselors are rethinking how they support students interested in careers that don’t require a four-year degree.

The decisions the class of 2024 makes could tell us a lot about the lingering impacts of the pandemic and what students need from their schools to be successful.

Senior Reporter Kalyn Belsha and New York Bureau Chief Amy Zimmer contributed.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado.

Maestros en Denver tratan de ayudar a estudiantes migrantes con la vivienda

2023-10-03T19:55:41+00:00

Chalkbeat Colorado es un noticiero local sin fines de lucro que informa sobre las escuelas públicas en Denver y otros distritos. Suscríbete a nuestro boletín gratis por email en español para recibir lo último en noticias sobre educación dos veces al mes.

Read in English.

Conforme aumenta la cantidad de migrantes que llegan a diario a Denver, las escuelas están empezando a ver una cantidad significativa de estudiantes nuevos. Y a los educadores les preocupa cómo ayudar a las familias migrantes que alcanzan el límite del apoyo oficial.

En la Escuela de Lenguaje Dual Bryant Webster en Denver, algunos maestros dicen tener salones con 38 estudiantes—una cantidad mucho mayor que el año pasado. Un maestro que evalúa a estudiantes cuya lengua materna no es el inglés ha tenido que evaluar a 60 estudiantes este año, un aumento en comparación con un puñado en años típicos. Y están tratando de ayudar a estudiantes que han vivido experiencias traumáticas, aprendiendo a guiarse en un nuevo país y en un nuevo sistema escolar.

“Trabajas todo el día y solo quieres asegurarte de hacer todo lo posible con los recursos que tienes así que estableces relaciones con los niños, y tienes la conexión con ellos”, dijo Alex Nelson, un maestro de cuarto grado en Byrant Webster. “Luego te enteras de su historia”.

Los estudiantes que llegaron alrededor del comienzo del año escolar y estaban empezando a adaptarse están enfrentando un nuevo obstáculo y una nueva experiencia traumática. Las familias reciben solo 30 días de estadía en un hotel o albergue que la ciudad paga—para las familias que lleguen a partir del 4 de octubre el plazo será de 37 días. Pero luego tienen que encontrar otro lugar para vivir. En una ciudad con alquileres desorbitados donde muchos residentes antiguos también enfrentan dificultades para encontrar vivienda, los recién llegados a veces terminan sin un lugar donde vivir.

La primera vez que una familia migrante con niños en Bryant Webster alcanzó el límite de su cupón de vivienda, los maestros y una pasante de la escuela invirtieron horas llamando a albergues y a cualquier otro lugar imaginable para tratar de encontrar un lugar donde la familia pudiera quedarse. Se encontraron con listas de espera y muchas opciones que no llevaron a nada.

“No sabíamos lo que pasaba después de que el cupón [para la vivienda] se acababa hasta que una de las nuevas familias dijo: ‘Nuestra estadía se acabó y no sabemos a dónde ir esta noche’”, Nelson dijo. “Nunca habíamos estado preparados así que no sabíamos cómo manejarlo”.

La familia terminó yéndose a pasar la noche en un automóvil, aunque Nelson dijo que los representantes del distrito lograron conectar con ellos más tarde esa noche. Sin embargo, Nelson dijo que fue muy difícil para toda la escuela terminar el día así.

Como en la escuelas de la ciudad de Nueva York y otros distritos escolares alrededor del país, los representantes de las escuelas de Denver son de los primeros en recibir solicitudes de ayuda de las familias migrantes. En Denver, algunos maestros apenas empiezan a conectar sus esfuerzos con agencias sin fines de lucro, a través del sindicato de maestros, y con otras organizaciones, pero la coordinación sigue siendo esporádica.

Y hasta cuando trabajan juntos, hay obstáculos intimidantes. Después de la duración limitada de los cupones de vivienda que la ciudad les ofrece a los migrantes, los varios servicios sociales disponibles tienen diferentes reglas que pueden crear confusión sobre lo que pone en peligro o no el estatus legal de los migrantes. Y la posible coincidencia entre la ayuda para migrantes y el apoyo para las personas sin hogar en la ciudad es algo que los funcionarios de Denver están tratando de evitar.

Después de ayudar a la primera familia de Bryant Webster, los maestros se enteraron de que había más familias en la misma situación. Algunas organizaciones están ayudando, pero cada vez que una nueva familia se presenta, a los maestros les preocupa si podrán encontrar ayuda. Por lo menos tres más enfrentan la pérdida de su vivienda este fin de semana.

“Realmente puedes sentir el estrés de los niños. Altera todo”, dijo Cecilia Quintanilla, una maestra de educación temprana en la escuela.

Migrantes recién llegados esperan para que los procesen en el centro de admisiones para migrantes en Denver el 28 de septiembre de 2023.

Las escuelas se unen al esfuerzo de Denver de ayudar a los migrantes para que encuentren la estabilidad

En este momento, es difícil saber qué tan generalizado es el aumento de migrantes en las escuelas.

Los representantes del distrito escolar en Denver no respondieron a solicitudes de sus comentarios. Los maestros en Bryant Webster creen que han llegado alrededor de 60 estudiantes migrantes nuevos después del primer día de clases y siguen llegando. Otros distritos escolares en el estado están reportando grandes aumentos de recién llegados, el término que las escuelas usan para hablar sobre estudiantes que están llegando a Estados Unidos provenientes de otros países en los últimos meses.

El Departamento de Educación de Colorado no da seguimiento a esas cifras, y sus representantes dijeron que las escuelas no les han pedido apoyo para lidiar con esos aumentos.

Los representantes de la ciudad de Denver dijeron que hasta la semana pasada la ciudad estaba dando albergue a 456 niños menores de 16 años. La ciudad ha observado hasta 250 migrantes nuevos que llegan por día, pero las cantidades de niños esta semana no están disponibles.

En otra escuela de Denver, Escuela Valdez, la maestra Jessica Dominguez calcula que han recibido alrededor de 20 estudiantes recién llegados este año. Esta semana, se enteraron de una familia que había estado durmiendo afuera después de perder su albergue. Los educadores se quedaron despiertos hasta tarde tratando de encontrarles un lugar donde quedarse y lo lograron. Pero eso no siempre es así.

“Los niños son parte de esto ahora”, dijo. “Eso pone una cara diferente a lo que quizás pensemos es la falta de hogar”.

Dominguez no es la única persona que se siente así. El alcalde de Denver Mike Johnston, un exmaestro, dijo en una conferencia de prensa el jueves que ha visto a niños durmiendo bajo mantas con familias afuera del edificio Wellington Webb de la ciudad mientras esperan a que lleguen los empleados para pedirles ayuda.

“Ningún niño debería estar en ese contexto”, Johnston dijo.

Más temprano ese mismo día, en una centro de admisiones para migrantes en el nordeste de Denver, una cantidad constante de hombres, mujeres y niños llegaron para que los procesaran. El horario oficial es de 8 de la mañana a 5 de la tarde, pero el personal con frecuencia empieza antes y se queda hasta que todos tienen un lugar donde ir.

Algunos de los recién llegados tienen familia en el área de Denver y piden venir aquí o hasta se abren camino por sí solos. Otros se suben en autobuses que vienen de El Paso sin importar su destino y luego necesitan hacer un plan.

Ya hicieron un viaje riesgoso y superaron muchos obstáculos para escapar de situaciones peligrosas en sus países de origen.

Jon Ewing, un vocero con el departamento de Servicios Humanos de Denver, dijo que los recién llegados son inteligentes, habilidosos y bien organizados.

Los empleados de la ciudad obtienen datos básicos sobre los recién llegados, proporcionan información de contacto para servicios sociales relevantes, y los orientan a un albergue. Las personas solas podrían recibir 21 días de albergue gratis, y las familias podían recibir 30 días. Ahora las familias recibirán 37 días de albergue gratis, pero con más personas llegando cada día, las personas solas solo recibirán 14 días. La ciudad no está monitoreando lo que sucede después de eso.

“Treinta días no es mucho tiempo para organizar tu vida, y lo entendemos”, Ewing dijo en una entrevista antes del cambio. “Pero tenemos que mover a la gente. Hay un límite en lo que podemos hacer”.

Ewing dijo que el personal de la ciudad está trabajando para coordinar lo mejor posible las agencias sin fines de lucro, los servicios de la ciudad y el distrito escolar—hay chats de grupos grandes sonando todo el día.

Ewing dijo que la ciudad trata de asegurar que las personas entiendan lo costoso que Denver es para poder tomar decisiones informadas. Pero quizás tengan buenas razones para quedarse aquí.

Ewing dijo que los grupos de migrantes y de personas sin hogar son muy diferentes y enfrentan diferentes desafíos. A los recién llegados nunca los mandan a refugios para personas sin hogar, y muchos de los servicios se proporcionan por diferentes medio para responder a las diversas necesidades de cada grupo.

También hay diferentes fuentes financieras con diferentes reglas, en lo relacionado con proporcionar servicios a ciudadanos y residentes de EE. UU. sin hogar, en comparación con migrantes solicitando asilo u otro estatus migratorio protegido.

Y luego existen las inquietudes legales. Cathy Alderman, directora de comunicaciones y presidenta de políticas públicas en la Coalición para Personas sin Hogar en Colorado, dijo que a organizaciones como la suya también les preocupa que, sin querer, se proporcionen recursos que puedan afectar la habilidad de las personas de obtener un estatus legal. Esta es una preocupación común que escuchan entre los migrantes, y una sobre la cual Alderman y su equipo no tienen suficiente experiencia para manejar.

Sin embargo, Alderman dijo que algunas de las familias migrantes quizás puedan obtener ayuda con la vivienda a través de la coalición, pero cumplir los requisitos toma tiempo.

“El problema es que en este momento tenemos a [muchas personas] en el sistema esperando obtener vivienda”, Alderman dijo. “Ese sistema conecta [a personas] con vivienda basado en vulnerabilidades. Es un proceso. Indudablemente no se mueve rápido”.

Dijo que otro problema para las familias es encontrar vivienda asequible con varias habitaciones. Los cupones para la vivienda a largo plazo, como los de la Sección 8, con frecuencia no cubren una gran parte de los alquileres que la gente quizás encuentre en Denver.

“En Denver específicamente tenemos un cantidad muy, muy, muy mínima de vivienda realmente asequible”, dijo. “Tenemos muchas unidades a precio de mercado y de lujo que están vacías”.

Con todos los desafíos que los estudiantes migrantes y sus familias están enfrentando, los maestros dicen que agradecen que tantas personas estén trabajando para proporcionar ayuda. Pero también desearían estar mejor preparados para ayudar a los estudiantes y las familias que acuden a ellos con preocupaciones tan grandes.

“No tenemos lo que necesitamos para darles la bienvenida a estas familias a la mejor vida que estaban buscando”, Nelson dijo. “Realmente es difícil ver las consecuencias de eso”.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Erica Meltzer, la corresponsal jefa, cubre temas de leyes y políticas educativas y supervisa la cobertura sobre educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Erica por correo electrónico a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

¿Los padres quieren que Colorado tenga exámenes estandarizados? Depende a quién se le pregunte

2021-02-17T20:07:48+00:00

Uno de los debates que está tomando importancia en la sesión legislativa de Colorado en 2021 es si se deben tener exámenes estandarizados en medio de una pandemia, y está dividiendo las opiniones de los defensores de la educación y también de los funcionarios electos.

¿Pero qué quieren los padres? Para indicar que el público general está de acuerdo con ellos, los grupos de defensa han publicado resultados de encuestas que han llegado a conclusiones opuestas.

Una encuesta de 600 votantes registrados comisionada por la organización Democrats for Education Reform (el grupo afiliado con Colorado Succeeds) y el grupo conservador de defensa Ready Colorado encontró que un 62% de los encuestados apoya dar exámenes estandarizados si no se usarán para sancionar a las escuelas o maestros cuando el desempeño estudiantil sea deficiente.

“A los padres les preocupa mucho la pérdida de aprendizaje este año y la calidad de enseñanza que están recibiendo sus hijos”, dijo Leslie Colwell de la Colorado Children’s Campaign. La organización no estuvo involucrada en la encuesta, pero citó los resultados en un comunicado de prensa pidiendo que el estado mantenga los exámenes este año.

Otra encuesta de más de 700 votantes activos comisionada por la Colorado Education Association (el sindicato de maestros más grande del estado), la Colorado Association of School Executives (que representa a los superintendentes), la Colorado Association of School Boards, y la Colorado Rural Schools Alliance encontró que un 58% de los encuestados quiere que este año se cancelen los exámenes, conocidos como CMAS.

“Como madre y educadora, sé que muchos padres quieren saber cómo les está yendo a sus hijos en la escuela”, dijo Amie Baca-Oehlert, presidenta de la Colorado Education Association. “Pero los exámenes CMAS no nos darán la respuesta”.

Para suspender los exámenes, Colorado necesitará un permiso del gobierno federal o se arriesga a perder millones en fondos federales. Una de las primeras decisiones importantes de Miguel Cardona, el nominado a Secretario de Educación del Presidente Biden, será si se emitirán esos permisos o no. En su audiencia de confirmación esta semana, Cardona dio señales mixtas, diciendo que no tiene sentido traer a los estudiantes de enseñanza a remoto a la escuela solamente para darles un examen, pero que es importante tomar en cuenta la pérdida de aprendizaje.

Ese es el mismo debate que se está dando en Colorado.

La Senadora Estatal Rachel Zenzinger, demócrata de Arvada, tiene planes de presentar una legislación para que el Departamento de Educación de Colorado pida un permiso del gobierno federal. Obtener ese permiso pondría a la legislatura “al volante”, dijo ella, y espera que sus colegas estén de acuerdo en cancelar los exámenes.

“Si uno analiza bien por qué queremos dar este examen, qué información estamos buscando, la respuesta más común que escuchará es que la gente quiere saber lo siguiente: ¿Hubo pérdida de aprendizaje?” dijo ella. “Pero cuando recibamos los resultados de ese examen, ¿qué tan útiles nos resultarán?”

Los exámenes están programados este año para abril y mayo, más tarde de lo acostumbrado, y hasta en años normales los distritos escolares no reciben los resultados hasta el verano. Los presupuestos del estado y los distritos escolares ya estarán definidos para esa fecha, dijo Zenzinger, y los estudiantes del próximo año se ubicarán en grupos de lectura y matemáticas basándose en su desempeño al empezar el año escolar, no en los resultados de los CMAS de la primavera anterior.

Los distritos escolares de Colorado han dicho que será sumamente difícil administrar los exámenes, ya que requerirá que recuperen y preparen las miles de computadoras portátiles enviadas a la casas de los estudiantes para poder aprender a remoto. Los requisitos de distanciamiento social y cuarentena también podrían hacer que tome más tiempo administrar los exámenes. Y ellos anticipan que menos estudiantes tomen el examen (especialmente aquellos que estén todavía aprendiendo a remoto debido a las inquietudes de salud de las familias), lo cual hará que los datos no sean fiables.

Quienes apoyan continuar con los exámenes dicen que es esencial hacerlo para evaluar la pérdida de aprendizaje y que los padres puedan tomar decisiones informadas, y para que los funcionarios estatales designen recursos a las comunidades más fuertemente afectadas.

Katy Anthes, Comisionada de Educación de Colorado, ha prometido $52 millones de la última ronda de fondos federales de alivio por el coronavirus para programas como tutorías, programas después de la escuela y escuelas de verano, pero los detalles no se han definido todavía.

Los exámenes estandarizados fueron cancelados el año pasado, y por lo tanto la información más reciente es del 2019.

“¿Por qué no saber en qué nivel están los estudiantes en lectura y matemáticas y decir que no nos molesta estar tres años sin información?” Preguntó Colwell. “A mí eso me parece una falta de consciencia.”

A fines del último mes, una mayoría de ambos partidos en la Junta de Educación del Estado estuvo a favor de dar los exámenes estandarizados este año.

“Si nos importa la equidad, nos tiene que importar la información”, dijo Rebecca McClellan, demócrata de Littleton y miembro de la junta. “Si no podemos definir dónde estamos atrasados, no podremos enfocar la ayuda donde se necesita”.

El Gobernador Jared Polis también parece apoyar los exámenes, y un portavoz de su oficina escribió que Polis “cree que es crítico que los padres, educadores, comunidades y formuladores de política entiendan cómo el virus de COVID-19 ha afectado el aprendizaje de los estudiantes en todo el estado, especialmente los estudiantes en desventaja económica”.

La opinión pública varía dependiendo de cómo se haga la pregunta. La encuesta de Keating Research (comisionada por personas que apoyan lo exámenes) inicialmente preguntó si los exámenes se debían administrar “dadas las interrupciones que han enfrentado las escuelas”, y encontró que un 46% de los encuestados dijeron que sí, un 41% dijeron que no, y un 13% dijeron no estar seguros. Si el examen fuera explícitamente separado de la responsabilidad de las escuelas y los maestros, el apoyo aumentó a un 62%.

Amplias mayorías estuvieron de acuerdo con la idea de que es importante tener una prueba a fin de año para determinar cuánta fue la pérdida de aprendizaje, enfocar la ayuda a quienes la necesiten más, reducir las brechas académicas por raza e ingresos, y ayudar a los padres y formuladores de políticas a tomar decisiones informadas.

Al preguntar otra vez si los exámenes se deben usar este año, el apoyo fue aún mayor.

La encuesta de Harstad Strategic Research, respaldada por el sindicato y el distrito, preguntó a qué cosas las escuelas les deben dar la mayor prioridad. Cincuenta y tres por ciento de los encuestados dijeron que lo más importante es la instrucción en un salón de clases, otro 37% dijo que es la salud social y emocional, y solamente un 7% dijo que lo más importante son los exámenes estandarizados.

Luego se les preguntó: “Debido a los retos que ha presentado el coronavirus, ¿cómo debe el estado manejar los exámenes estandarizados esta primavera?” Cuando la pregunta se hizo de esa manera, 58% de los encuestados dijeron que los exámenes se deben cancelar y 38% dijo que se deben tomar como de costumbre. Entre los padres de las escuelas públicas, un 77% de las madres quiere cancelar los exámenes, mientras que solamente un 52% de los padres quiere lo mismo.

Keating y Harstad son compañías de encuestas en Colorado, y ambas han recibido calificaciones de B/C de FiveThirtyEight.

En una conferencia de prensa organizada por los que se oponen a los exámenes, Laura Martinez (madre de Adams 14 y líder de la organización comunitaria Coloradans for the Common Good) dijo que sus hijos batallaron por el atraso en el comienzo del año escolar y tuvieron dificultades para tomar las clases a remoto, pero ella no piensa que la respuesta está en un examen estandarizado.

“Considerando todo lo que ocurrió este año, yo pongo en duda los beneficios de reemplazar el tiempo de instrucción con otro examen,” dijo Martinez.

Nota de redacción: Esta noticia fue actualizada para reflejar mejor el orden de las preguntas en las encuestas.

Milly Suazo ha traducido este reportaje.

Resultados del CMAS 2023 en Colorado: ve cómo les fue a tu escuela y distrito

2023-08-17T17:00:00+00:00

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El jueves, Colorado publicó los resultados de su ronda de exámenes estandarizados que los estudiantes de tercer a octavo grado en las escuelas públicas tuvieron esta primavera.

En general, los resultados han mejorado ligeramente en comparación con el año pasado, pero menos estudiantes que en 2019 siguen sin alcanzar las expectativas. La tendencia es similar a 2022.

Nuestra gráfica de abajo te permite hacer una búsqueda para encontrar tu escuela y distrito, y compararlos con los promedios estatales tanto en matemáticas como en artes del idioma inglés. La gráfica muestra el porcentaje de estudiantes que contestaron el examen y que alcanzaron o superaron las expectativas en cada materia.

Los resultados se usarán en las evaluaciones de escuelas y distritos que quizás se publiquen a finales de este mes.

El número de estudiantes de cuarto y octavo grado que podían leer y escribir a nivel de grado o arriba de nivel de grado esta primavera pasada sigue siendo 4 puntos porcentuales más bajo que el número que podía hacerlo en 2019. Los estudiantes de séptimo y octavo grado demuestran un retraso similar en matemáticas. Cada punto porcentual representa miles de estudiantes que no están alcanzando las expectativas y están menos preparados para el siguiente grado.

Al mismo tiempo, los estudiantes de quinto y sexto grado están obteniendo resultados similares en lectura y escritura que sus pares hace cuarto años, y en matemáticas, todos los estudiantes de primaria lo están.

Cuando se examinan por nivel de grado, solo un grupo de estudiantes mejoró en comparación con sus pares en 2019: los estudiantes de quinto grado en matemáticas. Este año, 36.5 por ciento de los estudiantes de quinto grado alcanzaron o superaron las expectativas en matemáticas, un aumento en comparación con el 35.7 por ciento que lo hizo en 2019.

Las brechas siguen siendo grandes y persistentes. Los estudiantes multilingües parecen figurar entre los estudiantes que los oficiales estatales dicen podrían estar retrasándose aún más.

Los resultados de los exámenes de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y aquellos que contestaron los exámenes de lectura y escritura en español causan serias preocupaciones.

Solo el 18.7 por ciento de los estudiantes de tercer grado que contestaron el examen en español alcanzaron o superaron las expectativas, una reducción de 8.8 puntos porcentuales en comparación con 2019—el mayor retraso por mucho en la recuperación de los estudiantes. Y solo el 14.2 por ciento de los estudiantes de cuarto grado que contestaron el examen en español alcanzaron o superaron las expectativas, una reducción de casi 5 puntos porcentuales en comparación con 2019.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La importancia de las elecciones de consejos escolares y por qué debes votar

2023-10-11T14:40:17+00:00

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Chalkbeat Colorado es un noticiero local sin fines de lucro que informa sobre las escuelas públicas en Denver y otros distritos. Suscríbete a nuestro boletín gratis por email en español para recibir lo último en noticias sobre educación dos veces al mes.

Cada dos años en noviembre, la gente que vota en Colorado elige a quienes toman decisiones importantes sobre sus escuelas locales. Pero en la mayoría de los distritos escolares, muy pocas personas votan en estas elecciones de consejos escolares—y la mayoría de ellas no son padres de familia.

¿Qué es exactamente un consejo escolar? ¿Y por qué es importante que votes en estas elecciones que se realizan en años impares?

En esta historia:

¿Por qué importan las elecciones de consejos escolares y por qué debes votar?

¿Qué hace un consejo escolar?

Ejemplos de responsabilidades de los consejos escolares

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre un integrante de un consejo escolar y un superintendente u otros administradores escolares?

¿Cómo se eligen a los integrantes de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

¿A quién representan los integrantes del consejo escolar?

¿Reciben un salario los integrantes de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

¿Dónde puedes encontrar más información sobre tu consejo escolar y los candidatos al consejo escolar?

¿Cuándo son las próximas elecciones de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

¿Por qué importan las elecciones de consejos escolares y por qué debes votar?

Cuando votas para elegir a integrantes de tu consejo escolar que comparten tus valores y tu perspectiva, eso resulta en que sea más probable que las escuelas se administren de una manera que piensas es buena para los niños y tu comunidad. Si no votas, les das ese poder a otras personas. En muchas elecciones de distritos escolares, menos de un tercio de las personas que pueden votar lo hacen. A veces solo un par de cientos o hasta un par de docenas de votos separan a los ganadores de los perdedores. Eso significa que cada voto importa.

¿Qué hace un consejo escolar?

En Colorado, funcionarios electos que forman parte del consejo escolar se encargan de operar los distritos escolares. Los consejos escolares usualmente tienen entre cinco y siete integrantes. La función principal de un consejo escolar es contratar al superintendente, quien es como el director ejecutivo del distrito escolar y responsable de la gestión diaria de las escuelas locales. Los integrantes del consejo escolar supervisan y evalúan al superintendente. Además, votan sobre el presupuesto y aumento de los salarios de los maestros y otro personal escolar, y también establecen las normas que controlan lo que sucede en las escuelas.

Ejemplos de responsabilidades de los consejos escolares

Un consejo escolar quizás tenga el voto final sobre si se debe cerrar o no una escuela con bajos resultados en las pruebas de los estudiantes o con muy pocos estudiantes—o vote para cambiar las prioridades del presupuesto para que esas escuelas tengan más dinero. O un consejo escolar quizás vote para adoptar un nuevo plan de estudios si el antiguo no está funcionando bien para educar a los estudiantes.

Los consejos escolares también tienen la última palabra sobre asuntos contenciosos. Si a un estudiante lo expulsan y la familia presenta una apelación para que el estudiante permanezca en la escuela, o si a un maestro lo despiden y presenta una apelación para mantener su puesto, el consejo escolar toma la decisión final. Los consejos escolares han votado para no participar en los estándares de educación sexual integral de Colorado, para sacar a los policías de las escuelas y para que los policías regresen.

La manera como funcionan exactamente los consejos escolares puede variar entre un distrito y otro. Por ejemplo, en 2020, consejos escolares en algunos distritos votaron sobre el cambio al aprendizaje virtual, mientras que en otros distritos el superintendente tomó esa decisión.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre un integrante de un consejo escolar y un superintendente u otros administradores escolares?

Los integrantes de un consejo escolar usualmente no participan en los detalles de cómo administrar el distrito. Ese es el trabajo del superintendente.

Los integrantes del consejo no pueden disciplinar a un maestro o director ni decirle directamente lo que debe hacer. No establecen las rutas de los autobuses escolares ni deciden qué rutas se deben eliminar si no hay suficientes conductores. Los integrantes del consejo escolar no eligen directamente qué escuelas deben cerrarse.

En la mayoría de los casos, el superintendente presenta una recomendación ante el consejo escolar. El consejo escolar puede votar para aprobar o rechazar la recomendación o solicitar otras opciones.

Los integrantes del consejo también pueden crear conciencia y solicitar que se cambien ciertas normas. Si suficientes integrantes del consejo están de acuerdo, el superintendente trabajará en esa idea.

¿Cómo se eligen a los integrantes de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

En la mayoría de los consejos escolares, las personas registradas para votar en el distrito correspondiente eligen a sus integrantes.

Los integrantes del consejo escolar ocupan su puesto durante plazos escalonados de cuatro años. En un consejo con cinco integrantes, tres de los puestos están sujetos a elecciones un año y, dos años después, los otros dos puestos están sujeto a elecciones. El consejo escolar de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver tiene siete integrantes, con cuatro de los puestos sujetos a elecciones un año y los otros tres puestos sujetos a elecciones dos años después.

La mayoría de los consejos escolares imponen límites en la cantidad de plazos o mandatos que los integrantes pueden cumplir para que no superen los ocho años en total.

Los consejos escolares siempre tienen una cantidad impar de integrantes para que no terminen en un empate—aunque los empates igual pueden suceder si alguien falta a una reunión o se abstiene de votar.

A veces el integrante de un consejo escolar renuncia a su puesto a mitad de su mandato. En ese caso, los otros integrantes del consejo eligen a alguien para que complete el plazo.

A veces los distritos escolares cancelan las elecciones de su consejo escolar porque no hay suficientes candidatos para realizar una votación competitiva. Eso ahorra algo de dinero pero significa que los votantes no tienen la opción de elegir quién dirige sus escuelas. Quien se haya ofrecido voluntariamente se convierte en el integrante del consejo escolar.

¿A quién representan los integrantes del consejo escolar?

Algunos distritos escolares eligen a integrantes “at large”. Esto significa que cada integrante del consejo representa a todo el distrito, en lugar de a una región específica en el distrito.

Si tu distrito elige a sus integrantes at large, verás a todos los candidatos en la boleta electoral y podrás votar por tantos candidatos como haya puestos vacantes. Si hay dos puestos vacantes, puedes votar por dos candidatos. Si hay tres puestos vacantes, puedes votar por tres candidatos, y así sucesivamente. Las tres personas que reciban más votos se convierten en integrantes del consejo escolar.

Otros distritos escolares se dividen en regiones geográficas, y cada integrante del consejo escolar representa una región. Estos integrantes del consejo escolar deben vivir en esa región.

En algunos distritos escolares, solo las personas registradas para votar que también vivan en esa región pueden votar en esas elecciones para el consejo. Si ese es el caso en tu distrito, solo aparecerán en tu boleta electoral los candidatos para tu área. Solo puedes votar por un candidato, y el candidato que obtenga más votos representará la región.

En otros distritos escolares, como los de Jeffco y Adams 12, los integrantes del consejo escolar deben vivir en una región específica, pero deben ganar las elecciones en todo el distrito. En la boleta electoral de todas las personas que votan en el distrito aparecerán múltiples contiendas para el consejo escolar, y los votantes deben elegir un candidato por cada contienda electoral.

¿Reciben un salario los integrantes de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

La mayoría de los integrantes de los consejos escolares en Colorado son voluntarios no pagados. La ley estatal permite que los integrantes de consejos escolares reciban un pago de hasta $150 al día para asuntos oficiales, y algunos consejos escolares, como los de Denver y Sheridan, han decidido pagarles una pequeña cantidad a sus integrantes.

Un consejo escolar que quiera pagarles a sus integrantes debe realizar una reunión pública sobre la idea y luego una votación sobre el paquete de pago. Sin embargo, la compensación no entra en vigor hasta las siguientes elecciones. Los integrantes del consejo actual no pueden votar para pagarse a sí mismos y solo recibirían la compensación si ganan su reelección.

¿Dónde puedes encontrar más información sobre tu consejo escolar y los candidatos al consejo escolar?

Organizaciones noticieras como Chalkbeat escriben sobre las elecciones de muchos consejos escolares.

Tu diario o canal de televisión locales quizás tengan información sobre los candidatos. También puedes consultar el sitio web de tu distrito escolar. Haz una búsqueda con las palabras “consejo escolar” o “reuniones del consejo” o “elecciones” (en inglés: school board, board meetings y election, respectivamente). Muchos distritos escolares tienen una lista de quiénes son los candidatos y las fechas y el horario de los foros locales de candidatos. Grupos comunitarios como la Liga de Mujeres Votantes (en inglés: League of Women Voters) y organizaciones educativas sin fines de lucro con frecuencia organizan foros o paneles donde puedes escuchar directamente a los candidatos o hasta hacerles preguntas. También puedes visitar los sitios web de los candidatos y ver cómo se describen a sí mismos y comunican sus prioridades.

Lee sobre los candidatos y observa cómo responden a preguntas. Piensa sobre cómo sus perspectivas se comparan con las tuyas y cómo las experiencias que han vivido los han preparado para el puesto. ¿Qué conexión tienen con las escuelas locales? ¿Qué tipo de trabajo han realizado?

Al mismo tiempo, toma en cuenta que los candidatos a consejos escolares—como cualquier político—a veces usan palabras que a todos les suenan bien pero pueden significar diferentes cosas para diferentes personas. Si un candidato habla sobre escuelas exitosas en los vecindarios, sobre escuchar a los padres o apoyar a los maestros, trata de obtener más información sobre lo que quiere decir.

¿Cuándo son las próximas elecciones de los consejos escolares en Colorado?

Las elecciones de consejos escolares en Colorado se realizan en años impares el primer martes en noviembre. Las próximas elecciones son el 7 de noviembre, 2023. Si ya te registraste para votar, debes recibir tu boleta electoral por correo la semana del 16 de octubre. Si no te has registrado para votar, puedes encontrar más información sobre cómo hacerlo aquí.

Criterios para cierre de escuelas presentados a la junta escolar de Denver

2022-06-07T15:00:00+00:00

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Aunque el cierre debería ser la última opción, el distrito escolar de Denver debe considerar cerrar o consolidar las escuelas con menos cantidad de estudiantes, según las recomendaciones del comité presentadas el jueves ante la junta escolar.

Las escuelas primarias e intermedias con “matrícula críticamente baja” (menos de 215 estudiantes matriculados para el próximo año) y las escuelas con menos de 275 estudiantes que esperan perder entre un 8% y 10% del estudiantado en los próximos años deben ser consideradas para consolidación, dicen las recomendaciones. Estos números no se aplican a las escuelas secundarias.

No todas las escuelas identificadas para consideración terminarán realmente cerradas. El distrito debe trabajar de cerca con la comunidad y aplicar una serie de “protectores de equidad”, considerando qué tan lejos tendrían que viajar los estudiantes a la escuela y cuáles escuelas tienen programas especializados, sobre todo para estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y para estudiantes discapacitados, dicen las recomendaciones.

Los miembros del comité dijeron que no se fijaron intencionalmente en qué escuelas estarían afectadas en el límite de matrícula, y por eso no podían decirles a los miembros de la junta exactamente cuántas escuelas serían.

“No se están considerando escuelas específicas”, dijo el Superintendente Alex Marrero. “No hay una lista.”

Las primeras escuelas se identificarían el próximo año escolar, basándose en los datos de ese año, y excepto en circunstancias sumamente extremas, ninguna escuela va a cerrar antes de que termine el año escolar 2023-24.

Los datos de matrícula del estado muestran que este año en Denver hay 27 escuelas primarias e intermedias con menos de 275 estudiantes. De esas, 19 atienden a poblaciones estudiantiles que son más de un 90% estudiantes de minorías raciales o más de un 90% estudiantes de hogares con pocos ingresos, o ambos. Solamente tres de las escuelas tienen un estudiantado mayormente de raza blanca.

La junta escolar no necesita aprobar la política, dijo un portavoz del distrito, pero sí tendrá que aprobar cualquier cierre escolar futuro. En la reunión del jueves, los miembros hicieron preguntas insistentemente, sugiriendo que no están del todo de acuerdo en seguir las recomendaciones del comité.

El vicepresidente Tay Anderson dijo que él no quiere cerrar escuelas en las que los estudiantes de minorías raciales estén progresando académicamente. El comité no recomendó fijarse en el aspecto académico ni en si las escuelas han podido mantener sus programas académicos a pesar de los límites de presupuesto.

Carrie Olson, miembro de la junta y ex educadora bilingüe, dijo que le preocupa cerrar escuelas que ofrecen el tipo de programas bilingües requerido bajo un decreto federal que rige a los distritos. Aunque exista un programa similar a un par de millas de distancia, dijo ella, algunas familias podrían sacar a sus hijos de los programas bilingües en vez de agregar otro viaje en auto o caminata a sus ya complicadas vidas.

Michelle Quattlebaum, miembro de la junta, preguntó si la matrícula del distrito se está estabilizando y señaló que Denver abrió muchas escuelas nuevas durante un periodo en el que — según resulta — la matrícula de las escuelas primarias ya había alcanzado la cifra máxima.

Marrero dijo que iba a buscar retroalimentación de la comunidad en cuanto a los criterios y a programar más discusiones de la junta antes de finalizar cualquier plan.

Denver no es la única ciudad que está teniendo dificultad para responder a bajas en la matrícula, y las decisiones pueden a menudo ser desgarradoras. El Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Aurora pasó por un proceso de cinco años de planificación basado en complicados criterios regionales para identificar qué escuelas se cerrarían, pero aún así los miembros de la junta dudaron cuando los padres lucharon por salvar sus escuelas. Primero votaron por mantener dos escuelas primarias abiertas pero cambiaron de parecer dos meses más tarde.

El Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Jeffco cerró dos escuelas en dos años sin mucho aviso antes de empezar un proceso de planificación esta primavera.

Como las escuelas de Denver son financiadas según la cantidad de estudiantes matriculados, las escuelas pequeñas batallan para poder ofrecer experiencias educativas completas. Es posible que los estudiantes no puedan tomar cursos electivos o que hasta no reciban servicios vitales, y los maestros casi no dan abasto cubriendo múltiples grados. Pero muchas familias aprecian sentirse parte de una comunidad en la que todos los adultos conocen a sus hijos.

Denver usó $6.7 millones en fondos de alivio federales este año para respaldar los presupuestos de las escuelas pequeñas y espera gastar otros $9.8 millones el próximo año.

Denver primero identificó 19 escuelas para posible cierre el año pasado basándose en las reducciones de matrícula proyectadas. Como Marrero recién empezaba su rol y la comunidad estaba revuelta, el distrito hizo pausa en ese proceso y comenzó el otro proceso, difícil al principio, que resultó en estas nuevas recomendaciones. Cinco escuelas en la lista del año pasado ahora tienen una matrícula que supera el límite creado por el comité nuevo, y por lo tanto ya no se considerarían.

Un grupo de escuelas chárter de Denver tampoco cumplen el límite de matrícula. Las leyes estatales no permiten que el distrito unilateralmente cierre escuelas chárter con poca matrícula. El comité recomendó usar la viabilidad financiera para identificar las escuelas que deben considerarse para cierre, y luego incorporar esos criterios en el proceso de contrato y renovación. Algunas escuelas chárter han cerrado voluntariamente debido a poca matrícula.

Las recomendaciones usan la palabra “consolidación” en todo el documento en vez de decir “cierre”, que es mucho más fuerte. “No recomendamos cerrar, sino que siempre se considere consolidar las escuelas” escribió el comité.

Chalkbeat le preguntó al Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Denver cuál es la diferencia entre consolidación y cierre. La diferencia, dijo el portavoz Scott Pribble, es mantener la mayor continuidad posible en programas, normas y valores.

“Si una escuela es identificada en este proceso, pero tiene un excelente programa de arte o una celebración anual valiosa, es posible que se puedan preservar esos aspectos de la escuela durante el proceso de consolidación”, escribió en un email.

Las normas de implantación dicen que todos los estudiantes de una escuela cerrada deben poder asistir a la misma escuela nueva a menos que opten por ir a otra. A todo el personal de la escuela cerrada se le debe garantizar puestos en esa misma escuela nueva. Los programas especializados, como los de dos idiomas, Montessori, o un enfoque en ciencia y tecnología, deben pasar de la escuela cerrada a su escuela de reemplazo designada.

Las recomendaciones también exhortan a las primarias e intermedias a considerar unirse para formar escuelas de Kinder a 8vo grado, o que las intermedias pequeñas se unan a una secundaria para crear una escuela de 6to a 12mo grado.

Este año, el distrito tuvo 90,200 estudiantes desde preescolar hasta el 12mo grado, en comparación con 93,800 en 2019. Sin embargo, la matrícula en las escuelas primarias del distrito tuvo su nivel máximo en 2014, y la de las escuelas intermedias en el 2018.

En Denver, más de un 85% de los niños de edad escolar asisten a las Escuelas Públicas de Denver. Más o menos un 6.6% asiste a escuelas privadas y otro 8% van a escuelas de otro distrito cercano.

Aunque algunas familias buscaron otras opciones debido a la frustración con el aprendizaje remoto durante la pandemia, los funcionarios de Denver dicen que la razón principal de la reducción en la cantidad de familias ha sido una baja en las tasas de nacimiento y el aumento en precios de vivienda. La población de menores de 18 años se redujo drásticamente en la última década en las comunidades gentrificadas del suroeste de Denver, el norte, y Elyria-Swansea, pero aumentó en el sureste de Denver.

Erica Meltzer, Jefa de Redacción, cubre temas de educación y política y además supervisa la cobertura sobre educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Para comunicarte con Erica, escríbele a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Las escuelas más pequeñas de Denver

Estas escuelas primarias e intermedias de Denver no cumplen el límite de matrícula recomendado y podrían considerarse para cierre. No todas las escuelas consideradas se cerrarían, y los criterios todavía no se han finalizado.

Escuelas con menos de 215 estudiantes este año:

Denver Discovery School

International Academy of Denver at Harrington

Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy

Fairview Elementary School

Schmitt Elementary School

Columbian Elementary School

Kaiser Elementary School

Hallett Academy

Whittier ECE-8 School

McKinley-Thatcher Elementary School

Palmer Elementary School

Colfax Elementary School

Escuelas que tienen entre 216 y 274 estudiantes este año:

Columbine Elementary School

Beach Court Elementary School

Cheltenham Elementary School

Eagleton Elementary School

Center for Talent Development at Greenlee

Valverde Elementary School

Ashley Elementary School

Oakland Elementary School

Cowell Elementary School

Lincoln Elementary School

Cole Arts & Science Academy

Godsman Elementary School

McAuliffe Manual Middle School

College View Elementary School

Newlon Elementary School

Fuente: Departamento de Educación de Colorado

Colorado publica su guía de COVID-19 para el año escolar 2022-23

2022-08-18T15:30:00+00:00

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La guía de COVID para el año escolar 2022-23 de Colorado no incluye mandatos de usar mascarilla ni reglas de hacer cuarentena, pero los funcionarios de salud pública dicen que todavía están llevando cuenta de la enfermedad y quieren que los administradores escolares sean francos y honestos con las familias cuando ocurran casos y brotes.

La nueva guía publicada el miércoles trata al COVID mayormente como las demás enfermedades contagiosas y continúa la política establecida por el estado en febrero, cuando terminó la primera ola de la variante omicrón. Al mismo tiempo, el Departamento de Salud Pública y Ambiente de ha seguido teniendo las pruebas rápidas de antígenos disponibles ampliamente y de manera gratuita en escuelas y centros de cuidado de niños, tanto para ofrecer pruebas semanales y para que los estudiantes las utilicen en su hogar.

Colorado vio altos niveles de COVID-19 durante todo el verano, con una tasa de hospitalizaciones que se mantuvo estable y luego comenzó a bajar este mes. Bailey Fosdick, miembro del equipo estatal de encargado de los modelos de COVID en la Escuela de Salud Pública de Colorado, dijo que la falta de medidas de mitigación, como el uso de mascarillas, podría contribuir al contagio en los salones de clase, pero que la combinación del porcentaje de vacunación y de las infecciones recientes puede detener la transmisión.

“Aún con el comienzo de las clases, todos nuestros modelos sugieren que los casos y las hospitalizaciones continuarán bajando por lo menos hasta el final de septiembre”, dijo Fosdick. “Y eso se debe a los altos índices de infección que vimos en la primavera y el verano. Nosotros calculamos que todavía queda bastante inmunidad en la población, particularmente inmunidad contra una infección grave”.

La epidemióloga estatal Rachel Herlihy dijo que la guía nueva tiene como objetivo minimizar las interrupciones para los estudiantes y sus familias, pero que también se mantengan alerta a brotes o a aumentos en transmisión que pudieran hacer necesario tener mayores precauciones. Colorado está ahora en una posición muy distinta a la de hace dos años, dijo ella, y eso amerita un enfoque nuevo.

Chalkbeat habló con Herlihy sobre este nuevo enfoque al COVID ahora que los estudiantes están preparándose para regresar a la escuela. Sus respuestas fueron editadas un poco para simplificarlas y aclararlas.

¿Qué precauciones está recomendando que las escuelas K-12 adopten este año?

No hay requisitos nuevos para el año escolar 2022-2023. La guía va a continuar enfocada en continuar manejando el COVID-19 de manera más similar a la de otras enfermedades contagiosas. Ya no habrá lugares donde los criterios de cuarentena se basaban en el nivel de vacunación en la escuela o la cantidad de pruebas de detección hechas. Todo se ha simplificado bastante, será más sencillo.

El enfoque mayor no será en hacer cuarentena; notarán que el enfoque será en la relación entre la salud pública local, y en que los distritos y las escuelas individuales realmente trabajen juntos para identificar dónde hay aumentos en contagio y cuándo se podrían necesitar estrategias de mitigación adicionales.

Una prioridad importante en la guía nueva es establecer si queremos que los administradores de escuela continúen siendo transparentes y compartan información con los estudiantes, el personal y los padres cuando los casos estén aumentando y cuando haya brotes en las escuelas para que así esas personas tengan la oportunidad de tomar pasos adicionales a fin de protegerse si así lo desean.

¿Las mascarillas todavía son eficaces para evitar el contagio de las variantes nuevas?

Las mascarillas continúan siendo una estrategia importante no solo para protegerse uno mismo, sino también para potencialmente proteger a otras personas. Los lugares en los que sería buena idea usar mascarilla son aquellos en los que se tendrá contacto regular con gente de alto riesgo, o las personas que tienen alto riesgo quizás quieran usarlas para protegerse. El uso de mascarillas también se considerará si se va a estar en un lugar con muchas personas, especialmente cuando uno tiene un evento importante programado. Por ejemplo, el año pasado yo tenía la graduación de mi hija y los niveles de contagio estaban altos. Mi familia y yo usamos mascarillas regularmente por un tiempo para minimizar la probabilidad de exponernos y perdernos su graduación y otros eventos importantes del fin de año escolar.

Como dije, el enfoque va a estar en que todos seamos individualmente responsables de tomar decisiones.

Si una persona tiene una prueba positiva, ¿qué tanto tiempo debe quedarse en casa antes de regresar a la escuela?

La recomendación en ese aspecto no ha cambiado. El periodo de aislamiento debe ser cinco días, y luego la recomendación es usar mascarilla. Esto sigue siendo una estrategia importante en la guía para las escuelas: que toda persona que tenga una prueba positiva y síntomas de COVID-19 debe aislarse y no estar en lugares públicos.

Las tasas de vacunación de niños siguen siendo bajas en muchas partes del estado. ¿Qué ustedes están haciendo para mejorar esas tasas, y cómo afectará eso el contagio en las escuelas?

Las vacunas obviamente son una estrategia importante para educir el riesgo de transmisión, y también para prevenir una infección grave. Nosotros hemos continuado asegurando que los residentes de Colorado tengan un acceso igual a las vacunas y que las escuelas promuevan la vacunación junto con nuestros socios locales de salud pública. [Casi un 38% de los niños de 5 a 11 años de Colorado están vacunados contra COVID-19, en comparación con un 30% a nivel nacional. Entre los niños de 12 a 17 años, el porcentaje es 65%.]

Algunas de las noticias sobre polio que quizás hayan visto recientemente también refuerzan la importancia de las demás vacunas recibidas en la niñez. El momento correcto para que los padres piensen en todas las vacunas necesarias es ahora, mientras se preparan para regresar a la escuela.

El CDPHE ha dejado de monitorear los brotes de COVID en las escuelas. ¿Cómo sabremos si el COVID se está propagando en las escuelas?

Permíteme corregir un poco esa información. Los brotes todavía se tienen que reportar. Todavía estamos vigilando de cerca los datos y trabajando con las agencias locales de salud pública, quienes junto con las escuelas están identificando aumentos en transmisión y aumentos en las ausencias de una manera más alineada con lo que hacemos con otras enfermedades contagiosas. Quizás recuerdes los brotes de norovirus que hubo antes de la pandemia y los brotes de influenza en las escuelas. Este método está realmente haciendo que nuestro enfoque al COVID sea igual al que adoptamos con esas otras enfermedades contagiosas.

Entonces, ¿qué cosas serían indicios de un brote? ¿En qué se están fijando?

Queremos que el personal y los administradores de las escuelas estén alertas y fijándose en las ausencias. De hecho, eso es algo que se supone que hagan siempre, no solo durante la pandemia de COVID. Antes de que empezara la pandemia esa esa la expectativa, que identificaran brotes de casos. ¿Hay estudiantes o empleados con los mismos síntomas? ¿Están todos en los mismos salones de clase o grados?

Si esto ocurre, entonces se comunicarán con las agencias locales de salud pública para preguntar si se requieren otras estrategias adicionales de mitigación (de la misma manera que lo harían para influenza u otras enfermedades contagiosas). Por ejemplo, una estrategia adicional podría ser aumentar las pruebas de detección en las escuelas una vez se identifique que hay casos. En ese momento quizás empiecen nuevamente las cuarentenas, las investigaciones y los procesos para determinar la fuente de los casos. O sea, todas las cosas que ya hemos estado haciendo.

¿Fueron innecesarias las precauciones que muchos maestros y estudiantes tomaron los últimos dos años, por ejemplo las cuarentenas y las mascarillas? ¿Qué ha cambiado?

Yo diría que ahora estamos en un lugar muy diferente y se debe a factores del virus y factores humanos, y por eso nuestra respuesta de salud pública ha cambiado. Tenemos una población que ahora es mayormente inmune, ya sea por vacunarse o porque ya tuvo la infección.

Aparte, el virus también ha cambiado. Seguimos viendo variantes, pero aunque se están haciendo más contagiosas, también están causando menos casos graves. Por eso, todo es bastante distinto ahora. Y creo que eso amerita que ajustemos nuestra respuesta de salud pública.

A principios de la pandemia muchas escuelas dedicaron mucho esfuerzo a desinfectar las superficies. Ahora sabemos que eso no es una fuente mayor de contagio de COVID. ¿Todavía tiene sus beneficios hacerlo?

Estás hablando con alguien que está sumamente interesada en que los espacios estén desinfectados, y no es solo por el COVID, sino también por otras enfermedades contagiosas. Sabemos que desinfectar superficies puede ayudar a prevenir la transmisión de norovirus o influenza, y posiblemente de la viruela del mono. Mientras pensamos en los retos nuevos que se avecinan, la desinfección sigue siendo una estrategia importante.

Hablando de la viruela del mono, ¿habrá instrucciones para las escuelas en relación con ese virus?

Los CDC están activamente trabajando en eso ahora y nos han dicho que anticipemos normas para las escuelas y los centros de cuidado de niño en una o dos semanas. Los niños no han sido la población más afectada — eso es lo que nos están mostrando los datos. Pero obviamente queremos estar preparados al empezar la escuela.

Erica Meltzer cubre temas de política educativa, y supervisa la cobertua de educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Erica enviándole un mensaje a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Gobernador Jared Polis firma proyecto de ley para reducir los exámenes estandarizados. Ahora el gobierno federal tiene que dar su opinión.

2021-03-24T21:09:46+00:00

Es posible que los estudiantes de Colorado tomen mucho menos exámenes estandarizados este año — esto es, si los funcionarios de educación federales firman un acuerdo aprobado el martes en la Asamblea General de Colorado y firmado por el Gob. Jared Polis.

En vez de administrar el grupo completo de exámenes estandarizados que los estudiantes usualmente toman, los funcionarios de educación de Colorado buscarán un permiso para no tener que cumplir los requisitos federales. Si lo logran, este año no habrá exámenes de ciencia ni de estudios sociales, y los estudiantes tomarán un examen de matemáticas o de lectura/escritura, pero no ambos. Los exámenes no se usarán para evaluar el desempeño de los maestros ni para calificar a las escuelas.

Este proyecto de ley representa un acuerdo entre los sindicatos de maestros y distritos escolares, quienes querían cancelar los exámenes por completo, y los grupos de defensores de la educación, que querían que todos los estudiantes tomaran los exámenes de matemáticas y de lectura/escritura.

Los expertos nacionales en el tema de los exámenes dijeron que no saben de ningún otro estado que vaya a seguir la estrategia de Colorado. Y aunque algunos dijeron que este acuerdo proporcionaría suficiente información sobre el desempeño escolar — y quizás del aprendizaje individual de los estudiantes — otros dudan que el gobierno federal lo apruebe.

“El estado de Massachusetts le dará a cada estudiante la mitad de cada uno de los exámenes. Nueva York también está considerando eliminar una parte. Pero que yo sepa, Colorado es el único que está tratando de eliminar el examen completamente en ciertos grados/materias,” escribió en un email Marianne Perie, consultora de exámenes que ha trabajado con varios estados. “Me sorprendería que los federales lo permitan.”

Conseguir ese permiso federal es crítico para Colorado. En una carta enviada en febrero, los más altos funcionarios de educación federales dijeron que los estados deberán administrar los exámenes estandarizados pero ofrecieron flexibilidad para acortar el tamaño de los exámenes o expandir el periodo para tomarlos. Las directrices no mencionaron nada parecido al plan de Colorado.

El proyecto de ley pasó por la Asamblea General en menos de dos semanas. Los legisladores se movieron rápidamente porque la fecha límite para solicitar un permiso está muy cerca, dijo el viernes la Senadora Rachel Zenzinger, auspiciadora del proyecto y presidenta del Comité de Educación del Senado, y demócrata de Arvada.

Los legisladores demócratas originalmente tenían esperanzas de cancelar los exámenes del todo, pero llegaron a un acuerdo cuando quedó claro que tanto la administración de Biden como la de Polis estaban en oposición a ese esfuerzo.

Zenzinger aplaudió a la coalición que respaldó el proyecto de ley, y que incluyó a legisladores republicanos.

“Aparte de qué tan peligroso o impráctico sea administrar este examen, necesitamos de cierta manera limitada incluirlo (el examen) como parte de nuestra solicitud del permiso,” Zenzinger dijo.

Los estudiantes de Colorado típicamente toman exámenes estandarizados de matemáticas y de lectura/escritura en los grados tercero hasta octavo, y también un examen de ciencias o de estudios sociales, dependiendo de su grado. En Colorado, estos exámenes se llaman Colorado Measures of Academic Success, o CMAS.

Si el gobierno federal aprueba el plan de Colorado, los estudiantes en los grados tercero, quinto y séptimo tomarán el examen de lectura/escritura, y los de cuarto, sexto y octavo tomarán el de matemáticas. Los padres tendrían la opción de firmar para que sus hijos no los tomen. Y también podrían optar por que sus hijos tomen ambos.

El Senador Paul Lundeen, republicano de Monument, apoyó firmemente el proyecto de ley durante la sesión del senado el viernes. El acuerdo fue difícil para todos, dijo él, pero también retiene los exámenes para poder medir el aprendizaje de los estudiantes.

“Este proyecto de ley representa lo mejor de ambos mundos,” dijo Lundeen.

Él les pidió a los legisladores que animaran a los padres a pedir que sus hijos tomen ambos exámenes.

“Un niño tiene años de educación académica por venir, y es importante entender dónde están,” dijo él.

Un pequeño número de personas opuestas al proyecto de ley provenientes de ambos lados testificó en la Cámara y el Senado, y dijeron que ellos quieren una de dos cosas: que los exámenes se cancelen completamente o que se continúen sin cambios.

Algunos legisladores tampoco estuvieron de acuerdo. El Senador Bob Rankin, republicano de Carbondale, se opuso al proyecto de ley porque no incluye un examen de inglés en cuarto grado. Colorado está en medio de un esfuerzo más grande para mejorar la enseñanza de lectura, y las interrupciones de este año han causado más preocupación.

El Senador Jeff Bridges, líder de la mayoría y demócrata de Greenwood, dijo que los legisladores encontraron juntos la solución apropiada.

“Este no es el ideal de nadie, sino exactamente lo que Colorado necesita este año,” dijo Bridges.

Los funcionarios de educación del estado esperan presentar la solicitud del permiso esta semana. El Departamento de Educación de Estados Unidos no ha establecido un plazo para contestar las solicitudes. El periodo de exámenes de Colorado comienza la próxima semana.

Las directrices federales no mencionan eliminar materias básicas de grados alternos como una posibilidad, pero un informe sobre métodos de evaluación alternativos preparado a principios de este año por el Center for Assessment para el Council of Chief State School Officers explora la idea.

Hasta ahora Colorado es el primer estado en proponer la eliminación de exámenes en materias básicas, según el Collaborative for Student Success, un grupo de defensa nacional que quiere ver que la mayor cantidad posible de estudiantes tome los exámenes y cree que éstos se pueden usar para dirigir recursos a los estudiantes que necesiten ayuda.

“Tenemos algunas inquietudes en cuanto a si el plan de Colorado podrá lograr eso y estamos observando la situación de cerca,” dijo el grupo en una declaración. “Todavía está por verse si el Departamento de Educación aprobará lo que el estado está pidiendo.”

Joyce Zurkowski, jefa de evaluaciones del Departamento de Educación de Colorado, dijo que las opciones como hacer el examen más corto no son viables en Colorado porque ya el estado acortó bastante los exámenes CMAS en el 2018. Administrar el examen completo en grados alternos dará más datos válidos de qué tan bien los estudiantes están cumpliendo las expectativas académicas.

“Esto es un acuerdo razonable que ojalá resuelva la necesidad de tener datos de los estudiantes y a la misma vez reconocer los muchos, muchos intereses en competencia que las escuelas tienen que cumplir para satisfacer las necesidades académicas, sociales y emocionales de sus estudiantes — y de sus maestros,” dijo ella.

Cómo el estado usa la información dependerá en gran parte de quién participe, dijo Zurkowski, no solamente de cuántos estudiantes, sino también si representan bien todos los trasfondos raciales y étnicos de Colorado, a los discapacitados, y a quieres provienen de hogares bajo el índice de pobreza.

Andrew Ho, profesor y experto en exámenes de la Escuela Graduada de Educación de Harvard, dijo que darles exámenes a los estudiantes en cada materia en años alternos es un balance adecuado entre el deseo de tener información sobre el aprendizaje y el deseo de reducir un poco la carga de dar exámenes.

Una estrategia así proporcionaría suficiente información para saber cuáles escuelas están batallando más ahora que hace dos años, dijo él, lo cual debería ser el propósito principal de los exámenes ahora. Los padres perderían la oportunidad de ver un cuadro más completo sobre el desempeño de sus hijos, pero los que formulan políticas podrían ver dónde se necesita más ayuda.

Ho enfatizó que para tener una idea precisa de eso, los estados necesitan cambiar cómo analizan y reportan los datos de los exámenes, en particular porque el porcentaje de estudiantes que no los tomarán será mayor y decenas de miles de estudiantes no están en los sistemas escolares.

Al mismo tiempo, dijo Ho, Colorado debe determinar cómo resolverá las brechas de aprendizaje identificadas por los exámenes, especialmente con los $1,200 millones en fondos federales que recibirán las escuelas K-12 del estado mediante el último plan de alivio del Congreso por el coronavirus. Las escuelas que estén teniendo dificultades podrían recibir mucho más apoyo financiero.

Sin un plan así, Ho dijo que él no ve el punto de dar exámenes.

“Esta es una situación de ‘o lo aceptas o te callas’ para los defensores de los exámenes educativos,” dijo Ho. “La teoría es convincente y la oportunidad está ahí, pero ellos necesitan un plan porque hay mucha desconfianza.”

El reportero nacional de Chalkbeat Matt Barnum aportó a este reportaje.

Traducción por Milly Suazo.

Colorado: Solicitud de escuelas chárter no puede preguntar sobre discapacidad

2022-02-01T15:26:28+00:00

Lee en inglés.

Las escuelas chárter de Colorado ya no podrán preguntar en sus solicitudes si los alumnos necesitan servicios de educación especial.

El cambio en esta regla hace que Colorado cumpla con las normas federales emitidas hace más de cinco años. La Junta Estatal de Educación aprobó el cambio por unanimidad el miércoles.

Las escuelas chárter también tendrán que dejar claro en sus páginas de internet que no discriminan y que capacitan a sus empleados para contestar cualquier pregunta sobre las políticas de admisión correctamente para así no disuadir a las familias de estudiantes con necesidades especiales, lo cual incluye a los discapacitados y los que están aprendiendo inglés.

El cambio ocurrió después de que la organización Disability Law Colorado presentara quejas ante la Oficina de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Educación de EE.UU. contra 29 escuelas chárter que hacían preguntas sobre discapacidad en sus solicitudes.

La mayoría de las escuelas actualizaron rápidamente su solicitud en respuesta a las quejas. Los administradores de muchas de las escuelas dijeron que no tenían intención de discriminar, sino solamente de planificar las necesidades de los estudiantes, pero los defensores de estudiantes con discapacidades dijeron que ese tipo de preguntas podría disuadir a los padres.

Las preguntas de la solicitud parecían violar las normas federales emitidas en un memorando en 2016, pero eran alentadas explícitamente en las reglas de las escuelas chárter de Colorado, que les decían a las escuelas que determinaran “durante el proceso de admisión antes de la matrícula” si una escuela era la adecuada para un estudiante con necesidades especiales, incluidos aquellos con discapacidades y aquellos que están aprendiendo inglés.

Bill Kottenstette, director de Schools of Choice Unit dentro del Departamento de Educación de Colorado, dijo en la reunión del miércoles que esa regla de las escuelas chárter fue adoptada en 2012, antes de la adopción de las normas federales.

Las escuelas chárter de Colorado matriculan menos estudiantes con discapacidades que el promedio del estado - y menos que las escuelas chárter en la mayoría de los otros estados, según un estudio del Center for Learner Equity.

El estudio fue comisionado por el Departamento de Educación de Colorado, que convocó un grupo de trabajo para sugerir cambios en las reglas. Esa labor estaba en progreso cuando se presentaron las quejas.

Los cambios en las reglas dejan claro que las conversaciones sobre qué servicios necesitan los estudiantes deben tener lugar después de admitirlos a la escuela. Las reglas nuevas prohíben que las escuelas chárter hagan preguntas en su solicitud que pudieran identificar a un estudiante como parte de grupos demográficos legalmente protegidos contra discriminación, requieren que las solicitudes sean accesibles para personas con discapacidades, y requieren que las escuelas ofrezcan asistencia para los padres cuyo dominio del inglés sea limitado.

Durante la reunión del miércoles, Alex Medler, director ejecutivo de la Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers, dijo que una investigación reciente comisionada por el grupo encontró que los padres se quejaron repetidamente sobre la falta de información sobre cómo funcionan las admisiones de las escuelas chárter para estudiantes con discapacidades.

Él elogió los cambios en las reglas pero dijo que aún se necesita más.

“Necesitamos educar a los padres sobre sus opciones, y ayudar al distrito y al personal de las escuelas chárter a comunicarlas,” dijo.

La reportera senior de Chalkbeat Ann Schimke aportó a este reportaje.

Colorado poll finds voters skeptical of college, more supportive of career education

2023-12-05T12:46:00+00:00

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It’s more important for Colorado schools to prepare students for the workforce than to prepare them to attend college.

That’s the opinion of more than 60% of respondents in a recent poll of education attitudes among Colorado voters. Magellan Strategies surveyed a representative group of 1,550 Colorado registered voters in September. The survey has a margin of error of 2.5%.

Magellan Strategies has done regular polling about education attitudes for several years. This is the first time the firm has included questions about CTE and higher education attitudes.

Respondents cited the high cost of college and questioned how useful college is to helping graduates get jobs, even though the majority of the respondents had a bachelor’s degree or higher themselves. Registered voters as a group have higher education and higher income levels than the general population.

Magellan Strategies CEO David Flaherty said some Republicans and conservatives brought up ideological concerns — such as colleges being hotbeds of “woke” thinking — but across the political spectrum, respondents wondered about the value of higher education, sometimes citing their own experiences of high student debt and low-paying jobs. Others worried about increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems doing away with jobs.

“You can feel that skepticism about the availability of a white-collar job at the other end,” Flaherty said.

Magellan’s findings echo those of a national poll of Gen Z students earlier this year that also found growing skepticism among young people of the value of a four-year degree. Those respondents still thought education after high school was important, but they were more interested in trade schools, industry certificates, and two-year programs that would help them get good-paying jobs with less debt.

Flaherty said colleges should take note of the findings, especially as they brace for declining enrollment. They need to get costs under control and show families and policy makers that an education is worth the investment of time and money, he said.

The flip side is that career and technical education scores very well with voters and helps counter concerns among conservative voters that schools are on the wrong track, Flaherty said.

Magellan found that more than half of respondents weren’t sure if their local school districts offered career and technical education, but more than 86% would have a more favorable view of their school district if they knew about such programs, which can range from auto mechanics and cosmetology to health sciences and graphic design.

The poll showed that nearly half of voters think that schools are on the wrong track, and less than a third think they’re on the right track. That’s a worse view of education than voters had before the pandemic but similar to more recent polls.

Among conservatives, negative views of schools appeared to be shaped by national conservative media, Flaherty said, with respondents noting concerns about how schools handle gender identity and whether books in school libraries contain sexual content. Progressive voters are concerned about low funding and what they see as conservative attacks on public education.

Compared to last year, more Colorado voters said schools would provide a better education if they had more money — 61% compared with 56% in April 2022. But nearly half of respondents said they doubted their local school district was managing its finances wisely.

Asked about their top priorities, respondents said schools should focus on attracting and retaining high-quality educators, raising pay to keep pace with inflation, and preparing students for the workforce.

Magellan also asked respondents how they feel about the prospect of closing schools. With lower birth rates, many Colorado school districts are seeing fewer students, which in turn means less state funding. Jeffco Public Schools, the state’s second largest school district, closed 21 schools in the last two years, despite pushback from parents. Others, such as Denver Public Schools, have balked at widespread closures in the face of community backlash.

When the downsides of small schools — such as offering fewer students services and less arts programming due to budget constraints — were explained to respondents, more than half said that school districts should consider closing schools.

See the full poll results, including regional breakdowns, here.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Proposition HH election results: Voters reject property tax measure that would have shored up school funding

2023-11-08T04:11:09+00:00

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Colorado voters strongly rejected Proposition HH, Democrats’ effort to offer property tax relief while shoring up school funding.

Advocates on both sides seemed to have anticipated the outcome, with the “no” campaign dubbing their watch party a celebration a full day before polls closed and the “yes” campaign not holding a watch party at all.

Proposition HH would have offered home and business owners some relief from rising property taxes while also allowing the state to keep and spend more money from other taxes, such as sales and income taxes. Much of that extra money would have been placed in the state education fund, where it could be used to support K-12 schools. In turn, less money would be available for taxpayer refunds after next year.

“Ultimately, people wanted simple property tax reform, and instead they came up with a 48-page bill that took away TABOR refunds without offering enough property tax relief,” said Michael Fields, president of Advance Colorado Action, a key player in the “no” campaign.

The defeat has renewed calls for a special legislative session, something Gov. Jared Polis has steadfastly refused to commit to. A spokesman said via text message Tuesday evening that Polis is disappointed voters didn’t pass property tax relief, and he is considering next steps.

Lawmakers have until December to provide some sort of property tax relief before the impact of 40% valuation increases hits homeowners and business owners. Any effort to cut property taxes, in turn, will affect funding for schools and many other local districts.

“All these property tax dollars coming in are what allows the governor to balance the budget and pay down the negative factor,” said Bell Policy Center President Scott Wasserman, who supported Proposition HH. “If this money goes away, we have to make up for it.”

The negative factor refers to the more than $10 billion Colorado lawmakers have withheld from K-12 schools to pay for other budget priorities since the start of the Great Recession. This withholding is also known as the budget stabilization factor. Next year’s proposed Colorado budget is the first since 2008 to fully fund schools. Higher local property taxes over the last several years have helped make that possible. More local funding means the state doesn’t need to kick in as much to meet constitutional funding requirements.

Education groups, including the Colorado Association of School Boards, the Colorado Education Association, and Democrats for Education Reform, all backed Proposition HH and provided much of the more than $2 million spent in favor of the measure.

They hoped the extra money Proposition HH would provide for schools would allow funding to increase in the future or help the state avoid cuts in a future recession. They also feared that not providing property tax relief would give fuel to Initiative 50, a measure Fields’ group has placed on the ballot for 2024 that could cap the growth of property taxes at 4% a year.

Wasserman called Initiative 50 a “school district destroyer.”

Yet Polis consistently refused to talk about Proposition HH’s impact on school funding, instead focusing on property tax relief.

Wasserman said the “yes” campaign might have benefited from a more honest conversation.

“Everyone involved should have talked much more holistically than just about property taxes,” he said. “I think the governor could have been more forthcoming with voters about the problem this was trying to solve.”

Wasserman said property taxes pay for so many critical local services, from fire districts to libraries to schools, and voters need to think about how property tax relief affects funding for those services.

Fields said he’ll withdraw Initiative 50 if the legislature provides more significant property tax relief than was offered in Proposition HH and agrees to some sort of cap on future increases. He rejected the idea that school districts would be harmed by a cap on future revenue.

“It’s a matter of prioritization,” Fields said. “I think there should be more money coming from the state. They should be fully funding schools and making sure more of that money gets into the classroom.”

School funding levels in Colorado are set by the state through a formula. The state makes up for whatever local property taxes don’t cover. That means whatever happens with property taxes has major implications for the state budget. Even as the state has struggled to meet its constitutional obligations to fund schools, K-12 education takes up more than a third of the general fund and crowds out other budget priorities, including higher education.

At the same time, Colorado funds its schools below the national average, and rural school districts offer some of the lowest starting salaries in the country.

Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected efforts to raise taxes statewide to increase school funding or to allow the state to keep and spend more money from existing taxes.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Proposition HH: How the property tax measure would affect school funding

2023-10-30T20:53:04+00:00

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Colorado voters face a complex decision on their November ballots that will affect property tax bills, income tax refunds, and school funding for at least the next decade.

Proposition HH asks: Shall the state reduce property taxes for homes and businesses, including expanding property tax relief for seniors, and backfill counties, water districts, fire districts, ambulance and hospital districts, and other local governments and fund school districts by using a portion of the state surplus up to the Proposition HH cap as defined in this measure?

If that sounds complicated, it is.

Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic lawmakers placed Proposition HH on the ballot this spring as homeowners received new property assessments that increased their values an average of 40%. Lawmakers worried that dramatic property tax increases would hurt businesses and lower income homeowners and give momentum to conservative efforts to cut taxes further.

Proposition HH would reduce how much property value is taxable, blunting the impact of higher assessments. It also would limit how much additional revenue most local governments could collect year over year. School districts would be exempt from that second provision.

This means property owners would pay less under Proposition HH than they would otherwise — but also that park and library districts, fire departments, and school districts would collect less tax revenue than under current law.

At the same time, state government is bringing in more money than ever from income and sales taxes due to a strong economy. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limits how much spending can increase to the rate of population growth plus inflation. Any money collected over that cap — estimated to be $1.9 billion next budget year alone — must be returned to taxpayers as refunds.

Proposition HH would raise the spending limit, allowing the state government to keep more money from existing taxes and reducing future TABOR refunds. The extra money would be used to backfill some of the lost local revenue, shore up the state education fund, and provide rental assistance.

Proponents say Proposition HH balances property tax relief and the need to fund critical government services. It would allow Colorado to protect education funding against future recessions and keep up with inflation. If Proposition HH passes, Colorado could meet its constitutional school funding obligations and then some — something the state hasn’t done for more than a decade.

Opponents of Proposition HH say it’s essentially a tax increase to fund schools — something voters have repeatedly rejected at the state level — disguised as property tax relief. There are no guardrails to ensure the extra money would improve teacher pay or student achievement, they say.

Here’s a closer look at how Prop HH would affect school funding.

How are property taxes and school funding related?

Colorado funds its school with a mix of local property tax revenue and state funding that comes from income taxes, sales taxes, oil and gas revenue, and other sources. Colorado uses a formula to determine how much total funding each school district should get per student. Whatever local taxes don’t cover, state funding makes up the rest.

By limiting the taxable value of property, Proposition HH slows the growth in local revenue and increases the state obligation toward K-12 schools.

Out of a roughly $9 billion K-12 budget, legislative analysts estimate the state would owe school districts an extra $130 million this budget year under Proposition HH, an extra $310 million next year, and another $360 million in the 2025-26 school year.

How would Colorado backfill school district budgets?

Proposition HH would raise the cap on state government spending by 1% a year, allowing the state to keep and spend more money from existing taxes. Less money would be available for TABOR refunds going forward.

That retained revenue would backfill local government budgets. Lawmakers have pledged to hold school districts harmless, meaning they’ll get the same amount of money under Proposition HH as without it. Other local taxing districts, like fire and library districts, would get some backfill but not as much.

State analysts estimate Proposition HH would generate $125 million for schools in the 2024-25 budget year and up to $2.16 billion in the 2031-32 budget year. But the farther out the economic forecast goes, the more uncertainty there is.

Over time, the need for backfill would go down as property values continued to rise, and the state would have more money in the education fund. Depending on economic conditions, this money could allow Colorado to increase school funding or avoid cuts during a recession.

Would Proposition HH get rid of TABOR refunds?

Under current law, Colorado is set to return billions of dollars to taxpayers over the next several years, with higher earners getting larger refunds. Next year, budget analysts estimate taxpayers will receive between $586 and $1,834 depending on how much they earn.

Under Proposition HH, all taxpayers would receive a flat refund of $833 next year, but after that, the state would keep more of the excess money and refunds would be smaller.

Whether money is available for TABOR refunds would depend on economic conditions and how much revenue the state collects. That’s true today as well — some years, taxpayers don’t see any money back.

But under Proposition HH, as the state spending limits got higher, it would become more likely that taxpayers wouldn’t get refunds in the future.

Do Colorado schools need more funding?

Colorado’s school funding is below the national average, despite recent increases. Starting salaries in small rural districts are among the lowest in the nation, and even districts that have raised teacher pay haven’t kept up with the rising housing costs.

Amendment 23, approved by voters in 2000, requires that education funding increase each year at the rate of population growth plus inflation. But that hasn’t happened since 2008. When tax revenues plummeted during the Great Recession, lawmakers started diverting education money to other priorities. This withholding, known as the negative factor or the budget stabilization factor, has added up to more than $10 billion that never went to schools.

Even without Prop HH, Colorado is on track to eliminate the withholding next year. But with spending obligations linked to inflation, and potentially billions needing to be returned to taxpayers under current law, it’s unclear whether Colorado could sustain constitutionally required funding levels into the future. K-12 spending takes up more than a third of Colorado’s general fund, squeezing out other programs, including higher education.

Conservatives say the state could fund schools adequately if lawmakers just prioritized education. They question whether school districts are spending too much on administrative costs instead of paying teachers more.

Progressive education advocates say even meeting Amendment 23 requirements wouldn’t be enough. Adjusting for inflation, that would bring Colorado to 1989 funding levels, while schools today are expected to do a lot more, from providing advanced career and technical education to supporting students’ mental health.

Is Prop HH a property tax measure or a school funding measure?

Supporters have pitched Proposition HH as property tax relief. But back in May, then-Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno called it “a key piece of the solution” to decades of underfunding Colorado schools.

Education groups, including teachers unions and Education Reform Now Advocacy, are major backers of the property tax measure. The Colorado Association of School Boards has also come out in support.

“Any measure that tries to reduce property tax revenue has to account for what happens to school funding,” said Scott Wasserman, president of the left-leaning Bell Policy Center, which supports the measure. “Opponents try to act like a bait and switch. It’s not a bait and switch.”

Wasserman said doing nothing risks provoking a taxpayer backlash that could lead to even stricter limits on the growth of government that would hurt schools. Already, conservative activist Michael Fields has placed a 4% property tax cap on the ballot for 2024.

Along with Republican lawmakers and conservative activists, opponents include the Colorado Municipal League, the Colorado State Fire Chiefs, and the conservative education group Ready Colorado.

An analysis from the Common Sense Institute estimates an extra $9.6 billion would go to education over the next decade under Proposition HH. The analysis notes that school districts don’t have to use the money to raise teacher pay, and there’s no guarantee student outcomes will improve.

“I’ve been surprised to see how much money could be allocated to education without any guardrails,” said Kelly Caufield, the institute’s executive director.

The Common Sense Institute estimates 95% of additional state revenue would go to schools under Proposition HH. But lawmakers aren’t required to increase school funding above Amendment 23 requirements. Caufield said the money could end up freeing up general fund dollars to grow other programs.

Tracie Rainey of the Colorado School Finance Project doesn’t see Proposition HH as a school funding measure, just a way to mitigate the impact of property tax relief.

“If the economy stays strong and if we don’t have an economic downturn and if inflation isn’t running wild, then possibly, down the road, there could be additional dollars,” she said. “There’s a lot of ifs in there that make it hard to know.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Adams 12 school board candidate sent dozens of CRT-obsessed emails

2023-10-26T19:29:10+00:00

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As a candidate for school board, Ben Helgeson says he wants to serve as a bridge between parents and teachers, opening up dialogue and restoring trust.

As a parent, Helgeson sent dozens of emails to district administrators, teachers, and union leaders accusing a teacher of being a “priestess” of critical race theory, accusing the union of pushing a racist, religious ideology, and accusing Superintendent Chris Gdowski of being complicit in it all.

Helgeson is part of a slate of conservative candidates seeking to shift the balance of power in Adams 12 Five Star Schools, a diverse suburban district north of Denver. It’s one of dozens of Colorado districts seeing contested school board races this year shaped by religious and political divisions. Teachers unions and conservative groups are spending big in an effort to sway voters.

In Adams 12, the public rhetoric is more muted. Candidates on both sides talk about paying teachers more, improving academic outcomes, and keeping students safe. But Helgeson also is deeply concerned the teachers union is pushing critical race theory into Adams 12 classrooms.

Chalkbeat obtained many of Helgeson’s emails through a public records request. Some were redacted or withheld. Helgeson’s first complaints involved quarantines and masking rules, but soon he was writing almost entirely about critical race theory. Critical race theory is an academic field that analyzes how race is embedded in American laws and policies, but it has become a catch-all term for progressive approaches in education.

Helgeson wrote that teacher training courses offered by the Colorado Education Association on books like Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility” and Ibram X. Kendi’s “How To Be an Antiracist” were themselves systematically racist and would pave the way to authoritarianism. An Adams 12 high school teacher led one of the courses.

In one email, which bore the subject line “Happy Memorial Day and Addressing Inconsistencies,” Helgeson linked to a proposal from Kendi that the United States should create a Department of Anti-racism to monitor policies and public officials’ statements and intervene to prevent racial disparities.

“That would mean, for example, that Ibram or one of his racial gestapo deputies could enter my home, slaughter my family, harvest our organs, take all of our material possessions and financial resources and re-allocate them as they determine, in accordance with their supreme power,” Helgeson wrote.

Helgeson said in an interview with Chalkbeat that he stands behind the substance of what he wrote, including his fears that anti-racism could lead to bloodshed, but he has some regrets about how he expressed himself.

“I’ll be honest,” he said. “That was me feeling like they’re not going to listen to me anyway, so I’ll say whatever I want to say. I felt like I was told to basically shut up.”

Political divisions hard to discern in Adams 12

The 35,000-student Adams 12 district is the sixth largest in Colorado and serves a diverse student body that is 42% white, 44% Latino, and 6.5% Asian American. More than 45% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, a measure of poverty. Those students are concentrated in the southern part of the district, while the northern half is more affluent.

The district is also politically diverse, with a large share of unaffiliated voters, and saw bitter disagreements over remote learning, masks, and quarantines during the first year of the COVID pandemic.

Two years ago, while conservatives won board majorities in many Republican-dominated parts of Colorado, the blue and purple communities along the Front Range mostly saw union-backed candidates who favored progressive approaches prevail. Conservatives picked up seats here and there, including one on the Adams 12 board.

This year, conservative education group Ready Colorado is backing Helgeson, Rebecca Elmore, and Ken Murphy-Montoya, while the teachers union is backing incumbent board president Lori Goldstein and newcomers Paula Battistelli and Alexis Marsh-Holschen.

Libertarian Brian Klein is running independently.

In questionnaires posted on the Adams 12 district website, candidates describe their deep ties to the district and their commitment to improving education. Political divides are hard to discern. Mailers from independent expenditure committees, though, are making the divisions clearer. Helgeson and Murphy-Montoya also participated in a voter guide prepared by Transform Colorado, a group that seeks to “restore biblical values in the public square.” They answered questions about pronouns, parental rights and sex education.

Equity audit, anti-racist training prompted emails

Helgeson worked as a teacher in neighboring Westminster Public Schools for 19 years. He names Thomas Sowell, an economist, professor, and prominent Black conservative, as an inspiration. Helgeson was placed on unpaid leave in October 2021 because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID. He sued the district. Court records show he reached a settlement last year. In an interview, he described this as a time of grief and suffering, but said it also opened a door to a new opportunity as the manager of a fly fishing business.

If elected, Helgeson said he would work to recruit and retain experienced teachers with higher pay, signing bonuses, and incentives to work in high poverty schools. He would promote co-teaching and disciplinary practices that support safe schools, he said.

“The campaign that he’s running is not representative of the person that I experienced,” the teacher who was targeted in Helgeson’s emails told Chalkbeat. “At least stand in who you are as a person. If you are going to make threats to educators, at least be authentic and not this other person.”

Asked if his responses to candidate questionnaires would give voters enough information to understand where he stood on controversial issues, Helgeson said that was a good question, and he doesn’t know. If the district stays focused on academics, it shouldn’t come up, he added.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, the teacher asked to remain anonymous because she fears further harassment. She said Helgeson never directly called for her to be fired, but she was alarmed by how he described her in his emails and that he emailed her again after Gdowski told Helgeson not to. It was especially upsetting to be accused of supporting authoritarian beliefs because her family includes people killed and imprisoned by both the Nazis and the Soviets, she said. In one email, Helgeson told the teacher and Gdowski the “cautionary tale” of a California teacher who resigned under pressure after a viral video showed him making left-wing statements. A district investigation also found he violated policy.

District administrators had previously told Helgeson that CRT was not taught in Adams 12. A letter from Gdowski to parents describing a planned equity audit was evidence to the contrary, Helgeson wrote, describing equity as “the holy grail of Critical Race Theorists. It’s their god.”

Correspondence shows district leaders were concerned about the volume and tone of the emails and discussed how best to respond. Helgeson says now that he particularly regrets calling the superintendent “an enemy of the state” and a “complete failure.” The school board is responsible for hiring and supervising the superintendent. Helgeson said he was deeply frustrated at the time, didn’t appreciate the competing pressures Gdowski was under, and “was encouraged by other parents who were saying far worse.”

Helgeson still has concerns about training courses offered by the union.

“A parent might hear from a school that CRT is not part of a given curriculum, but a course like that is designed not necessarily to come up with curriculum but to embed some of these ideas that are highly politically charged, unproven, and even religious into the classroom,” he said in an interview.

The teacher targeted by Helgeson said her anti-racist philosophy is about being aware of her own biases and accounting for them so she can be a better teacher, not about any lessons she teaches to students. In the classroom, she said she’s very careful about keeping her political beliefs private so students can reach their own conclusions.

Asked what he would do about these courses, which teachers pay for and take on their own time, if elected, Helgeson hedged. He’s just one person, he said, and there would need to be a conversation. But he wants parents to know what kind of training teachers are seeking out, and said teachers should only move up the salary schedule when they take courses the district deems useful.

Teachers who engage in what he sees as political indoctrination from any direction, he said, may be well-intentioned and should be given an opportunity to change their ways. But if they don’t, “now you have a political mercenary and not a public educator.”

The election is Nov. 7.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Why school board elections matter and why you should vote

2023-10-11T14:39:44+00:00

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Every other November, Colorado voters choose the people who make important decisions about their local schools. But in most school districts, very few people vote in these school board elections — and most of them aren’t parents of current students.

What exactly is a school board? And why should you care about voting in these odd-year elections?

In this story:

Why do school board elections matter, and should you vote?
What does a school board do?
Examples of school board responsibilities
How is a school board member different from a superintendent or other school administrators?
How are school board members chosen in Colorado?
Who do school board members represent?
Do school board members in Colorado get paid?
How can I learn more about my local school board and the school board candidates?
When is the next school board election in Colorado?

Why do school board elections matter, and should you vote?

Voting for school board members who share your values or perspective makes it more likely schools will run in a way that you think is good for kids and your community. If you don’t vote, you give that power to other people. In many school district elections, less than a third of eligible voters vote. Sometimes just a few hundred or even a few dozen votes separate the winners and losers. That means every vote matters.

What does a school board do?

In Colorado, school districts are run by elected officials who serve on the school board. School boards usually have five to seven members. The main function of a school board is hiring the superintendent, who is like the chief executive of the school district and responsible for day-to-day running of local schools. School board members supervise and evaluate the superintendent. School board members also vote on the budget and pay raises for teachers and other staff, and they set policies that control what happens in schools.

Examples of school board responsibilities

A school board might cast the final vote on whether to close a school with low test scores or too few students — or vote to change budget priorities so those schools have more money. Or a school board might vote to adopt a new curriculum if the old one isn’t working well to educate students.

School boards also have the final say on many contentious issues. If a student is expelled and the family appeals to keep that student in school, or if a teacher is fired and appeals to keep their job, the school board makes the final decision. School boards have voted to opt out of Colorado’s comprehensive sex education standards, to remove police from schools, and to bring police back.

Exactly how school boards operate can vary from district to district. For example, in 2020, school boards in some districts voted on whether to move to online learning, while in others, the superintendent made that decision.

How is a school board member different from a superintendent or other school administrator?

School board members don’t typically get involved in the details of running the district. That’s the superintendent’s job.

School board members can’t discipline a teacher or principal or directly tell them what to do. They don’t set bus routes or decide which routes to cut if there’s a driver shortage. School board members don’t directly pick which schools to close.

In most situations, the superintendent will make a recommendation to the school board. The school board can vote to approve or reject the recommendation or ask for other options.

School board members also can raise awareness about problems and ask for policy changes. If enough board members agree, the superintendent will work on that idea.

How are school board members chosen in Colorado?

Most school board members are elected by the registered voters in that district.

School board members serve staggered four-year terms. On a five-member board, three of the seats would be up for election one year. Then two years later, the other two seats would open up. The Denver school board has seven members, with four seats open one year and three seats open two years later.

Most school boards have term limits, so members can’t serve more than eight years total.

School boards always have an odd number of members so they don’t end up with a tie — though ties can still happen if someone skips a meeting or abstains from a vote.

Sometimes a school board member quits in the middle of their term. In that case, the other school board members choose someone to finish the term.

Sometimes school districts cancel school board elections because there aren’t enough candidates for a contested vote. That saves some money but means voters don’t have a choice in who runs the schools. Whoever volunteered becomes the school board member.

Who do school board members represent?

Some school districts elect school board members at large. That means each school board member represents the entire district, rather than a specific region within it.

If your district elects members at large, you’ll see all the candidates on the ballot and can vote for as many candidates as there are open seats. If there are two open seats, you can vote for two candidates. If there are three open seats, you can vote for three candidates, and so on. The top vote-getters serve on the school board.

Other school districts are divided into geographical regions, and each school board member represents a region. These school board members have to live in that region.

In some school districts, only voters who also live in that region get to vote in those school board races. If that’s the case in your district, you’ll see just the candidates for your area on the ballot. You can vote for one candidate, and the top vote-getter will represent that region.

In other school districts, such as Jeffco and Adams 12, school board members have to live in a certain region, but they have to win election districtwide. Every voter in the school district sees multiple school board races on their ballot, and they’ll choose one candidate for each race.

Do school board members in Colorado get paid?

Most Colorado school board members are unpaid volunteers. State law allows school board members to be paid up to $150 a day for official business, and a few school boards, such as Denver and Sheridan, have decided to pay members small stipends.

A school board that wants to pay its members has to hold a public meeting on the idea and then vote on the pay package. Compensation doesn’t go into effect, though, until after the next election. Current board members can’t vote to pay themselves and would only get paid if they win re-election.

How can I learn more about my school board and the school board candidates?

News organizations like Chalkbeat write about many school board elections.

Your local newspaper or TV station might have information about candidates. You can check your school district website. Search for the words “school board” or “board meetings” or “election.” Many school districts list who is running and the dates and times of local candidate forums. Community groups like the League of Women Voters and educational nonprofits often host forums or panels where you can hear from the candidates in their own words or even ask them questions. You can also check out candidate websites and see how candidates describe themselves and talk about their priorities.

Read about the candidates or watch how they answer questions. Think about how their views compare with yours or how their life experience might have prepared them. What connection do they have to local schools? What kinds of work have they done?

At the same time, be aware that school board candidates — like all politicians — sometimes use words that sound good to everyone but can mean different things to different people. If a candidate talks about strong neighborhood schools, listening to parents, or supporting teachers, look for more information about what they mean.

When is the next school board election?

Colorado school board elections take place in odd-numbered years on the first Tuesday in November. The next election is Nov. 7, 2023. If you’re already a registered voter, look for your ballot in the mail the week of Oct. 16. If you’re not a registered voter, you can find more information about voting here.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Youth-led workshops push school board candidates to address student needs

2023-10-11T02:46:40+00:00

Students may be the people with the most at stake in any school board election, but most of them can’t vote.

For youth leaders with YAASPA — Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism — that’s all the more reason to ask candidates’ hard questions and push for real answers.

“Potential candidates for the school board hold a lot of power. They’re involved in making very pivotal changes that affect both staff and youth,” said Jason Hoang, a youth leader with YAASPA and a graduate of Aurora’s Hinkley High School who now attends the University of Southern California.

YAASPA youth have been organizing and leading candidate workshops since 2017, starting in Aurora. This year, they’re holding workshops in Aurora on Wednesday, in Denver on Oct. 20, and in the Cherry Creek School District on Oct. 25. Community members can attend virtually.

When Hoang first got involved in organizing an Aurora candidate workshop in 2021, he didn’t know much about the school board, but he did know that changing anything significant would probably have to go through them.

“Most concerns are coming from the voices of youth,” he said, “but if they don’t even know who their school board is, how can they convey their concerns to the school board?”

In the months leading up to the workshops, youth leaders research the candidates and how their school board could influence the issues they care about, such as better academic resources for their schools, diverse curriculum, retaining educators of color, and student mental health.

By design, these events are not debates or forums. The format encourages interaction between students and potential school board members rather than arguments between the candidates. Some questions are fun and spontaneous, designed to help the candidates relax and be themselves. Others are specific to the candidates, their proposals, and their approach to the job.

Sakari Mackey, a senior at Cherokee Trail High School, said students want to get a feel for why the person wants to be a school board member. What drives them to do the work and what is their purpose?

Mackey said she wants to see how candidates will connect with families and students and prioritize student needs.

“I feel like oftentimes, we’re only focusing on the schools and what the principal needs as opposed to what the students’ needs are and how the school can provide for the students,” she said.

Candidates are often eager to participate, said Ameya Kamani, a graduate of the Cherry Creek district who now attends Cornell University, but they are sometimes thrown off when students enforce the format and time limits. When the candidates can’t give their rehearsed speeches, they are less polished, he said, but they’re also more authentic.

The questions young people have for school board members are sometimes different than those adults ask. Students care about getting a good education, Hoang said, but talking about test scores feels dehumanizing, especially for students who attend schools that have been labeled as bad.

“The lack of resources is usually dismissed,” he said. “But I think that it’s somewhat traumatizing, just being so driven in school, but not being given the resources to fully succeed.”

School safety, the presence of school resource officers, mental health support, and curriculum are all important issues for students, YAASPA youth leaders said. So is supporting teachers so they can do their best work. They also want elected officials who will treat students like real constituents with valid concerns that deserve attention.

“We have always had a goal as an organization to not just be civically engaged but have a mechanism to build relationships with people who desire to govern,” said YAASPA co-founder and CEO Janiece Mackey. “We have to stop romanticizing youth voice and civic engagement and be in partnership with them and honor their labor.”

Hoang said the experience of organizing the workshops have made him and his peers more informed, sophisticated voters in national elections. Kamani said it helped him talk to his immigrant parents about what a school board does and why they should vote.

Sakari Mackey, Janiece Mackey’s daughter, is excited to vote in her first election this fall.

“These quote-unquote small elections, they do matter because those small policies will directly affect you and your students and your kids,” she said.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Sakari Mackey attends Cherokee Trail High School. A previous version named the wrong school.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Absenteeism remains high, with 31% of Colorado students missing too much school last year

2023-10-04T23:30:50+00:00

Nearly a third of Colorado students were chronically absent last year, missing 10% or more of the days they were supposed to be in school, according to new state data released Wednesday.

That’s slightly better than the 2021-22 school year — when COVID’s omicron variant ripped through schools — but far worse than any year before the pandemic.

Colorado education leaders are sounding the alarm about the missed days, as student academic performance still hasn’t recovered to prepandemic levels.

“Every day a student is in school is an opportunity for them to learn, build relationships and access support,” Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said in a press release. “We know districts are working hard to ensure students attend school regularly. But we need everyone, including educators, parents, students and community members, to make a renewed effort on this important matter.”

“The surest way to make improvements in our recovery from the disruptions of the pandemic is for kids to be in school,” Córdova added.

Colorado’s chronic absenteeism rate was 31% last year, representing 269,582 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Before COVID, rates ranged from 18% to 24%. Colorado is not alone, with most states reporting more students missing school.

Some groups had a greater share of students who were chronically absent. Kindergartners and 10th, 11th, and 12th graders all had chronic absenteeism rates above 35%. Roughly 40% of English learners missed too many days of school, as did 43% of low-income students and 60% of homeless students.

And the majority of absences — 62% — were excused.

Johann Liljengren, director of the dropout prevention and student re-engagement office in the Colorado Department of Education, said schools report a wide range of reasons students aren’t showing up to school. Expectations around health and wellness are different in the wake of COVID, and there’s more concern about not spreading illness to others. State education officials point to “how sick is too sick” guidance for when kids should stay home.

Some students report that they feel anxious or that they don’t feel safe at school. Others are disengaged or bored, and much of their schoolwork is now available online, even if instruction is supposed to happen in person.

School-based attendance workers and others who work with youth missing school describe teenagers sleeping in after working overnight shifts and elementary students who don’t make it to school because a parent is depressed or overwhelmed.

A few absences a month that don’t feel like much to a parent can add up over time.

And missing school can be a warning sign for future problems. Students who are chronically absent in middle school are more likely to drop out of high school, he said.

Liljengren said more schools are beginning to use attendance teams that go over data, reach out to families, and make home visits. The state, meanwhile, has some grants available to support that work and also points schools to organizations like Attendance Works, which provides free resources. The state has also convened a cohort of school district leaders to share information and learn from each other.

Liljengren stressed that schools need to give students a reason to show up.

“What are we really valuing about in-person or live lessons?” he said. “We are thinking about how we really draw students in.”

See district level attendance data here.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver teachers scramble to help as migrant students face loss of housing

2023-09-29T20:50:43+00:00

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Editor’s note: On Monday, Denver Human Services extended the time that families can stay in city-provided shelter to 37 days, a week longer than previously. The change applies to people who arrive on or after Oct. 4. However, due to the large number of people arriving daily, individuals without children will get to stay in city-provided shelter for just 14 days, a week less than before.

As the number of migrants arriving daily in Denver rises, schools are starting to see a significant number of new students. And educators are worried about how to help them as migrant families encounter the limits of official support.

At Denver’s Bryant Webster Dual Language School, some teachers report classes of 38 students — a lot higher than last year. A teacher who screens students for whom English is not their home language has had to screen 60 students this year — up from a handful in typical years. And they’re trying to help students as they’re dealing with trauma, learning how to navigate a new country and a new school system.

“You work the whole day and you just want to make sure you do the best with the resources you have and so you build relationships with kids, and you have the connection to them,” said Alex Nelson, a fourth grade teacher at Bryant Webster. “Then you find out their story.”

Students who arrived near the start of the school year and were starting to settle in are facing a new challenge and a new trauma. Families get just 30 days in either a hotel or shelter paid for by the city. But then they have to find another place to live. In a city with soaring rents where many longtime residents also struggle to find housing, new arrivals sometimes find themselves with nowhere to go.

The first time a migrant family with children at Bryant Webster ran out of time on its housing voucher, teachers and a school intern spent hours calling shelters and everyone they could think of to try to find a place for the family to stay. They encountered waitlists and a lot of dead ends.

“We didn’t know what happened after the voucher expired until one of the new families said ‘our stay is up, and we don’t know where to go tonight,’” Nelson said. “We’ve never been prepared so we didn’t know how to handle it.”

The family ended up leaving to spend the night in a car, though Nelson said district officials were able to connect with them later that evening. Still, Nelson said it was really hard on the entire school to end the day that way.

Like in New York City schools and other districts nationwide, Denver school officials are on the frontline receiving requests from migrant families for help. In Denver, some teachers are just starting to connect their efforts with nonprofits, through the teachers union, and with other organizations, but coordination is still sporadic.

And even when working together, there are daunting obstacles. After the limited duration of city vouchers for migrants, the different social services available have different rules that can create confusion about what might jeopardize migrants’ legal standing. And the potential overlap between help for migrants and support for the city’s homeless population is something Denver officials are trying to avoid.

After helping the first Bryant Webster family, teachers heard from more families in the same situation. Some organizations are helping, but each time a new family comes forward, teachers worry if they’ll be able to find them assistance. At least three more are slated to lose their shelter this weekend.

“You can just feel the kids are stressed. It disrupts everything,” said Cecilia Quintanilla, an early childhood teacher at the school.

Denver has seen up to 250 migrants arriving per day this week, but it’s unclear how many are children.

Schools join Denver effort to help migrants find stability

Right now, it’s hard to track how widespread the surge of migrants in schools really is.

District officials in Denver did not respond to requests for comment. Teachers at Bryant Webster believe they’ve had around 60 newcomers arrive after the first day of school and counting. Other school districts in the state are also reporting surges of newcomers, the term schools use to refer to students arriving from outside the U.S., in the last few months.

The Colorado Department of Education doesn’t track those numbers and officials said they have not been asked to provide support to schools dealing with these surges.

Denver officials said that as of last week the city was currently sheltering 456 children under age 16. The city has seen up to 250 new individuals arriving per day this week, but numbers for children aren’t available for this week.

At another Denver school, Escuela Valdez, teacher Jessica Dominguez estimates they’ve received about 20 newcomer students this year. This week, they learned about a family that had already been sleeping outdoors after losing their shelter. Educators stayed up late into the night trying to find them a place to stay and ultimately were successful. But that may not always be the case.

“Kids are being involved now,” she said. “That puts a different face to what we might think is homelessness.”

Dominguez isn’t the only person who feels that way. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a former educator, said at a press conference Thursday that he has seen kids sleeping under blankets with families outside the city’s Wellington Webb building as they wait for staff to show up so they can ask for help.

“No kid should be in that context,” Johnston said.

Early that same day, at a migrant reception center in northeast Denver, a steady stream of men, women, and children arrived for processing. The official hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but staff often start earlier and stay until everyone has somewhere to go.

Some arrivals have family in the Denver area and ask to come here or even make their own way. Others get on buses in El Paso regardless of destination and then need to make a plan.

They’ve already made a hazardous journey and overcome many obstacles to leave behind dangerous situations in their home countries.

Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Denver Human Services, said the arrivals are smart, resourceful, and well-organized.

City workers collect basic information about the new arrivals, provide contact information for relevant social services and direct them to shelter. Individuals are eligible for 21 days of free shelter and families are eligible for 30 days. The city isn’t tracking what happens after that.

“Thirty days is not a long time to sort out your life, and we get that,” Ewing said. “But we have to move people through. There is a limit to what we are able to do.”

Ewing said city staff are working to coordinate as best they can between nonprofits, city services, and the school district — there are large group chats buzzing all day.

Ewing said the city tries to make sure people understand how expensive Denver is so they can make informed decisions. But they may have good reasons for wanting to stay here.

Ewing said the migrant and homeless populations are very different and face different challenges. New arrivals are never directed to homeless shelters, and many services are provided through different channels in order to be responsive to each group’s needs.

There are also different funding sources with different rules, when it comes to providing services for U.S. citizens and residents experiencing homelessness, versus migrants seeking asylum or another protected status.

Then there are legal concerns. Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said that organizations like hers are also concerned about inadvertently providing resources that would then make people ineligible for earning legal status — a common worry they hear from migrants, and one that Alderman and her team don’t have enough expertise to help navigate.

Still, she said that some of the migrant families might qualify for housing assistance from the coalition, but qualifying takes time.

“The problem is we have so many in the system right now waiting for housing,” Alderman said. “That system makes housing matches based on vulnerabilities. It’s a process. It certainly doesn’t move fast.”

She said that another problem for families is finding affordable housing with multiple bedrooms. Longer term vouchers, such as Section 8 vouchers, often don’t cover a large portion of the rents people might encounter in Denver.

“In Denver specifically we have a very, very, very minimal stock of really affordable housing,” she said. “We have a lot of market rate and luxury units that are sitting empty.”

With all the challenges migrant students and their families are confronting, teachers say they appreciate that so many are working to help. But they also wish they were more prepared to help students and families who come to them with such big worries.

“We don’t have what we need to welcome these families to the better life that they were searching for,” said Nelson, the teacher at Bryant Webster. “It’s just really hard to see the consequences of that.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Five candidates seek two open seats on Jeffco school board

2023-09-28T00:47:06+00:00

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Five candidates are running for two open seats on the Jeffco school board, where they would help shape policy in a diverse school district facing declining enrollment, significant academic gaps, and long-term budget problems.

Since 2015, when voters recalled a conservative board, members backed by the teachers union have led the district. With just two open seats on the five-member board, that won’t change this year — but regardless of the outcome, the board will see new perspectives and approaches. Incumbents Stephanie Schooley and Susan Miller are not running for re-election.

Jeffco Public Schools, Colorado’s second largest school district, stretches from the Denver border to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and serves a mix of urban, suburban, and rural communities.

While the county largely votes Democratic in state and legislative races — a sharp contrast from 20 years ago — Jefferson County remains politically diverse and has seen heated school board meetings over masks, quarantines, and how teachers handle issues related to race and gender identity. There have also been wrenching decisions to close schools and questions of cost overruns in recent construction projects.

In District 3, currently represented by Schooley, engineer Michelle Applegate is running against college president Thomas Wicke.

In District 4, currently represented by Miller, engineer Amara Hildebrand, educator Erin Kenworthy, and advocate Joel Newton are seeking the seat.

Applegate and Kenworthy have the endorsement of the Jefferson County Educators Association, the teachers union, and fueled by contributions from political committees associated with the union, have raised the most money so far, with $18,600 and $21,800 in contributions respectively, according to campaign finance filings.

Wicke — who said he is proud not to have the endorsement of the teachers union — is close behind with almost $16,000 in contributions as of the most recent filing.

In addition to the teachers union, Jeffco could see outside spending from other independent issue committees. Often known as outside money or dark money because they don’t have to disclose their donors, these groups are legally barred from coordinating with candidates but often send mailers or make calls and texts in support or opposition.

On Wednesday, Marge Klein, who often supports conservative candidates, registered an independent expenditure committee called Better Jeffco Schools, according to Secretary of State records.

Chalkbeat spoke with each of the five candidates. They all talked about the need to engage better with the community, ensure all voices are heard, and build trust between the community and the district. There were notable differences among the candidates as well.

The election is Nov. 7.

Here’s a closer look at who’s running:

District 3 includes portions of Wheat Ridge and Arvada and northern Lakewood and stretches northwest from the Denver border to the Gilpin County line.

Michelle Applegate is an engineer who has worked extensively in public policy and the mother of three children who attend Jeffco Public Schools. She described herself as a lifelong believer in public education who will bring a thoughtful approach to leadership. She’s served as PTA president at two elementary schools. As a parent, she’s experienced her child’s school being considered for closure (Stober Elementary was ultimately spared in 2017) and another child’s school working hard this year to accommodate children from a closed school.

“To me, this is one of the most important ways I can serve my community,” she said of serving on the school board. “I am invested in this district, I have been for many years, and I will be for as many years more.”

Applegate said her priorities would be ensuring thriving schools throughout the district, making sure safety is part of the student experience, and improving community trust through budget transparency.

She said she would work to improve the hiring and retention of high-quality educators and make sure schools have the resources they need. Helping the district navigate budget challenges and ensure there is money for teacher pay and classroom needs is part of that, she said.

After the Columbine massacre, Jeffco Public Schools invested heavily in the physical safety of school buildings and has generally been supportive of school resource officers. Applegate said the district needs to think about safety more broadly and find a balance that includes the right relationship with SROs and support for student mental health.

Michelle Applegate is married to Robert Applegate, who ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2019. While Robert Applegate was endorsed by the now-inactive education reform group Jeffco Students First, Michelle Applegate is endorsed by the teachers union.

Thomas Wicke is the Aurora campus president for for-profit Concorde Career College, which trains students for health care careers. He’s also the parent of two graduates of Jeffco Public Schools and a high school freshman. His wife teaches at Drake Middle School, and he said he sees how teachers bring their work home — literally and emotionally — and how they aren’t always supported by administrators.

Wicke said he’s been watching past board meetings and believes board members could be more engaged in critical issues.

“I’ve learned that the school board, though highly important, does not control everything,” he said. “At the same time, they seem to be spending a ton of time talking about how the furniture should be arranged on the Titanic deck. I have to believe we can become a more involved and accountability-holding board.”

Wicke said his priorities would be improving academic achievement and addressing major fiscal challenges facing the district. He’s concerned that less than half of students meet academic expectations on state tests and said it’s time for new leadership after union-backed candidates have controlled the board for most of the last decade. At the same time, he said he doesn’t blame teachers and has gathered a teachers advisory board to give him input.

Wicke said his college is held to high standards by its accrediting body — required to ensure most graduates earn their professional licenses and secure jobs in their field — and he wants to see Jeffco schools held to similarly high standards based on student outcomes.

He said parents need more insight into what’s being taught in schools — ”not to mention the stuff you might lump into woke ideologies, which is a secondary point” — and that parent distrust of how teachers handle politically sensitive topics is contributing to lower enrollment, as parents with the means to do so enroll elsewhere.

District 4 includes Edgewater and central and southern Lakewood from roughly 32nd Street and Sheridan stretching southwest to Bear Creek Reservoir.

Amara Hildebrand said she’s running because she worries that public school no longer prepares most children for success in college or in the workforce.

“Kids are really not thriving,” she said. “Public school was a springboard for my success and I want every kid to be able to have that, to take their education and thrive in life.”

Hildebrand is an engineer and the mother of a sixth and a ninth grader. Hildebrand removed her children from public school during virtual learning and enrolled them in Catholic school. Her daughter is back in public school now, while her son remains in private school.

Hildebrand said she’s concerned about low academic achievement and the fiscal health of the district. She described herself as fiscally-minded and said she enjoys working with budgets. She believes Jeffco has enough money to better support teachers and learning if less money were better managed. As a school board member, she said she would visit schools and talk to principals to learn what they need to be successful.

Now 4½ years sober, Hildebrand has experienced her own struggles with addiction and mental health, and she wants to focus more attention on student mental health. She blames online communication for degrading both civil discourse and mental health and even contributing to violence.

At the same time, Hildebrand said she doesn’t see a need for more counselors in schools. Instead, she thinks giving kids a greater sense of purpose with community service projects and hands-on learning, raising academic achievement, and reducing the time children spend online will improve their overall well-being.

Erin Kenworthy is a former public school teacher turned religious educator, and the parent of two Jeffco students, a first grader and a sixth grader. Kenworthy has served on school and district accountability committees, groups made up of appointed community members who provide oversight of public schools.

As a parent, Kenworthy said she has found Jeffco schools to be “incredibly supportive,” and she wants all students and families to have that experience.

While she’s now been out of the classroom longer than she was in it, Kenworthy said she still has a strong understanding of the gaps between theory and reality that classroom teachers must manage and the heavy burden teachers are carrying.

Kenworthy said the current superintendent has done a good job shifting more resources to the classroom and she wants to support and expand on those efforts. Kenworthy said she’s passionate about community engagement and hearing from parents who traditionally have been marginalized. She wants to make it easier for parents to participate in the accountability process.

And as a former social studies teacher, she wants to see more opportunities for students to express themselves and have agency in their learning.

“If there is anything we could focus on moving forward, we need to center voices that have generally been kept at the margins or denied a seat at the table,” she said.

Joel Newton is the father of two Jeffco students and a longtime education advocate. His experience founding and running the Edgewater Collective for the last 10 years shaped his decision to run. The organization works with families from Title I schools with high rates of poverty in the eastern part of the district near the Denver border. Newton saw students at those schools posting lower academic scores — and having access to far fewer resources, such as afterschool programming and advanced coursework.

The district’s overall demographics — whiter and more middle-class than neighboring Denver — obscure some significant gaps that affect students of color and those from low-income families, Newton said. Newton wants to push the district to do more to close those gaps.

“For the longest time, I thought the way to move the needle was to advocate from the outside,” he said. “The more I watch school board meetings, I think there needs to be someone at the board table who brings the perspective of Title I families, especially as school budgets are declining.”

Newton emphasized he doesn’t blame teachers — these are systemic problems that need to be solved at the district level, he said. Newton sought the teachers union endorsement but didn’t get it. While that was a disappointment, Newton said, he hopes the lack of endorsement gives him more ability to talk to people across the political spectrum and find consensus.

As he has traveled around the district as a candidate, Newton said he’s heard many LGBTQ students and students of color don’t feel safe or heard at school. He wants to bring more parents into conversations about education and work to find consensus and build trust. His top priority in that work, though, will be ensuring students feel safe at school — otherwise they can’t learn, he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Michelle Applegate’s husband is Robert Applegate, not Bob Applegate, and that Thomas Wicke is president at Concorde Career College, not Concordia.

New poll finds wide-open Denver school board race, little trust in current board

2023-09-05T17:03:00+00:00

Two months ahead of the Denver school board election, a new poll finds widespread distrust in the current board, even as most respondents said the district is providing students an adequate education.

The poll finds the majority of respondents rate school safety as a key concern, alongside recruiting and retaining teachers, while other major challenges facing the district such as declining enrollment don’t attract the same interest.

Colorado Polling Institute, a team made up of Republican polling firm Cygnal and Democratic firm Aspect Strategic, surveyed 414 likely voters in mid-August.

Like voters in off-year school board elections, the poll respondents’ demographics don’t match those of DPS parents. Most Denver students are Latino or Black and come from low-income households. The majority of poll respondents were white and come from middle- or high-income households, similar to the likely voter population. About 18% of poll respondents were DPS parents.

In November, voters will choose three members on the seven-member board. With Auon’tai Anderson withdrawing to pursue a state House seat, no incumbent is running in the at-large race. The poll found 87% of respondents undecided on the at-large race.

Support for all the candidates was within the margin of error, but former East High principal John Youngquist drew the most support, with a little less than 5% of respondents saying he was their preferred candidate. Ulcca Joshi Hansen — who dropped out shortly after the poll was taken — was a close second. The other candidates are Kwame Spearman, Paul Ballenger, and Brittni Johnson. Johnson had not yet filed at the time the poll was taken.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of the Denver school board, compared to just 21.6% with a favorable view. Two-thirds of parents reported an unfavorable view. Respondents of color and older respondents were also more likely to have an unfavorable view.

In contrast, parents were more likely to say DPS is providing a quality education, with 38% saying Denver schools are good or excellent, compared with less than a quarter of overall respondents. Another 35% said Denver schools provide a “fair” education, compared with 31% of overall respondents. This result corresponds with other polls that find parents generally have a favorable view of their children’s schools and see education more positively than non-parents.

Denver parent views of school safety diverged from their view of academics, though. Slightly more than half said they don’t feel kids are safe in school, compared to slightly more than half of non-parents who said kids are safe in school. More than 70% of parent respondents support the return of school resource officers to Denver schools, compared to 63% overall. Latino respondents also supported police in schools at higher than average rates.

The Denver school board voted to bring SROs back after a student shot and wounded two deans at East High School this spring. The incident followed several high-profile safety incidents — including the fatal shooting of a student just outside East — that led to heated debate about safety and discipline policies.

Nearly half of respondents said their top two priorities are recruiting and retaining good teachers, followed closely by school safety. About a third of respondents named student mental health or academic achievement as a top priority. Just 16% said improving outcomes for students of color was a priority, though 44% of African American respondents ranked it highly.

About 40% of Denver third-graders met grade-level expectations in reading and writing on this spring’s state standardized tests. The district has the widest test score gaps in the state based on race and ethnicity, and Spanish-speaking students are doing worse on state tests than before the pandemic.

Fewer than 8% of respondents named declining enrollment and school closures — a major challenge that occupied much of the school board’s time over the last year — as a top priority.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Help Chalkbeat Colorado cover the 2023-24 school year

2023-08-28T19:49:38+00:00

A new school year has begun, and Colorado students around the state are back in classrooms, hopeful for a fresh start and gearing up for the work ahead.

At Chalkbeat Colorado, we want to hear from you — parents, teachers, students, school administrators, community activists, everyone who cares about our kids and our schools. Tell us what you’re excited about and what you’re worried about, what’s going well and what you want to see change.

You can help make our coverage stronger and help us better reflect the communities we serve by filling out the survey below. Please know we’ll keep your information confidential. Thank you for your input.

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Colorado teachers can get up to $1,000 for classroom materials with new grants

2023-08-24T20:37:36+00:00

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Colorado teachers can get up to $1,000 toward classroom learning materials. Offer good while supplies last.

Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova announced the grant opportunity — a partnership with the website DonorsChoose — at Westview Elementary School in Northglenn in the Adams 12 Five Star Schools district Thursday.

The money — $11 million in total — comes from federal pandemic relief money intended to help students recover from COVID learning disruptions. In their applications, teachers will have to describe how the materials will contribute to learning recovery. Examples could include equipment for science experiments, games and puzzles to bolster reading skills, or hands-on materials that help students learn multiplication or fractions.

Córdova said she knows teachers dig into their own pockets every year — sometimes to the tune of hundreds of dollars — to make their classrooms inviting and engaging places for learning. She said this grant complements other pandemic relief initiatives that aim to make bigger changes for lots of kids, such as paying for new curriculum or tutoring. By allowing individual teachers to apply for money, the state can match federal money to local needs and know the money “would go directly into classrooms.”

The money comes from the second round of federal pandemic relief. The state has until Sept. 30 to distribute that money.

“We know this will be very popular, and the funding probably won’t last very long,” Córdova said.

Second grade teacher Jenny Lage recalled a project she did last year in which her students used Play-Doh to build animal habitats that were displayed in a miniature art show. Her students loved it and learned a lot. They also had to make do with a single container of Play-Doh per child.

Having money to cover more materials means she can design more hands-on learning, and students stay more engaged, she said. It even means fewer behavioral problems.

Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Oklahoma have done similar projects with pandemic relief dollars.

To participate, teachers should go to the DonorsChoose Colorado Instruction Page. DonorsChoose will review requests. Qualifying applications will typically be funded in two to five days. DonorsChoose will withhold its suggested donation and sales taxes from the grant amount.

The application is open now, and requests will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis until the funding runs out.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado 2023 CMAS results show slow academic recovery, red flags for some students

2023-08-17T17:00:00+00:00

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State test scores released Thursday show signs that Colorado students are recovering from pandemic learning disruption, as 2023 scores approached 2019 levels in some grades and subjects.

But worrying signs remain that many students are still struggling.

The share of fourth and eighth graders who could read and write at or above grade level on CMAS tests taken this past spring remains more than 4 percentage points behind the share who could in 2019. Seventh and eighth graders are similarly behind in math. Each percentage point represents thousands of students who are not meeting expectations and who are less prepared for the next grade.

At the same time, fifth and sixth graders are posting similar scores in reading and writing to their peers four years ago, and in math, all elementary students are. At nearly every grade level, more students met or exceeded expectations in both language arts and math in 2023 than did in 2022, with fifth and seventh graders improving several percentage points in reading.

State education officials attribute the progress to a more normal school year, with fewer disruptions due to illness and safety protocols, as well as to school districts’ investments in new curriculum and tutoring to help students catch up. At the same time, staff shortages meant educators had less time to help struggling students, and many schools reported increases in students missing class.

The uneven recovery may be due to differences in where students were developmentally when COVID hit and school moved online — and how critical the material they missed during disrupted schooling was to the next grade level. Students who were in eighth grade in spring 2023 were in fifth grade when schools shut down in March 2020.

“There are some key learnings that typically occur in some grade levels that have impact down the road,” Joyce Zurkowski, chief assessment officer for the Colorado Department of Education, said on a call with reporters this week.

She said education officials consider “what typically is covered (in) fifth grade, second semester — and how that could be impacting our students in seventh and eighth grade.”

All Colorado students in grades three through eight take reading, writing, and math tests every spring. The tests are known as the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS. Some students also take tests in science and social studies. High schoolers take the PSAT and SAT.

Scores for English learners raise concerns

Test scores for English learners and students who took the reading and writing tests in Spanish raise major concerns about how well these children are faring in school.

Just 18.7% of third graders who took the test in Spanish met or exceeded expectations, down 8.8 percentage points from 2019 — by far the biggest lag in student recovery. And just 14.2% of fourth graders who took the Spanish test met or exceeded expectations, down almost 5 percentage points from 2019.

State education officials said the trend calls for more attention to these students. Some of that will have to come from state lawmakers, who have set aside money and crafted new rules to support reading and math instruction, but not bilingual learners.

Floyd Cobb, the associate commissioner of student learning, made that clear this week. Asked what the state education department will do to close the gap between bilingual learners and English-speaking students, he said, “that’ll need to be answered by the General Assembly.”

“Our job here at the department is to make sure that we go about implementing the laws that the General Assembly passes, and in the event that someone writes a bill, and that bill makes it through, we’ll engage in our work to be able to support,” Cobb said.

Colorado’s Latino communities suffered a heavy toll during the pandemic, experiencing more illness and death, more job losses, and more economic instability than white Coloradans. Hispanic families are also less likely to have reliable internet access, and have been affected by rising rents and home prices that have pushed many of them out of their neighborhoods.

Colorado education officials are also watching with concern the test scores of middle school girls. Girls typically do better than boys in language arts, while boys do better in math. That hasn’t changed, but in some cases, gender gaps have narrowed because girls are doing worse. The number of eighth grade girls meeting or exceeding expectations in language arts is down 7.7 percentage points since 2019, and down more than 3 points just since last year.

“When we look at the national level, there’s been significant research that suggests young women have struggled more during the pandemic with depression and anxiety,” Colorado Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova said.

“It’s hard to say if that’s the reason why we’re seeing lower performance with young women than we are with young men,” Córdova said. “But I think it’s going to be important for us to continue to monitor and look at and to focus supports on young women.”

Colorado continues to have major gaps in proficiency rates based on student race and economic status. The share of white and Asian students scoring at grade level is 24 to 30 points higher than for Black and Hispanic students. The gaps between students living in poverty — as measured by eligibility for free- or reduced-price lunch — and their more affluent peers is more than 30 points in most grades and subjects.

These are longstanding problems, but Colorado education officials said they demand urgent attention.

How state officials, schools, teachers, and families use CMAS results

Critics of standardized tests say they are a better measure of the effects of poverty than of academic performance, but state education officials point out that they are the only statewide measure of how well students meet the state’s academic standards.

The state uses the test results to rate schools and districts, and to direct help to schools with lower scores and issue state improvement orders.

Parents can use their children’s individual test results to discuss strengths and weaknesses with teachers, and they can use state data to see how their school and district perform compared with others.

Schools and teachers can use the test scores to determine the subjects where students are furthest behind and find ways to help them improve.

In addition to the raw test scores, Colorado also calculates growth scores. Those scores measure how much progress students made compared with students who scored similarly to them the year before and are generally considered a better measure of the work educators do than raw test scores.

Because of the way the growth scores are calculated, the state average is always around 50 on a 100-point scale. Students who are behind need growth scores above 50 to catch up.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Colorado students would need growth scores of 55 or higher to catch up to 2019 achievement levels, said Lisa Medler, the executive director of accountability and continuous improvement for the Colorado Department of Education.

Among districts with more than 1,000 students that serve a large portion of students of color, only Denver edged above 50 in growth in both language arts and math, and many districts had below-average growth scores.

Statewide, district growth scores for grades three through eight ranged from a high of 79 in math in Hinsdale County RE-1, a small district in southwest Colorado, to a low of 23, also in math, in Agate School District #300, a tiny district in the east.

Denver scores rebound, but big gaps remain

In Denver Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school district with nearly 88,000 students, test scores for most grades and subjects rebounded, but not quite to pre-pandemic levels.

There were a few exceptions. Third graders scored higher this past spring than four years ago: 40% met or exceeded expectations in 2023, compared with 39% in 2019.

The troubling trend of English learners falling further behind showed up in Denver’s test scores, too. Most English learners in Denver speak Spanish, and more than 1,600 Denver students took the state literacy test in Spanish. But only 21% met or exceeded expectations on the Spanish literacy test, down from 29% in 2019.

While English-speaking students are catching up from pandemic learning loss, students who are still learning the English language are not, the test data shows. The test score gap between English learners and English speakers is growing.

Denver has other gaps, too. Last year, Denver’s test score gaps between white and Black students, and between white and Hispanic students, were the biggest in Colorado. The gaps did not shrink this year. In fact, the gap grew in math between white and Hispanic students.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero has said he wants to see the number of students scoring at grade level go up by 10 percentage points in reading and math by 2026 — a goal he included in the district’s strategic plan. The plan says test scores should improve even more for “some student groups,” an acknowledgement that Denver has big gaps to close.

This year’s test scores show only slight progress toward that goal. Proficiency rates in grades three through seven rose between 0.2 and 2.4 percentage points, depending on the grade. Eighth graders declined slightly in language arts.

On both the PSAT and SAT, fewer Denver students scored at or above a benchmark meant to indicate college readiness this past spring in literacy and math than did in 2019.

Adams 14 test scores remain low

The Adams 14 school district, which received state orders to reorganize after years of chronic low student performance, continued to see low scores.

At the high school level, students in every grade level tested had lower average combined scores than in 2019. The trend is similar statewide, but Adams 14’s scores are lower than the state’s average.

In grades three through eight, Adams 14 saw significantly lower scores districtwide compared with 2019, nearly across the board.

The biggest decrease was among fifth graders taking English language arts tests, only 12.7% of whom met or exceeded expectations. The only districtwide improvement was very small: just a 0.1 percentage point increase among sixth graders in math. Only 4.3% of those students met or exceeded expectations.

Looking at growth among Adams 14 students, the district and most of its schools had growth scores of less than 50. The two highest growth scores were for math at Dupont, with a 57.5, and language arts at Rose Hill Elementary which had a growth score of 58.

The test where Adams 14 had its highest percentage of students meeting expectations was on the language arts tests given in Spanish. Among third graders taking that test, for instance, 19.2% of students met or exceeded expectations, compared with 17.6% of third graders taking that test in English.

Adams 14 has one of the state’s highest proportions of students learning English as a second language, and historically has had trouble educating those students and complying with their civil rights. In more recent years, the district has implemented bilingual programming and created a plan that finally got federal approval for how to educate English learners.

Third graders still recovering in reading

Elementary students are still not yet up to pre-pandemic reading proficiency levels, despite big changes in how Colorado schools teach reading.

Statewide, 39.9% of the spring’s third graders met or exceeded expectations on reading tests. That percentage is lower than last year, and down from 41.3% in 2019.

Sheridan, Douglas County, Jeffco, and St. Vrain districts in the metro area showed significant improvements in third grade reading.

In Sheridan, the district went from having just over 10% of students meet expectations for reading in 2019 to 26.8% this spring. In the Douglas County school district, 58% of third graders met expectations in reading, up from 52% in 2019. The score put the Dougco district above most metro area districts.

The Jeffco school district also had increases, with 48.2% of third graders meeting reading standards, up from 46.3% in 2019.

Mapleton and Pueblo 60 districts have not been able to bring the percentage of students meeting expectations back up to 2019 levels. In Mapleton, 17.8% of third grade students met or exceeded reading expectations this spring, down from 28.1% in 2019. In Pueblo 60, 22.9% of third grade students met or exceeded reading expectations, down from 27.6% in 2019.

Among 10 districts that serve the highest percentages of students of color and have more than 1,000 students, all saw a decrease in the percentage of students meeting expectations in math. Westminster and East Otero in southeast Colorado had the smallest decreases in overall math scores. Among Westminster students 15.5% met or exceeded expectations in math this year, down from 16.4% of students in 2019.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, covering Denver Public Schools. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado CMAS 2023 test scores are out: Look up your school or district here

2023-08-17T17:00:00+00:00

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Colorado released test results Thursday from this spring’s round of standardized tests given to public school students in third through eighth grades.

Overall, scores have improved slightly over last year, but still, fewer students are meeting expectations in 2023 than in 2019. The trend is similar to 2022.

The number of fourth and eighth graders who could read and write at or above grade level this past spring remains more than 4 percentage points behind the share who could do so in 2019. Seventh and eighth graders are similarly behind in math. Each percentage point represents thousands of students not meeting expectations and less prepared for the next grade.

At the same time, fifth and sixth graders are posting similar scores in reading and writing to their peers five years ago, and in math, all elementary students are.

When broken down by grade level, only one group of students did better than their counterparts in 2019: fifth graders in math. This year, 36.5% of fifth graders met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 35.7% who did in 2019.

Gaps remain large and persistent. Multilingual learners seem to be among the students state officials say could be falling farther behind.

Our searchable table below allows you to search for your school or district, and compare it to the state averages for both math and English language arts. The table shows the percentage of tested students who met or exceeded expectations in each subject.

The results will be used in school and district ratings which could be released later this month.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmaker wants to ban seclusion rooms in schools as Denver investigation continues

2023-08-08T00:14:42+00:00

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A Colorado lawmaker wants to ban the use of seclusion rooms in schools statewide in the wake of allegations that a well-regarded Denver middle school maintained a room that locked from the outside where children having behavioral issues were left alone.

“Our students are here to receive a high-quality education, and they deserve not to be incarcerated,” said state Rep. Regina English, a Colorado Springs Democrat who also serves on the Harrison School District 2 board. “So these seclusion rooms, that’s going to be a no-go across the state of Colorado.”

Meanwhile, a district investigation continues into the use of a seclusion room at McAuliffe International School, the same school where longtime principal Kurt Dennis was fired earlier this summer after speaking with 9 News about safety concerns. Interim Principal Micah Klaver also has been placed on paid administrative leave, district officials confirmed.

State law allows educators to shut students inside of rooms, a practice known as seclusion, in certain extreme situations, but Denver district policy bans these rooms. Many Denver schools have what the district calls de-escalation rooms. District policy requires that an adult remain in the room with a student and that the door remain unlocked.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said the district would retrain all staff at McAuliffe International School on district policy and appropriate de-escalation techniques before students return to classrooms later this month.

Dennis was fired after he spoke publicly about being required to keep a student accused of attempted murder in class instead of moving him to online classes or an alternative school. Many parents have rallied to Dennis’ cause and demanded that he be reinstated, and some Denver educators said his firing is having a chilling effect on other school leaders and teachers.

District officials said Dennis was fired not because he criticized the district publicly but because he shared personal information about a student. His termination letter also noted a number of accusations that he treated students with disabilities unfairly.

Last week, Denver school board members Auon’tai Anderson and Scott Esserman said an anonymous whistleblower who works at the school told them about the seclusion room, known among staff as an “incarceration room,” and shared pictures of walls with holes punched in them and an exterior lock on the door. They said staff described children being dragged kicking and screaming into the room and being left there alone for long periods of time.

Anderson said the district is aware of three students locked in the room, all of them Black. Fighting back emotion, school board member Michelle Quattlebaum said students should never be placed in conditions that “mimic incarceration.”

David Lane, Dennis’ attorney, told the Denver Post last week that Dennis did place a lock on the door in an effort to keep both students and staff safe and that he removed the lock when district officials told him to. Lane said Dennis never received any guidance about use of the seclusion room.

Anderson said Monday he does not know the identity of the whistleblower and that person is not cooperating with investigators because they fear retaliation if their identity is discovered. However, other McAuliffe staff are cooperating, he said, and the investigation is moving forward.

The Denver principals union has filed a grievance on behalf of multiple school leaders related to how the district is handling the investigation, with elected officials bringing forward the complaint and holding press conferences before the investigation is concluded.

“We are concerned that the current public discourse is not only having a deleterious impact on the school communities but possible severe reputational harm for multiple leaders,” reads the grievance letter from the Denver School Leaders Association, which also notes that district policies call for confidentiality around personnel matters and for employees accused of wrong-doing to have access to a fair process.

Colorado law allows children to be placed in seclusion rooms if they’re a danger to themselves or others.

Advocates have long criticized the practice as profoundly traumatic for children and counterproductive to teaching children better coping skills. The children who are placed in these rooms often have been through traumatic events or have disabilities that affect how they regulate emotions. Advocates argue that with better training and different attitudes, classroom teachers and aides can head off challenging behavior before it turns into a crisis.

Pam Bisceglia, executive director of Advocacy Denver, which supports students with disabilities and their families, said she has filed many complaints over the years regarding McAuliffe, and the district has promised to train staff before, yet she has seen little change in the culture. She has asked the Colorado Department of Education to do its own investigation into the seclusion room at McAuliffe.

Bisceglia said she has seen rooms in other Denver schools with soft lighting, bean bag chairs, and pillows where students can calm down. But on a tour of a district-run facility school in a suburban district, she saw a child locked in a room, crying, while an adult watched, silent, through a small window.

“When they showed us the room, you could tell how tall the tallest student was because the paint was scratched from that point down,” she said.

A new law passed last year requires that seclusion rooms have a window or other way for an adult to keep eyes on the child and that the room be a dedicated space free from hazards. Schools can no longer lock children in broom closets or offices.

A 2020 Chalkbeat investigation found a wide range of practices among Colorado districts and limited state oversight. Districts were essentially policing themselves, and parents were sometimes kept in the dark about what happened to their children. Since then, lawmakers have added new reporting requirements alongside the seclusion room regulations. And the Colorado Department of Education gained new enforcement authority for when its investigators find violations.

School districts argued against these regulations, saying they didn’t want to overburden special education staff with even more paperwork and that seclusion rooms were used as a last resort but an important one to keep all children safe.

English, who is Black, said she was “appalled and disgusted” to learn of the allegations, especially because the children involved “look like me.” In districts around the state, Black children are also more likely to be suspended, expelled, ticketed, and arrested when compared with their white peers.

“They are not caged animals, and I will not allow them to be treated as such,” English said.

Bisceglia said she supports a statewide ban because students should have the same protections around the state and because it would represent a clear statement of values.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said he wants to work closely with lawmakers to explain the “incredible burden” that principals have to keep all students safe, as well as the different circumstances and resources districts experience.

English said she was willing to work with school districts to make sure legislation allows for dedicated rooms where students can calm down or not hurt themselves or others. But she would not “backpedal” on banning seclusion rooms. She noted that Colorado banned corporal punishment this year.

“When these things take place,” she said, “there needs to be an adult in that room with them, not just locking a child up and saying, ‘Figure it out, cry yourself to sleep.’ That’s a no-go.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver superintendent: Evidence of school segregation is clear, now action is needed

2023-08-01T23:55:16+00:00

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said he hopes to have a plan to reduce school segregation as soon as next summer, and the school choice process could be a tool — with the right policies in place — to get that result.

Marrero made his comments in an interview Tuesday in response to a new study from the Latino Education Coalition highlighting “pervasive” school segregation in Denver.

Latino students and English learners are especially likely to attend high-poverty schools where the large majority of students are students of color, the study found. Most white students and affluent students also attend schools where a significant majority of students are from similar backgrounds as themselves. Students from all groups who attend schools with more affluent students have better academic outcomes on average, the study found.

“I don’t know that we need more evidence,” Marrero said. “It’s clear. What we need is action.”

Dismantling systems of oppression is the framework Marrero has used for his goals as superintendent. He said it’s “more than likely” he will identify school segregation as a system of oppression that needs to be dismantled.

The Latino Education Coalition study was not designed to identify causes of segregated schools or recommend policy changes. Marrero said the next step is a second study in collaboration with the coalition and other community partners to examine those issues.

Marrero said he hopes that second study could be complete by the end of the school year and guide recommendations to the school board that could be implemented for the following school year.

The problem won’t fix itself, he said.

“Absent effective board policy, we’ll have exactly what we have right now,” he said.

Back in 1973, Denver was the subject of Keyes vs. School District No. 1, the first major school desegregation case outside the South. It led to decades of busing that achieved integrated schools but also contributed to white flight to surrounding suburbs. When the court order was lifted in 1995, Denver schools resegregated almost overnight.

Several past studies have identified similar issues as the new Latino Education Coalition report, and at various points the district has tried certain tweaks, such as creating enrollment zones and reserving spots for low-income students in some of the city’s most sought-after schools, but the district’s schools remain largely segregated.

Craig Peña, one of the authors of the new report, was a child plaintiff in the Keyes case. “It’s hurtful,” he said, to see that segregation has been so persistent. He sees the report as a call to unify the community to find solutions.

Marrero said he initially questioned the motivation behind the study “because of other requests that study DPS to point the finger or to validate their preconceived notions,” but he said he appreciated how the Latino Education Coalition shared its data and wanted to cooperate on next steps.

“It validated what I observe day in and day out as I visit schools,” he said.

While the problem is clear, Marrero said there needs to be more studies to understand the causes and craft targeted policies.

“I anticipate something by the end of the school year so that we can have the summer to implement,” he said. Missing that window would be a loss, he said.

Many families want to send their children to neighborhood schools — and Denver has highly segregated neighborhoods. Meanwhile, school choice, which is enshrined in state law, allows families to enroll their children outside their neighborhoods. But desirable schools have long waitlists, and transportation is a barrier for many families. Meanwhile, in gentrifying neighborhoods, there are indications white, middle-class families use choice to avoid neighborhood schools that serve mostly children of color.

Asked if Denver could have neighborhood schools, school choice, and desegregated schools, Marrero paused and said that was “a great question.”

Marrero said there may be ways to shape the school choice process to produce more integrated schools.

Milo Marquez, chair of the Latino Education Coalition, said it also may be necessary to look at how neighborhood school boundaries are drawn. In the years before the Keyes case, Denver manipulated those boundaries to maintain segregated schools as Black families moved into Park Hill. There could be situations today where boundaries also contribute to keeping students of different ethnicities and incomes apart, he said.

The report found that Black students today, on average, are more represented in higher-income and predominantly white schools than are Latino students, and that in low-income schools, Black students are represented similar to their share of the student population as a whole.

The report did not look at internal segregation within schools, such as whether white students are more often steered into honors programs while Black students are routed into traditional classes. Black boys, in particular, are overrepresented in affective needs centers, separate programs for students with serious disabilities. A state investigation last year found DPS systematically violated the rights of Black boys by sending them to these programs without sufficient evaluation and by keeping them there without addressing their educational needs or monitoring progress.

Marrero has made changing how students are identified for placement in affective needs centers as another system of oppression he intends to dismantle.

Marrero said the district can make progress on both fronts, as well as reduce disparities in discipline and reduce test score gaps that are the widest in the state.

“I do believe that we will see that gap close during this administration,” he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

‘Pervasive’ Denver school segregation harms Latinos, English learners, study finds

2023-07-31T16:16:00+00:00

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Denver schools remain intensely segregated by race and family income — conditions that have persisted for decades and play a major role in shaping educational opportunities, a new study finds.

Latino students and English learners are especially likely to attend schools where students of color living in poverty make up the large majority. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Denver’s white students attend schools where white and higher-income students make up a significant majority, despite making up just a quarter of Denver students overall, the study finds.

These more privileged schools boast graduation rates 10 to 40 percentage points higher than schools with high concentrations of poverty — and the benefits extend to students from all groups who attend these schools.

Kim Carrazco Strong of The Bueno Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder and Craig Peña of the Latino Education Coalition, the study authors, write that “pervasive” school segregation affects everything from access to specialized services to gifted identification to graduation rates.

“These findings indicate that school segregation is a pervasive problem in Denver Public Schools, impacts a majority of certain student populations such as Latino and English Learner students, represents disparate and at times inferior resources and designations, and reflects reduced student outcomes,” write Carrazco Strong and Peña write.

As a child, Peña was one of the original plaintiffs in the Keyes case, which led to the first major desegregation order in a city outside the South and the first desegregation order to consider Latino students alongside Black and white ones.

The Keyes decision led to several decades of busing to ensure integrated schools. With the end of court-mandated busing in 1995 and the return to neighborhood schools, Denver schools resegregated almost overnight.

In a press release announcing the report, Peña said he was “extremely disheartened” by the findings.

“The segregation of Latino students is profound and pervasive,” he said. “It is my sincere hope that DPS and the Denver community will come together to address this and not allow yet another 50 years to pass of separate and unequal education.”

The report, titled Resegregation in Denver Public Schools: Overlapping Systems of Student Segregation, Disparate Contexts, and Reduced Outcomes, finds significant segregation persists in the district and that attending segregated schools shapes students’ educational opportunities.

For example, more than half the gifted and talented students in Denver attend schools with large concentrations of white and higher-income students.

“We hold that it is not that Gifted and Talented students are more likely to be White and wealthy but rather White and wealthy students are more likely to be seen as Gifted and Talented by Denver Public Schools,” the authors write. They said the failure to see the talents of other students “represents an institutional shortcoming” and goes against the district’s obligations to provide a good education to all students.

Because they post lower test scores and are perceived as struggling, schools with high concentrations of low-income students of color are more likely to receive what are known as intensive interventions. These can include help from content experts, leadership development, teachers coaching, and access to customized support networks.

The study authors say this additional support may be helpful, but “those schools also experience interruptions, stigma, curriculum redesigns, and teacher de-professionalization that can be perceived as negative or punitive by the educators and students within them.”

Denver’s student population is roughly one-quarter white and three-quarters students of color. Slightly more than half of Denver students are Hispanic or Latino. Roughly 63% qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch, a measure of poverty. A third of Denver students are learning English at school.

The study authors defined a school as segregated if its student population differed from the district average by 20% or more. More than half of Denver’s Latino students and more than half of the district’s English learners attend schools that are segregated based on race and income, the study found. White students and higher-income students are also much more likely to attend school with other students like themselves.

In schools where low-income students are concentrated, Black students on average are about as represented as they are in the district as a whole. And on average Black students are more represented in majority-white schools than Latino students are.

This is not the first report to identify widespread school segregation in Denver, and the problem has persisted through several superintendents and school boards. A 2006 study from Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project identified similar trends as the new report from the Latino Education Coalition and noted that Latino English language learners were especially isolated.

In 2017, the district convened the Strengthening Neighborhoods Initiative to recommend policy changes to reduce school segregation.

The new study does not address the causes of school segregation or recommend solutions. The authors call for further study to identify targeted solutions. Attending integrated schools is associated with better outcomes for all students and smaller gaps in test scores, graduation rates, and other measures of student achievement.

Many Denver neighborhoods are highly segregated. School choice allows students to enroll outside their neighborhood boundary, but transportation and other barriers limit who can use it.

A 2018 study by the advocacy and research group A Plus Colorado found that students of color were often overrepresented in local schools, compared with the neighborhood population, while white students were underrepresented. The finding suggests some white, middle-class families use school choice to avoid their neighborhood schools.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said in a statement that he plans to partner with the Latino Education Coalition on identifying root causes and solutions.

“It is vitally important that we leave no stone unturned in finding the root causes, even if the findings make us uncomfortable,” he said. “While many factors led to this outcome we are not without blame. It is time for DPS to take a look in the mirror and see if any of our own actions may have contributed to the re-segregation of our schools. As Superintendent it is my duty to advocate for all our students by breaking down the systems of oppression when we find them.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver education research going forward but not without a fight

2023-07-13T17:15:00+00:00

A study that seeks to understand the effects of Denver’s education reform policies is moving forward — but not without significant pushback on whether researchers should have access to the student data that would allow them to answer key questions.

The disagreement highlights how politicized education research can be — even as access to data is critical to providing the information that might cut through the politics.

“Data are power,” said Katharine Strunk, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. “That is true in any walk of life. It has grown increasingly political as we have seen the general polarization around public education. It is weaponized, and it doesn’t need to be.”

Parker Baxter, who directs the university’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, plans to examine the academic growth and graduation rates of Denver students who attended schools that were closed for poor performance, new schools opened to offer better options, or schools that received district turnaround grants.

These education reform strategies were used in Denver from 2008 to 2019, when a union-backed school board took office and these policies fell out of favor.

To carry out the study, Baxter requested access to anonymized student data from Denver and 11 comparison districts. In Colorado, unlike many other states, the elected State Board of Education must sign off on such requests. Usually they are approved, but in this case, Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero opposed the request. It was the first time state officials have had to grapple with district opposition. No other district publicly objected to being included in the data set.

In June, a divided State Board of Education voted 5-4 to grant Baxter’s request. Board Chair Rebecca McClellan and member Angelika Schroeder, both Democrats, joined three Republicans to support releasing the data. Democratic board members Lisa Escárcega, Kathy Plomer, Rhonda Solis, and Karla Esser voted no after a nearly two-hour public hearing.

Education policy sometimes divides Democrats. The same 5-4 split has marked recent State Board decisions to grant a charter appeal and remove the Adams 14 district’s chartering authority.

The opposing board members argued that Baxter’s research questions were too narrow and that his conclusions might be limited. Education department staff had recommended approving the request because it might help inform state policy — reasoning that sparked even more concern for some board members.

Solis pointed to a case study of school improvement in the Greeley-Evans district where she previously served as a school board member. She thought the study failed to consider the community organizing that preceded school improvement efforts. Those efforts wouldn’t have been as successful without the community work that came first, Solis said.

“When you don’t have the whole story, then people can weaponize certain areas to say, ‘They did it this way,’” Solis said at the June meeting. “But did they really? Because there were all these other elements. My concern with the research is that it tells a narrative but not the whole narrative.”

Esser said Baxter’s study might attribute all the improvements to the reform strategies when other changes might have had greater impact. Denver increased per-student funding, reduced student-teacher ratios, and expanded training and collaboration during the same time period.

“We’re going to say these are the only changes we’re looking at, and then we’re going to say that it was the portfolio method that led to this improvement or it didn’t,” she said. The portfolio method or model is another term for Denver’s approach of supporting school choice and a range of school types.

Schroeder said she was “amazed” at her colleagues’ opposition.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever been part of a discussion about research where people were afraid of the results because of how they’ll be used,” she said. “That’s what seems to be going on here. Good research does little more than create new questions and you keep going.”

The study is a followup to one Baxter published earlier this year that attributed significant improvements in student test scores and graduation rates to education reform strategies. One criticism of the first study was that without student-level data, the study couldn’t determine which strategies actually made a difference and didn’t entirely account for how the large increase in white, more affluent students during the same time period may have affected test scores.

Baxter said he hopes the next study can answer those questions more definitively — and he can’t do it without student-level data. Baxter has been a supporter of education reform, but he said that won’t influence his findings, which he hopes to publish in early 2024.

“People are already talking about what they think the impact of the reforms were, but we have not had empirical evidence to inform that debate,” he said. “I have opinions on the reforms, and I have hypotheses, but I think I’m demonstrating my commitment to the facts by doing the research and being willing to publish the results” wherever they lead.

Denver dispute unusual in part because it was public

Politics sometimes seeps into education research. In 2016, Louisiana ended a data-sharing agreement with MIT and Duke University after researchers at the two universities published a study that showed negative outcomes in the first year of the state’s voucher program. The state superintendent said researchers should have given the program more time before publishing any findings.

But researchers told Chalkbeat the kind of public pushback that happened in Colorado, with elected officials questioning research methodology, is rare. More often, an education department or school district might slow-walk a request, charge large amounts of money for data, or say data aren’t collected in ways the researcher can use. Some institutions only provide data for studies that align with their priorities, researchers said.

“I think people are sometimes cagey about saying that they don’t want to provide data because of the nature of a research question,” said Dan Goldhaber, director of the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington. “I don’t think we typically see it spill out into the open like this.”

Doug Harris, a Tulane University economics professor who heads the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice, said the federal government could help by requiring states to make more data available while also providing money to support data collection and analysis. It’s not ideal for elected officials to make that call, he said.

Colorado’s system might allow for some transparency around decisions, he said, but could also have a chilling effect on researchers who watch the process and predict that politicians won’t like their research question.

The nature of a study like Baxter’s will address some of the concerns State Board members raised, Harris said. For example, if other schools or districts made changes that also helped student learning, the improvements at turnaround schools or at new charter schools will look relatively smaller. That’s the benefit of using a large set of individual student data and comparing data within Denver and across districts.

Strunk said she sees Michigan, where she previously was an education professor, as a model. The Michigan Education Data Center, created through a partnership between the state education department and its flagship public universities, serves as a central clearinghouse to clean and store data, review requests, and help researchers refine their proposals.

It’s true, she said, that research questions have to be carefully designed to not mislead policymakers. For example, it would be wrong to study Michigan’s policy holding back third-graders who are poor readers by comparing students who are retained with those who are not. Instead, a researcher would want to compare only students from similar backgrounds who were eligible for retention and look at outcomes for those who were and were not held back.

And because education policies almost always involve complex tradeoffs and conflicting values, politics will probably be unavoidable.

“It’s not just the fault of districts and state agencies,” she said. “It’s also the fault of researchers who are careless, when data is cherry-picked in certain ways. I don’t see a way out of it not being political unless you make it so dry, with a 20-year moratorium on using the data, and then it’s not useful.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Conozca a Susana Córdova, primera latina en el máximo cargo de educación en Colorado

2023-06-23T16:33:45+00:00

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Susana Córdova es la primera latina en ocupar el máximo cargo de educación en Colorado.

Córdova, nació en Denver, donde estudió y llegó a ser superintendenta del distrito escolar más grande del estado, y está asumiendo el cargo de comisionada de educación después de haber trabajado en el Distrito Escolar Independiente de Dallas y en una organización educativa sin fines de lucro.

En una entrevista, Córdova dijo que le entusiasma volver a casa. Describió el cargo de comisionada como una forma poderosa de “influir en la educación del estado que me hizo ser quien soy”.

Córdova recibió el apoyo unánime de la Junta Estatal de Educación. Ella juramentará su cargo el 26 de junio y recibirá un sueldo anual de $300,000.

La comisionada saliente, Katy Anthes, se quedará hasta el 10 de julio con el título de asistente especial de la comisionada.

“Es difícil alejarse de algo en lo que se ha puesto el corazón y el alma, pero es mucho más fácil saber que le estoy entregando esto a una líder con experiencia, profesional, amable y conocedora”, dijo Anthes. “Estoy convencida de que Susana va a hacer cosas maravillosas”.

Córdova fue un educadora de carrera en Denver, donde fue maestra bilingüe y directora antes de convertirse en superintendenta. En noviembre de 2020 anunció que se ida de Denver para aceptar un trabajo como superintendenta adjunta de liderazgo y aprendizaje en el Distrito Escolar Independiente de Dallas. Córdova dejó el distrito de Dallas en agosto después de que otra candidata, Stephanie Elizalde, fuera elegida para reemplazar al Superintendente Michael Hinojosa, que se jubiló.

Desde que dejó el distrito de Dallas, Córdova ha sido superintendenta residente de la organización educativa sin fines de lucro Transcend. Allí, Córdova dirige una red de superintendentes y dice que ha aprendido más sobre los retos y las fortalezas de los distritos pequeños y rurales, así como los de los distritos urbanos y suburbanos.

Córdova dijo que en sus primeros 100 días se enfocará en conocer al personal del departamento de educación y ponerse a disposición de los superintendentes, el gobernador y otros líderes.

Córdova dijo que el papel de comisionada es muy diferente al de superintendente. Los distritos escolares de Colorado tienen mucha autoridad para tomar sus propias decisiones. La comisionada puede destacar los ejemplos positivos, ofrecerles a los distritos vías para que aprendan los unos de los otros, y asegurar que la investigación sobre cómo los niños aprenden se refleje en los salones de clase.

Córdova dijo que sus prioridades incluyen:

Mejorar la enseñanza de lectura y matemáticas
Ayudar a los estudiantes a recuperarse de las interrupciones por la pandemia
Apoyar a los estudiantes multilingües
Asegurar que los estudiantes estén preparados para la universidad o el campo laboral después de la secundaria
Ayudar a los distritos a manejar presupuestos reducidos y la reducción en inscripciones

En el primer año de Córdova en el cargo, un grupo de trabajo considerará hacer cambios en el sistema de responsabilidad de las escuelas, un proceso que expondrá los desacuerdos entre la comunidad educativa. Córdova dijo que ahora es un buen momento para estudiar este sistema, que mide la calidad de las escuelas basándose en los resultados de los exámenes estandarizados.

Los resultados de los exámenes ayudan a los funcionarios a entender qué los niños están aprendiendo y qué no, y eso sigue siendo importante, dijo Córdova.

“Pero también podría ser una oportunidad para fijarse en otras cosas que hacen que una escuela sea de calidad”, dijo.

Córdova pasó muchos años supervisando los esfuerzos de Denver por mejorar la educación de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. Ella aprendió español de adulta después de haber crecido en una época en la que hablar ese idioma era motivo de mucha estigma.

Córdova dijo que está orgullosa del trabajo que Colorado ha hecho para desarrollar un sello de alfabetización bilingüe. Ese sello permite que los graduados de secundaria reciban un reconocimiento en su diploma por leer y escribir con fluidez en un idioma distinto del inglés. Ella espera ayudar a los distritos más pequeños y con menos recursos a apoyar mejor a los estudiantes en el aprendizaje del inglés y a valorar sus idiomas maternos.

“Siempre empiezo pensando en cómo enfocar nuestro trabajo con los estudiantes desde una perspectiva basada en las ventajas”, dijo. “Lo más importante que podemos hacer por nuestros estudiantes multilingües es valorar su primer idioma. Eso se puede lograr con enseñanza en su idioma materno o con otras maneras de reconocerlo como una ventaja”.

Erica Meltzer es directora de la oficina de redacción, cubre temas de política educativa y supervisa la cobertura de educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Para comunicarte con Erica, envíale un email a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado shaped Susana Córdova. Now she wants to make an impact as education commissioner.

2023-06-14T23:40:26+00:00

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Susana Córdova has been named Colorado’s next education commissioner.

A Denver native who attended Denver schools and then rose to be superintendent of the state’s largest school district, Córdova will hold Colorado’s top education job after stints with the Dallas Independent School District and an education nonprofit.

In an interview, Córdova said she’s excited to come home. She described the commissioner job as a powerful way “to make an impact on education in the state that made me who I am.”

The State Board of Education voted unanimously to approve Córdova’s appointment Wednesday. After the vote, board members stood and applauded Córdova. She’ll take her oath of office June 26 and earn an annual salary of $300,000.

Board Chair Rebecca McClellan said Córdova was “uniquely positioned” to understand the challenges facing Colorado schools and the lived experiences of students, teachers, and district leaders.

Outgoing Commissioner Katy Anthes will stay until July 10, with the title of special assistant to the commissioner.

“It’s hard to step away from something you’ve put your heart and soul into, but it makes it so much easier to know I’m turning this over to a seasoned, professional, kind, knowledgeable leader,” Anthes said. “I am so confident that Susana is going to do wonderful things.”

Anthes announced in December that she would be stepping down in July. The board received 23 applications. It interviewed six candidates — four women and two men — and voted unanimously in May to name Córdova the sole finalist for the job.

Córdova was a career Denver educator, working as a bilingual teacher and principal before joining the administration and eventually becoming superintendent. She announced in November 2020 that she was leaving Denver to take a job as deputy superintendent of leading and learning in the Dallas Independent School District. Córdova left the Dallas district in August after another candidate, Stephanie Elizalde, was chosen to replace retiring Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.

Since leaving the Dallas district, Córdova has been the superintendent in residence for the education nonprofit Transcend. There, Córdova said she’s learned more about the challenges and strengths of small, rural districts as well as those of urban and suburban districts as she leads a network of superintendents.

Córdova said in her first 100 days, she’ll focus on getting to know the education department staff and making herself available to superintendents, the governor, and other leaders.

Córdova said the role of commissioner is very different from that of a superintendent. Local control is a deeply held value in Colorado. The commissioner can shine a light on positive examples, provide avenues for districts to learn from one another, and make sure research on how kids learn shows up in the classroom, she said.

Córdova said that in many ways her agenda is already set. She wants to continue Colorado’s efforts to improve reading instruction, support a new initiative to improve outcomes in math, bolster efforts to prepare students for life after high school, and help districts navigate the expiration of pandemic relief dollars and the challenges of declining enrollment.

Making sure dollars are spent well to support student mental health and academic tutoring will be critical, she said. Districts that have hired lots of new staff to support students will face tough decisions.

In Córdova’s first year on the job, a task force will consider changes to the school accountability system, a process that will expose fault lines among the education community.

“We’re at a really ideal point in time to look at our accountability system,” Córdova said. “It’s important to get a read on where kids are academically, and I hope that would continue. Colorado is a leader with its focus on growth [over proficiency]. But it also might be an opportunity to look at other things that make a quality school.”

Córdova spent many years overseeing Denver’s efforts to improve education for English learners. She learned Spanish as an adult after growing up in an era when its use was heavily stigmatized.

Córdova said she’s proud of the work Colorado has done to develop a seal of biliteracy. The seal allows high school graduates to receive recognition on their diploma for reading and writing fluently in a language other than English. She hopes to help smaller districts with fewer resources better support students in learning English and valuing their home languages.

“I always start with thinking about how we approach working with students from an asset-based way,” she said. “The most important thing we can do for our multilingual learners is valuing their home language. That can be instruction in their home language or other ways to recognize it as an asset.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

A researcher wants to study the effect of Denver’s reform policies. The superintendent has qualms.

2023-06-14T21:08:59+00:00

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero doesn’t want a University of Colorado Denver researcher to access student data to study the effects of the previous decade’s education reform policies.

Parker Baxter, who directs the University of Colorado Denver’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, was the lead author of a study released last year that found significant improvements in student test scores and graduation rates during the time Denver Public Schools was most invested in education reform strategies.

Two critiques of the study were that it didn’t isolate the effects of particular strategies, such as closing schools with persistently low test scores or opening new charter schools, and that it didn’t fully account for changes in the student population of Denver, which grew by some 20,000 children during the same time period.

Baxter hopes to address both those concerns and provide better information about which school improvement strategies boosted student academic performance by using student-level data from Denver and 11 comparison districts. Federal student data privacy law allows for this type of research. Individual student data is anonymized and never reported publicly.

“Student-level data is the gold standard and allows for much better disentanglement of improvements due to reform and improvements due to changes in the student population,” Baxter said.

In a May 26 letter to the State Board of Education, Marrero said he has serious concerns about allowing Baxter access to Denver student data. Marrero, who was hired in 2021 by a school board largely opposed to education reform, said Baxter’s first study and his proposed new study ignore the downsides of reform, such as “the impact of school closure on communities, a focus on competition over collaboration and its impact on school staff, to name a few.”

The State Board of Education is set to vote on the request Thursday.

Colorado has strict rules around student data privacy and requires that the State Board of Education review and vote on requests to use data that includes personally identifiable information about students. Since 2016, when the policy was adopted, the State Board has approved nine out of 10 requests, according to Colorado Department of Education spokeswoman Dana Smith.

Smith said in an email that she believes this is the first time a school district has opposed the release of data. A 16-member panel made up of education department staff found the study results would be useful to other school districts considering any of the interventions used in Denver, as well as to the education department.

The decision ultimately rests with the State Board, Smith said.

Starting in the mid-2000s, Denver made it easier for families to exercise school choice, expanded the number of independent charter schools, and gave district-run schools more autonomy. The school board also closed or replaced schools with low test scores.

Whether those policies helped or hurt students and families is hotly debated. The current school board, made up of members backed by the teachers union, no longer closes district-run schools for low academic performance and is less supportive of charter schools. The board has reunified West and Montbello high schools, two schools that were split into multiple small schools during the reform era. The board recently gave honorary diplomas and an apology to students who would have graduated from Manual High School had it not been closed in 2006.

Baxter said his first study was an attempt to bring data to that debate. That study concluded that Denver students got the equivalent of 12 to 12 ½ years of learning in the 11 years from the 2007-08 to 2018-19 school years and that Denver’s graduation rate also increased at a higher rate than it would have if the reforms hadn’t happened.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Denver Public Schools had not responded to a request for comment.

In his letter, Marrero said neither Baxter’s first study nor his proposed study considered other important outcomes, such as improving students’ social and emotional well-being. Nor would it consider the potential impact on student performance of consistent leadership, outside grant money, or efforts to improve education for English learners during the study period.

Marrero wrote that it would be “more beneficial to conduct a comprehensive study that takes into account the many factors that have led to our improved student achievement.”

Baxter said all those topics are worthy of study. His proposed project could inform a larger review that includes other strategies and outcomes. At the same time, test scores and graduation rates form the basis of Colorado’s school accountability system and are appropriate to study.

Specifically, Baxter plans to study the effects of opening new schools, including charter schools, closing schools with persistently low test scores, and providing schools with school improvement grants for district-led turnaround efforts. He hopes to track individual students’ academic progress, dropout and graduation rates, and college enrollment starting four years before Denver held its first call for quality schools in 2008 and continuing through 2019.

Baxter said he is not assuming that every education reform intervention will turn out to have had a positive impact. Studies in other communities have found mixed results from school closures.

“We’re not setting out to prove anything,” Baxter said. “We are seeking answers to questions.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Mike Johnston will be Denver’s next mayor. Here’s what he had to say about education.

2023-06-07T23:12:06+00:00

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Mike Johnston, a former state senator and school principal, will be Denver’s next mayor.

Johnston, who was a leader in education reform policies in the state legislature before taking the helm of Gary Community Ventures, won 55% of the vote in a runoff election against Kelly Brough, a former business leader and chief of staff for then-Mayor John Hickenlooper.

“This race was about a big vision for what’s possible for Denver,” Johnston told supporters Tuesday night. “It’s about a dream of Denver. And we know there are cities that have tried to deliver that dream and have failed.”

In one version of that dream he described, a young Latina grows up in north Denver, becomes the first person in her family to go to college, becomes a public school teacher in the neighborhood where she grew up — and can afford to rent an apartment and later buy a home and raise her own children there.

“Maybe just down the block from a place, where, when her daughter gets old enough, she can walk her to school to the very school where she teaches. That is our dream of Denver,” he said.

Here’s what Johnston had to say during a mayoral forum in May about how he’d work with Denver Public Schools and try to have an impact on education, housing, and quality of life.

Youth gun violence is on the rise. After a shooting at East High School in March, the Denver Police Department agreed to station 14 police officers on 13 DPS high school campuses. What’s your position on police in schools? And who should pay for it?

My position from the beginning has been that schools should get to decide whether they need that support. … I think that in terms of who pays for it, that’s a decision we can make together. If the district has the resources, they should pay for it. If the district doesn’t have the resources, then the city needs to step in and figure out how we get it done.

Research shows a correlation between the presence of police in schools and discipline disparities, as well as unclear effects on school safety. If Denver police remain in schools, how would you ensure the district achieves its equity and trauma-informed goals?

This is a matter of who you approve to do this work, what training they have to do this work, and what their scope of authority is in the building to do this work.

When I’m a school principal, I do not need a Denver PD officer to be intervening in two students arguing in the cafeteria. I do not need an officer to be ticketing people for cursing in the hallway.

What you need an officer for is when you have a student that you know has access to a gun, who you are afraid is bringing one to school, and you need someone to assist in a pat-down of that student to make sure they’re not armed.

Would you consider mayoral control of the school board?

No, I don’t think that is a good plan.

I think that the democratic process works. There are a lot of people that are very motivated and very mobilized about the school board elections coming this November, probably more than I’ve ever seen in my adult life, because parents are really paying attention. … And I think their voices will be very powerful in what happens in the school board races and that they will get back the school board that they want and they feel like is responsive to them.

As indicated by the most recent state testing data, Denver Public Schools is not adequately supporting academic achievement among students of color or those who are low-income. What role can the mayor play in addressing the equity gap among students?

It starts with the belief that Denver students are all of our responsibility.

One of the most important ways that we can do that is looking at all of the learning time right now that happens outside of the school building. All the things that happen outside of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., where we know young people’s access to after-school programming to summer school programming to tutoring and arts and athletics and science camps … drive a big part of the passion that makes you who you are as a young person.

I want to expand programming to make sure young people, particularly those on free and reduced [price] lunch, have access to those opportunities to help them find their passion.

The other key area of partnership the city has let us down on is on mental health. … One of the things that Denver does is support Denver Health, which supports school-based health clinics around the city. We’ve not provided enough resources to make sure that in all of Denver’s high schools, we have an adequate supply of mental health counselors.

The DPS school board recently proposed a policy that would exclude standardized test scores from a public-facing information dashboard. Would you support building a platform at the city to share this information with families and community and to hold the district accountable?

I would not support denying parents access to that information any more than I would support denying parents access to information on their kid’s height and weight chart on a yearly physical check-in. And also know that even if you tell my kid he’s in the 15th percentile of height, that I don’t think that’s his total measure of worth as a human being.

There are different data points that you gather, and they tell you different things about the progress of your child. And what you want to look at is a well-rounded group of data that helps inform me on what to do next.

It is getting increasingly expensive to live in the city of Denver. This is causing many lower-income DPS families to relocate outside of the city. How will you address this challenge?

What I would do is build or convert 25,000 units across the city to become permanently affordable units. And what that means is that anybody that makes about $100,000 a year or less can be eligible to move into one of these units. And the way they’re structured is that you would never pay more than 30% of what you make for rent.

The next most important step is homeownership. … There I would do two things. One is to provide down payment assistance, which helps someone be able to buy a home for the first time. … And the other is to partner with organizations like Habitat for Humanity or Elevation Land Trust, where you can create land trusts where there are affordable homes you can buy.

You buy them at a discounted rate, and you sell them at a discounted rate. So you might buy a home for $300,000 instead of $600,000. But when you keep it for 10 years and you sell it at the end, you might only sell it for $350,000 … so that you keep it affordable for the next teacher or the next nurse or the next firefighter.

As mayor, what are the top three things you would do to make Denver the best place to raise children?

I think the three biggest drivers of people leaving the city will be: Do they feel it’s affordable? Do they feel it’s safe? And do they feel like they have access to great schools?

We’ve talked about affordability. And so I want to talk … about safety.

I believe we need 200 more first responders on the streets of our city — and I use the term first responders because what you know is you need different people to respond to different situations based on what the challenge is.

If you have someone in a mental health crisis, you actually don’t want to send an officer at all.

If you have someone who’s in a physical health crisis and potential overdose, you want to have a paramedic or EMT on site. You don’t necessarily need an officer.

But if you have places where there is an assault, or there’s a break-in, or your car’s been stolen, or there’s been a shooting, you do want to make sure that you have officers that can respond. Right now, we are so short-staffed on each of those roles.

Chalkbeat Senior Reporter Melanie Asmar co-moderated the May forum from which these answers are drawn and lightly edited the answers for length.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver board divided on competing school policing proposals

2023-06-01T23:55:08+00:00

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A divided Denver school board failed to find much common ground in an hourlong debate Thursday over two competing proposals on the role of police in schools.

The meeting concluded with no decision, with no scheduled vote, and with uncertainty about next steps. The board even discussed setting aside both proposals until they held an up-or-down vote on the policy that was in place for almost two years — a ban on armed police officers on Denver campuses.

Superintendent Alex Marrero had asked the board to decide whether to allow police on campuses and in what circumstances as he finalizes a new school safety plan, and board members presented two different visions.

Board member Scott Baldermann’s proposal would allow Marrero to decide when, where, and for how long to station police at Denver schools. The proposal says police would not get involved in discipline but would be present for ensuring safety, deterring crime, mentoring students, and building community.

Baldermann said he hopes Denver schools can benefit from the presence of police without seeing a return to disproportionate discipline, tickets, and arrests that affected students of color.

“I don’t want to fall back,” Baldermann said.

Board member Scott Esserman countered: “This policy is falling back.”

Esserman backs a proposal from Vice President Auon’tai Anderson to direct the superintendent to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the Denver Police Department to create community resource officers who would receive special training and get to know schools within regions of the city — without being stationed inside buildings.

Anderson called it a “third way” between having school resource officers on campus and the recent status quo, in which school leaders called 911 when safety issues arose and any on-duty officer responded.

“We need to center the needs of our students and not make reactionary decisions,” Anderson said.

With Anderson leading the charge, the Denver school board voted in 2020 to remove school resource officers amid the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. Community groups such as Movimiento Poder, formerly known as Padres y Jóvenes Unidos, had been working toward that change for a decade.

Then in March, after a student shot two administrators inside East High School, the board temporarily suspended the ban. Marrero had already publicly stated his intention to bring police back to schools, and after spring break, Denver police officers were stationed at 13 Denver campuses.

The first version of Marrero’s safety plan would have allowed building principals to decide whether police should be stationed at their schools. After many principals said they didn’t want that responsibility, Marerro asked the Denver school board to make a long-term decision.

In a written statement emailed to Chalkbeat, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said he would work with the district wherever the board lands but has a “clear preference” for full-time school resource officers in every large high school.

“They will serve as a layer of safety planning and, more importantly, maintaining positive relationships with youth in schools,” Thomas said. “This position was shared with members of the school board. The decision will ultimately be that of DPS. DPD will comply with the direction of the DPS Board and School Administration.

“There are still a number of uncertainties with multiple options still on the table. While the department has begun logistical planning internally for different options, we will not comment about those plans until after a final determination has been made.”

The unanimous March vote to temporarily allow police on campuses occurred after a five-hour closed-door meeting and with no public discussion. Thursday’s meeting gives the public more insight into how board members are thinking about safety and policing. Esserman said the disagreement is a sign of healthy democracy in action, not dysfunction.

Board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán called the return of police “inevitable” and said the board should set guidelines such as proposed by Baldermann for what their role should be.

But board member Michelle Quattlebaum said the decision only becomes inevitable after the board votes. She said the board’s first decision should be whether it wants to stick with the policy in place from 2020 until March of this year — a ban on police in schools. Only once that policy has been overturned should the board consider a new policy.

Quattlebaum said she wanted to name the “elephant in the room.”

“I have Black sons who have gone through DPS and I know what their experience was,” she said. “We are talking about policing Black children. That is what we are talking about, without saying it. How do we make sure the white students are safe when they are in school with Black students?”

“I’m just as concerned as about my brown boys and my brown community,” Gaytán said. “What I want is a say in what that looks like.”

Board member Charmaine Lindsay says she has seen the impact of disproportionate policing and discipline on her 10 grandchildren, who are all children of color. Lindsay, who is white, said she also has seen children meet a bad end that might have been avoided if there had been earlier intervention.

“I’ve seen kids end up dead and kids end up with 20- or 30-year prison sentences that could have been prevented if someone said, ‘you’re going to get a ticket’ or ‘you’re going to go to a pathways school,’” she said.

She also said school resource officers could help teachers feel safer, and that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Board member Carrie Olson, who was attending remotely, did not weigh in.

With the board reaching a self-imposed deadline for wrapping up the discussion, Anderson suggested holding an up-or-down vote on the previous ban at a future meeting before taking up either of the new proposals. It takes three board members or the president to place something on the agenda.

Baldermann said he feared that ending the ban without agreement on a replacement policy — one possible outcome of an up-or-down vote — would leave Denver students without protections and the superintendent without guidance.

The board’s next meeting is Monday, when the board is scheduled to hear public comment. However, the board doesn’t have a meeting allowing voting until June 15. The board could also schedule a special meeting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver school district hires safety chief from Aurora schools, filling 6-month vacancy

2023-06-01T22:26:33+00:00

Denver has hired longtime Aurora Public Schools safety chief Greg Cazzell to be the district’s next chief of climate and safety.

The key position has been vacant for more than six months as Denver Public Schools grapples with rising community violence and shootings both inside and just outside school buildings. Superintendent Alex Marrero is developing a new safety plan, the school board is debating the role of police in schools, and community groups are advocating for competing visions.

In a press release announcing the hire Thursday, the district said Cazzell would be responsible for overseeing and implementing the safety plan set to be finalized later this month. Cazzell is scheduled to start July 10.

Greg Cazzell

“I am very proud to accept this role with Denver Public Schools,” Cazzell said in the press release. “I am very aware of the work in front of us, and I am excited to get started on implementing the safety and security features of the new plan in support of our students, staff and community.”

A district spokesman said Cazzell is on a family trip and not available for interviews.

Cazzell has worked as Aurora Public Schools’ director of safety and security for eight years. Before that, he spent 22 years with the Glendale, Colorado, police department. He also has been an adjunct professor teaching criminal justice classes at Johnston & Wales University.

The neighboring Aurora school district has dealt with similar challenges with community violence. In 2021, within weeks, nine students were shot and injured in two incidents, one in the parking lot of Hinkley High School and the other in a park near Aurora Central High School.

Aurora, though, has maintained school resource officers throughout social justice protests and student advocacy. Then-Superintendent Rico Munn said the district put its own money toward mental health supports and restorative justice, while the city paid for police salaries, striking a good balance.

During his tenure, Cazzell implemented ID check procedures at Aurora schools that raised concerns among advocacy groups that work with immigrant parents and faced questions about the use of drug-sniffing dogs in schools.

“I know that Chief Cazzell will help DPS move forward in our ongoing commitment to providing a safe environment for every student to thrive,” Marrero said in a press release. “He will play a pivotal role in safeguarding our students and building trust among parents and staff.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver board to weigh competing proposals on police in schools

2023-06-01T00:55:11+00:00

The Denver school board is divided on whether to keep police officers on campuses, with two competing proposals on the board agenda for Thursday.

One proposal, authored by board member Scott Baldermann, would give the superintendent authority to decide when, where, and for how long police should be stationed in Denver school buildings. School communities would be informed and their opinions considered, the proposal says, but the decision would rest with the superintendent.

The superintendent would deem when police presence is necessary and would work to ensure officers don’t get involved in school discipline and have special training and certifications, the proposal says.

The proposal says that police should be in schools for preserving safety, deterring crime, mentoring students, and building community and that they should have a softer presence, wearing less formal uniforms and not parking their cars where students would have to walk around them.

Baldermann, who voted to remove school resource officers back in 2020, said he changed his position due to the number of weapons being confiscated in Denver schools and feedback he has heard from the community.

He hopes his proposal will provide safety benefits and deter students from taking weapons to school without leading to more tickets and arrests for students of color — the reason advocates wanted police out of schools in the first place.

“At the end of the day, I do want this to be a positive relationship, and I think we can do that,” he said.

The other proposal, authored by Vice President Auon’tai Anderson and endorsed by members Scott Esserman and Michelle Quattlebaum, says police should not be stationed in schools — district- or charter-managed — on a regular basis. Instead the district would develop a memorandum of understanding with the city to create community resource officer positions.

Those officers would be assigned by region and available to schools when necessary. Their role would be limited to protecting the physical safety of students and staff, responding to a threat from someone outside the school community, and responding to situations in which schools are required to call law enforcement. The memorandum would include guidelines for when it’s appropriate for police to be on school grounds and when school staff should handle a situation, the proposal says.

Anderson’s proposal says that any officer engagements with students should include district support staff, restorative justice workers, and if needed a special education caseworker to help de-escalate the incident and intervene without criminalizing students.

Anderson said during a news conference Wednesday that the proposal represents a middle ground. The district won’t place police officers in schools but schools will have a police presence when needed.

“We cannot turn back on the progress that we have made,” he said.

While Baldermann’s proposal calls for officers to be trained by the National Association of School Resource Officers, Anderson lays out more extensive training requirements with curriculum to be developed by community groups. Topics would include restorative practices, culturally responsive de-escalation, working with students with disabilities, trauma-informed approaches, racial equity, and the school-to-prison pipeline.

Both proposals call for not spending school district funds on school resource officers. Instead, the city, state, or grants should cover police salaries, the proposals say.

The school district cannot unilaterally compel the city or the police department to agree to its terms.

Anderson said he’s spoken with Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas about the proposal. Questions remain about details of the memorandum of understanding, such as officers’ duties, the number of officers, and school assignments, Anderson said.

Baldermann said he hasn’t talked with the police chief, but he hopes the department would find the guidelines he’s proposing reasonable.

The role police will play in Denver schools is a significant question as Superintendent Alex Marrero develops a new safety plan that also emphasizes mental health resources for students, after-school programming, and community partnerships. Last week, in a second draft of the plan, he asked the school board to adopt a districtwide policy rather than leave the decision up to school principals in consultation with teachers and parents.

The Denver school board voted unanimously in March to temporarily return armed police officers to high schools the day after a student shot and wounded two administrators inside East High School. That decision reversed a ban adopted in 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. Anderson was the leading advocate for removing police from schools.

The district was supposed to develop a new agreement with the Denver Police Department, but that never happened.

Without police on campuses, tickets and referrals to law enforcement fell, a major goal of advocates who pointed to significant racial disparities in student interactions with police.

Since then, rising community violence, more weapons being found on school grounds, and three prominent shootings in or near East High School — including one in which a student was killed — all pushed questions of school safety, discipline, and school resource officers to the forefront.

For the last two months, 13 Denver campuses have had school resource officers. Community surveys have found parents, students, and educators all divided on whether the presence of police would make schools feel safer. Advocacy groups like Movimiento Poder have urged the district not to return police to campuses, while many school principals say they would prefer to have officers in their buildings who know and are familiar with their students.

Board member Esserman, who supports not putting police back into schools, said the district shouldn’t switch its approach every time an incident occurs.

“When we do that, we’re just swinging a pendulum back and forth,” he said. Instead, the change will modify the district’s approach to keeping cops out of schools while also getting cops more involved with the city’s communities, he said.

Baldermann said those pendulum swings are one reason he wants the superintendent to make the decision on an as-needed basis.

“Right now, the board was saying you can’t do this, and Dr. Marrero did it anyway,” Baldermann said. “If there is a known threat or intelligence from the community, the superintendent should be able to respond. The board does not need to be involved in the operational level of where and when and how long.”

School Board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán said that as she’s met with Latino community groups, the large majority — especially mothers — want to see police in schools provided they have training and understand the community and its culture.

“It’s important we all come to the table with an open mind, that we come from the heart as well as bring analytical and critical thinking skills to determine what the best route is with this divisive SRO issue,” she said.

This article has been updated throughout with quotes from school board members.

Jason Gonzales contributed to this article.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Susana Cordova, former Denver superintendent, named finalist for Colorado education commissioner

2023-05-30T22:54:23+00:00

Former Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova is the sole finalist to be Colorado’s next education commissioner.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously to name Cordova their preferred candidate at a brief meeting Tuesday morning. By law, the State Board must wait at least 14 days before voting to hire Cordova. The next scheduled board meeting is June 14.

“Her extensive experience working in schools and districts along with her thoughtful and caring approach to addressing the issues facing students and educators will be a tremendous asset to the state of Colorado,” board Chair Rebecca McClellan said.

The selection of Cordova drew praise from education advocates across the political spectrum. Groups that represent superintendents and educators said they appreciate that Cordova would bring a wealth of classroom and district experience to the job. Groups that favor education reform said they appreciate that she worked for the Denver district during a time when that district had its own school accountability system and embraced school choice and charters.

“This was an excellent choice for Colorado particularly at this moment in time,” said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center. “Susana has a remarkable background, having been a successful teacher, school leader, district leader, and she knows how to drive student achievement, particularly for low-income kids and English learners.”

Education Commissioner Katy Anthes announced in December that she would be stepping down in July. The State Board hired the search firm McPherson and Jacobson to help find a replacement. The board received 23 applications. It interviewed six candidates — four women and two men — in closed-door meetings Wednesday and Thursday.

The board discussed candidates in closed session for more than four hours on Friday before adjourning without a vote. The board reconvened for about 30 minutes Tuesday before announcing Cordova would be the only finalist.

Cordova was a career Denver educator, working as a bilingual teacher and principal before rising to lead the district where she was once a student herself. Her tenure included a teachers strike, a political sea change on the school board, and COVID-related school closures. She worked hard to find common ground and win over critics.

Cordova announced in November 2020 that she was leaving Denver to take a job as deputy superintendent of leading and learning in the Dallas Independent School District. Though Cordova said she was leaving Denver to pursue an exciting opportunity, many in the community blamed dysfunction on the Denver school board for driving her away.

Cordova left the Dallas district in August after another candidate, Stephanie Elizalde, was chosen to replace retiring Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. Since then, Cordova has been the superintendent in residence for the education nonprofit Transcend.

McClellan said the State Board was looking for a candidate with a history of leading by example and closing gaps between student groups, someone with good people skills who would represent a positive image for the department.

Unlike other states where the education commissioner is appointed by the governor or elected, Colorado’s education commissioner is hired by the independently elected State Board of Education.

Anthes, the departing commissioner, has led the department since May 2016 and. During her tenure, Colorado implemented a school accountability system that allows state intervention in struggling school districts, adopted new academic standards, and stepped up efforts to improve reading instruction in the early grades and career learning opportunities for high school students.

“The Colorado commissioner is somewhat unique in that the power the commissioner has is limited because of local control,” Schoales said. “It requires a combination of carrots and sticks, and the commissioner has to be very thoughtful and artful to bring people along.”

The next commissioner will serve a larger nine-member board with an expanded Democratic majority, some of whom are more skeptical of the accountability system and state intervention in school districts.

“We have a divided State Board and a larger State Board,” said Brenda Dickhoner, president and CEO of the conservative education group Ready Colorado. “The commissioner plays a role in taking all the different signals from the State Board and synthesizing those and transmitting those to schools and districts and families.”

The next commissioner will have to deal with ongoing pandemic recovery, efforts to improve math and reading instruction, teacher shortages, and the challenges that come with declining enrollment in many parts of the state.

Colorado also is about to convene a task force that will recommend changes to the accountability system — a process welcomed by many education advocacy groups but one that will force difficult conversations.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said his membership’s top priority was having as commissioner “someone who knew the day-to-day struggles as much as the policy.” Every law and policy has to be turned into rules that superintendents, principals, and teachers can put into action, Miles said, and Cordova’s background means she is well-positioned to approach those decisions with care.

Dickhoner said she was glad to see a finalist who understands “how choice is part of our education ecosystem” and brings experience working in Denver Public Schools when that district was considered a national model for education reform.

“Her track record in DPS, demonstrating that she’s been able to work with families who attend schools of choice, that she worked in a system that valued accountability and high expectations for all schools, regardless of where you fall on the specific policy recommendations, having that familiarity will benefit her and Colorado,” Dickhoner said.

Jen Walmer, state director of Democrats for Education Reform, was chief of staff in Denver when Cordova was chief academic officer.

“She was the most consistent, even member of the leadership team,” Walmer said. “She is always focused on the work, student-focused. She listens before she speaks. She has an ability to build bridges and bring people together, and I think that’s exactly what Colorado needs.”

Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, the state teachers union, said she is hopeful that Cordova’s background as a classroom teacher will lead her to lift up and center educator perspectives on how to solve long-standing education problems.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, executive director of the Colorado Association of Bilingual Educators, said she was “thrilled” with Cordova’s selection and hopes that Cordova promotes biliteracy, bilingual education, and diverse and inclusive approaches.

“Our children need not just her leadership, but her advocacy as well,” she wrote in an email.

Gov. Jared Polis praised the choice in a press release and said he looks forward to working with Cordova.

“Her prior work boosting academic progress and improving access to high-quality education for learners of all backgrounds as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools is sure to benefit students across the state as she brings this passion and experience to this new role,” he said.

This story has been updated throughout with additional comments and interviews.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

New Denver schools safety plan asks board to decide on police on campus

2023-05-26T21:41:08+00:00

The second draft of Denver Public Schools’ new safety plan doesn’t answer a key question — whether Denver schools will station armed police officers on campus next school year.

While the first draft suggested that school principals would have the authority to decide for themselves, the second draft released Friday kicks that question back to the school board, which still hasn’t voted on whether to permanently end a ban on school resource officers enacted in 2020.

Superintendent Alex Marrero now recommends the board decide for all comprehensive high schools and all 6-12 schools. The board is scheduled to discuss police in schools next week.

School principals would be able to decide whether to install metal detectors or other weapons detection systems after “extensive community engagement,” according to Marrero’s plan.

The plan reiterates that every student has the right under federal law to access a free and appropriate public education — a response to those in the community who said students with a history of concerning behavior should be required to attend alternative schools or online school. However, the plan also says the district is expanding hybrid and online options.

The plan does not recommend specific changes to the discipline matrix — another source of concern for some educators and parents who feel the district has gone too far in keeping certain students in school — but mentions that Denver Public Schools leadership will work with a team from Harvard and large urban school districts on effective discipline strategies.

The board directed Marrero to draft a long-term safety plan one day after a student shot two deans at Denver’s East High School in March. Marrero released a first draft of the plan on May 1. He has until June 30 to finalize it.

Whether police officers should be stationed on DPS campuses is among the most hotly debated aspects of the plan. The school board had removed officers — known as school resource officers, or SROs — from schools in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But after the East High shooting, the board held a lengthy closed-door meeting and temporarily suspended its ban on police.

Thirteen Denver high school campuses now have SROs. But the temporary suspension is set to expire next month.

The topic was on the agenda at the board’s May 18 meeting. However, after voting to give Marrero a 10% raise, the board ran out of time to discuss the SRO policy.

Board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán said Friday that the board is set to discuss the policy, known officially as executive limitation 10.10, at a work session Thursday. The board could vote later in June, Gaytán said. Currently, the policy says the superintendent shall “not staff district schools with school resource officers or the consistent presence of security armed with guns or any other law enforcement personnel.”

Opinions vary on whether schools should have SROs. In a survey conducted last month, 33% of DPS staff, 41% of students, and 48% of parents who responded said SROs would help. White parents were overrepresented among the respondents.

The draft plan says a majority of Denver school principals want to host school resource officers at their schools but also want the school board to make the decision, rather than make the decision themselves. In contrast, classroom teachers are less likely to support having school resource officers on campus but want the decision made at the school level.

Should the school board decide to keep police on campuses, the plan says the district would work closely with the department on selecting and training officers.

DPS held four telephone town hall meetings about the first draft of the safety plan. Marrero briefly discussed the feedback at the May 18 school board meeting.

He said more than 24,000 people attended the telephone meetings, and participants ranked SROs and weapons detection systems as the top two systemwide strategies in which the district should invest more resources. The other choices included unarmed and armed DPS security guards, communications, student discipline, and out-of-school programming.

A high-level summary of the townhall feedback included in the new safety plan shows a majority of participants did not feel the proposed strategies addressed student safety very well, not at a personal level, a school level, or a district level.

At 48 pages long, the first draft of the safety plan largely repeated things DPS already does or policies it already has in place. For instance, it talked about expecting schools to have the equivalent of one-full time mental health worker on staff and highlighted 20-minute daily lessons on social and emotional learning that happen in elementary schools.

The first draft also detailed DPS’s existing summer school programs, its commitment to culturally relevant curriculum, and its bullying prevention efforts.

The second draft is 62 pages and very similar to the first. The executive summary says in response to feedback, the district made an effort in the second version to better distinguish between programs that are already in place and those that are planned for future years.

The plan rejects the idea of requiring clear backpacks as unlikely to be effective and says that small class sizes — a top priority of the teachers union — do “not address all aspects of school safety.”

The draft plan doesn’t include any cost estimates yet but promises that the final version will.

Read the plan here.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, covering Denver Public Schools. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado legislature delivers on school funding, math tutoring, free college despite drama

2023-05-12T12:00:00+00:00

Colorado’s K-12 schools got a major funding increase. Younger students should get more help with math learning, and older students should have more ways to get a free college education.

And long-standing areas of education policy debate — how to more fairly distribute money among schools and how to determine what makes a good school — will get the focused attention of dedicated task forces that could recommend changes to future lawmakers.

When the 2023 Colorado General Assembly concluded its work this week, education stood out as an area of relative consensus and modest progress, in sharp contrast to heated debates over gun control, crime, housing, and tax policy that saw progressives frustrated and conservatives alike disappointed and disillusioned.

Education had its contentious moments as well. Republicans argued that a bill to expand mental health assessments in schools risked trampling on parental rights. Legislators scaled back a bill to give far more protections to students facing expulsion. A bill to promote universal screening for dyslexia, a common learning disability, never even got a hearing.

But overall, advocates across the spectrum rated education a bright spot this session.

“It is pretty remarkable when you can peel away the drama of the session,” said Jen Walmer, Colorado state director of Democrats for Education Reform. “There were real wins for kids.”

State Rep. Don Wilson, a freshman Monument Republican, said that education issues felt less politically charged.

“We did have a bunch of party-line votes, but there was good discussion about them and I really appreciate that from my fellow committee members,” he said.

With so many bills convening task forces — there also will be groups working on transportation and student discipline — the 2023 session could tee up bigger debates ahead or see the status quo win out.

“We have all these opportunities to talk about where we want our education system to go,” said Brenda Dickhoner, president and CEO of the conservative education group Ready Colorado. “We have this moment where we could choose to do better for our kids, but I’m also worried we’ll keep doing the same things.”

Here are some of the big education issues lawmakers tackled during this year’s session.

School funding

Lawmakers approved a budget and school finance act for 2023-24 that raises per-pupil spending to $10,614, up by more than $1,000 from this year. Legislators also wrote into law a promise to fund education according to constitutional requirements starting in the 2024-25 budget year. That would mark the end of the 13-year practice known as the budget stabilization factor, under which lawmakers held back more than $10 billion from K-12 schools to pay for other budget priorities.

At the same time, a last-minute property tax relief measure contains provisions that Democrats say will shore up school funding over the long-term.

“We made huge progress this year,” said Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat. “Buying off the B.S. factor completely is within striking distance. I think we’re going to be able to do that next year.”

Moreno said Proposition HH also would allow the state to better fund higher education by relieving budget pressures to cover K-12.

The tax package came together in the final days of the session, and Republicans balked at what they described as an excuse to undermine the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. In the House, the entire GOP caucus walked out rather than vote on the measure.

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, in cowboy hat, gives an impromtu press conference with other House Republicans on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol after walking out of the chamber in protest.

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said Democrats need to prioritize education first, rather than one priority among many, and that it will be easier to hold schools accountable for outcomes when they have more resources.

“When we have 60% of our third graders not being able to read at the third grade level, 70% or so of our eighth graders, not being able to do math at the eighth grade level, we need some accountability here, and we need to start to figuring out how we’re going to get our kids educated so that they can succeed,” she said.

Lawmakers raised special education funding to meet promises made in 2006, put aside money for capital construction grants in cash-strapped districts, and promised an extra $30 million just for rural districts.

Legislators also increased funding for state-authorized charter schools and promised to fund them next year at the same level as their district-authorized counterparts, which benefit from local revenue sharing.

Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, the state teachers union, said she hopes additional funding translates into higher teacher pay, smaller class sizes, and more mental health support for students.

Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie started the session with high hopes, including for big changes to school finance that didn’t materialize.

But lawmakers put off any major changes to the school funding formula — how the state distributes money to schools.

Some advocacy groups lamented that Colorado missed an opportunity to send more money to districts that serve more students in poverty, but Bret Miles, who leads the Colorado Association of School Executives, said the proposed changes were coming too fast and presented too many complications.

“It’s a big ship to turn,” Miles said. “It doesn’t turn on a dime.”

There’s always next year. The school finance act commissions a study to determine at what level Colorado should fund its schools and a task force to determine how that money should be distributed.

Walmer said she is optimistic the task force will be less political than a previous legislative committee. Miles said he also expects the state to be able to increase funding in future years — and a larger pie is always easier to divide in new ways.

School safety and student discipline

Lawmakers faced pressures this session to address gun violence and school safety after the horrific shooting in Uvalde and, closer to home, the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, which raised questions about the effectiveness of Colorado’s new “red flag” law.

Two shootings outside Denver’s East High School and another inside the school building that wounded two deans and ended with the death by suicide of a student highlighted the steady toll of community gun violence.

Students repeatedly walked out of East High and rallied at the Capitol for better gun control.

East High School students rally in support of gun control at the Colorado Capitol in March after student Luis Garcia was shot and killed just outside school.

Lawmakers banned ghost guns, raised the age to purchase firearms to 21, created a three-day waiting period before gun purchasers can take possession, and added educators to the list of people who can ask that someone’s guns be temporarily removed in response to a safety threat.

Lawmakers also created an Office of School Safety to bring various services under one roof and improve coordination and communication among state agencies and school districts.

Concerns about rising youth violence hampered efforts to reform school discipline, as some educators and administrators pointed to the shooting at East as an example of why traditional schools should exclude some students. Lawmakers also decided to continue to allow children as young as 10 to be arrested and prosecuted.

Nonetheless, lawmakers passed some protections for students facing expulsion. Under House Bill 1291, hearing officers would have to learn about trauma and disability and how those can affect student behavior, and school districts will have to adopt policies that consider alternatives to expulsion.

And Senate Bill 29 would convene a task force to make recommendations to reduce disproportionate discipline.

Colorado lawmakers also banned corporal punishment in schools. The practice did not seem to be widespread in the state, but lawmakers and advocates wanted to send a message that it’s never OK to hit a child.

Student mental health

Colorado would provide more funding and support for schools to implement universal mental health screening in schools under House Bill 1003. The goal is to identify problems and provide support early, before children are in crisis.

Colorado had a high youth suicide rate before the pandemic. In 2021, doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a youth mental health emergency, and educators consistently report mental health as a top concern for students.

Lawmakers also took steps to ease severe shortages of counselors, social workers, and other mental health professionals. Senate Bill 4 will expedite licensing to work in schools.

Math instruction

House Bill 1231 would invest more than $27 million in math learning, which saw particularly concerning declines in the wake of pandemic learning disruptions. Most of the money will go to teacher training and afterschool tutoring.

Teacher training programs will be asked to make sure teachers understand best practices and recent research in math instruction, preschool teachers will be asked to do more to build early foundations, and schools facing state intervention for low academic performance will have to show what steps they’re taking to improve math learning.

Schools will be encouraged to talk to parents more and make training available to them so they can better support students at home.

But the bill stops short of the widespread mandates that have characterized Colorado’s approach to improving reading instruction.

Some advocates said they would have liked Colorado to go further, but most said they hope a voluntary approach builds buy-in and puts resources toward teachers and schools eager to do better.

College access

Few issues brought lawmakers together this session like college access.

In a bipartisan rollout in March led by Gov. Jared Polis, lawmakers outlined proposals to expand free training to students for in-demand fields at the state’s community colleges and scholarships for graduates of the Class of 2024.

House Bill 1246 opens free college for students training in early childhood, education, law enforcement, firefighting, forestry, construction, and nursing.

The $45 million program targets careers with high social value but not necessarily high salaries.

Senate Bill 205 would spend $25 million for scholarships for up to $1,500 for students in the Class of 2024 who attend college, join an apprenticeship, or train in an in-demand job.

Democrats and Republicans agreed to allow universities to enroll more out-of-state students if the institutions provide more merit aid to Colorado students.

Nursing students, Jade Prophet, left, and Cami Gardetto, work at a nursing station simulation classroom at Colorado Northwestern Community College.

Senate Bill 96 primarily impacts the University of Colorado Boulder and the Colorado School of Mines, which enroll more out-of-state students. The state requires schools to enroll 55% of their students from Colorado. Schools get to count some of those students twice if they get certain institutional aid, allowing schools to enroll more out-of-state students. The bill already signed by the governor allows schools to now double count up to 15% of its students who get more institutional aid toward the in-state enrollment cap.

Lawmakers voted mostly in lockstep to increase options for adults who never finished high school, ensuring they have a path to continue their education or get better jobs.

Senate Bill 7 would triple state spending on adult education programs to $3 million a year and will add a digital literacy requirement. The bill also would allow colleges to award high school diplomas to adults.

Senate Bill 3 would create the state’s first high school for adults. The $5 million program will support students, including paying for courses, child care, and transportation.

Teacher shortages

Lawmakers passed three laws addressing teacher shortages.

Last school year, about 440 of the 5,700 open teaching positions went unfilled for the entire year. The number of positions that end up without a teacher has also grown.

The laws this year expanded on work in 2022, when lawmakers expanded loan forgiveness programs and made it easier for retired teachers to get back into the classroom.

House Bill 1001 broadens the state’s loan forgiveness program to include principals and special service providers to apply. The state also has a shortage of special service providers.

The bill also raises the income levels eligible for the $52 million program. The program provides up to $22,000 in stipends to student teachers and $5,000 in loan forgiveness to those who stick it out. Student teachers who work in other states in some circumstances now are allowed to apply to the program.

The state also created an apprenticeship program for teacher candidates. Senate Bill 87, which has been sent to the governor, would cost more than $120,000 a year and allow undergraduate education majors to work as student teachers or substitutes while they earn their bachelor’s degree.

Kira Badberg works as a student teacher at Lowry Elementary School in Denver in 2022.

House Bill 1064 will allow teachers licensed in another state to more easily obtain a Colorado license. The Interstate Mobility Compact will allow states to share disciplinary information and require background checks. The compact only goes into place if 10 states agree to join the compact. In January, seven other states were working to approve an agreement to join the compact.

Baca-Oehlert said Senate Bill 111, which provides some workplace protections for teachers, would also help with hiring and retention. Fear of retaliation and political interference is a major reason teachers consider leaving the profession, she said.

School accountability and testing

Groups along the education politics spectrum united to support House Bill 1241, which would create a task force to recommend changes to Colorado’s school accountability system.

The school accountability system rates schools largely based on test scores, and schools that report low performance for five years or more face state intervention. Education reform advocates believe the system is imperfect but provides critical insight into how schools are serving students and where improvement is needed. Many school administrators and educators see it as punitive and overly simplistic and say it pushes schools away from art, music, career, and other educational experiences.

Bills to scale back standardized testing failed. Facing opposition, the sponsors withdrew House Bill 1239, which would have ordered the state to seek federal waivers to testing requirements and encouraged more local experimentation in assessment.

In the final days of the session, a bill to eliminate the social studies standardized test given to fourth and seventh graders also died without a vote, despite seemingly widespread support. Advocates said the release of national test scores that showed concerning drops in students’ social studies and civics knowledge led lawmakers to hesitate to end the state’s own tests in those subjects.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

The Colorado General Assembly met from Jan. 9 and May 8, 2023, and now it’s done. Next year, there’ll be another one.

Proposition HH could boost Colorado school funding while slowing property tax hikes — or not

2023-05-12T02:50:40+00:00

Democratic lawmakers say their last-minute property-tax relief package will also go a long way toward shoring up school funding after the legislature committed to finally meet its financial obligations to Colorado students starting next year.

Republicans — some of whom were so upset about the tax proposal they walked out rather than vote on it on the session’s final day Monday— say it’s an excuse to undermine the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights rather than make tough decisions about which government programs to prioritize.

The ballot measure’s impact on the money available for school funding would be complex — swapping locally generated property tax revenue for increased state funding in the future — and a lot would depend on future economic growth. District leaders and school finance experts say they’re watching carefully and trying to understand the effects.

The voters ultimately will decide if Proposition HH becomes law — if it survives a legal challenge to make it on the November ballot.

The proposal would cap the growth of assessed values to limit property tax increases if voters also agree to let the state keep more revenue generated by other sources. In other words, all taxpayers would give up a portion of future tax refunds in exchange for owners of homes and businesses getting some relief.

Most of the additional money would be set aside for schools and replace lost property tax revenue at the local level. Instead of growing at the rate of population plus inflation, state government could grow at the rate of population plus inflation plus 1%. That would allow the state to reap the benefits of a growing economy and ease pressure from spending caps.

If approved, the extra money the state could retain is estimated to add up to more than $500 million over the next two years. State projections are not available past the 2024-25 year, but a fiscal analysis of the bill says by 2031-32, Proposition HH would potentially allow the state to keep up to $2.2 billion over the state cap that triggers refunds to Coloradans.

“If Proposition HH passes, that is a real opportunity to increase funding to schools and a historic one at that,” said Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat. “We have been underfunding schools for decades. And Proposition HH is a key piece of the solution and addressing that issue.”

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, had pushed hard for lawmakers to fully fund schools this year instead of waiting, and she now believes Democrats resisted in part to justify the tax package.

“Then they wouldn’t have a reason to say why they needed your TABOR refunds,” she said.

Chris Brown, the Common Sense Institute’s vice president for policy and research, argued in a Twitter thread that Proposition HH is more of an education funding measure than a tax relief bill because over time, it would generate far more money than needed just to backfill lost local revenue.

Tracie Rainey of the Colorado School Finance Project sees it differently. She said lawmakers wanted to offer limited property tax relief to head off potential ballot measures from conservative activists but knew they would need to protect school funding, she said. The result is a cobbled-together policy whose long-term impact is unclear.

The proposal could provide important new revenue for school funding at the state level, she said, but if the campaign focuses a lot on the benefits to education, it could be harder to win support for a larger school funding measure in a year or two, she said.

Rainey is among many education advocates who think that meeting constitutional school funding requirements isn’t nearly enough. She also noted that Coloradans pay less in property taxes than do most of the rest of the nation.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said his members aren’t sure yet what the proposal will mean.

On the one hand, large property tax increases affect school employees and families just as they affect other members of the public — and make voters less likely to approve requests for new taxes.

“School districts don’t need to give people another reason to say no,” Miles said.

At the same time, property taxes are the most stable source of school revenue, so district chief financial officers worry about seeing them reduced.

Legislature sets a date for full education funding

Proposition HH was proposed in the final week of a contentious session that produced major gains for school funding that were hailed across the political spectrum.

Lawmakers approved a budget and school finance act for 2023-24 that raises per-pupil spending to $10,614, up more than $1,000 from this year. Legislators also wrote into law a promise to fund education according to constitutional requirements starting in the 2024-25 budget year. That would mark the end of the 13-year practice known as the budget stabilization factor, under which lawmakers held back more than $10 billion from K-12 schools to pay for other budget priorities.

“We made huge progress this year,” Moreno said. “Buying off the B.S. factor completely is within striking distance. I think we’re going to be able to do that next year.”

Lawmakers also increased funding for charter schools, special education, and school construction projects, and set aside an extra $30 million for rural schools.

But much of the increase in education funding over the last several years has come from rising local property tax revenues. Colorado sets a base budget for education funding and a per-pupil amount for each district. Whatever local taxes don’t generate, the state makes up the difference.

In recent years, the combination of a hot housing market, the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment limit on residential value growth, and a legal change that allowed the state to increase some local taxes have added hundreds of millions of locally generated dollars to school funding.

More in local tax revenue has meant less in state obligations toward that base budget. That could change if Proposition HH limits local property taxes and puts more of the burden of covering that base education budget back on the state. In turn, that raises questions about a permanent increase in school funding.

The state fiscal analysis estimates that should Proposition HH pass, Colorado would be able put an extra $124.9 million in the state education fund and would obligated to backfill $278.2 million, more than double. In 2025-26, Colorado would put $269 million in the state education fund and be obligated to backfill $350.7 million, just 30% more.

Over time, the revenue the state could keep and spend on schools would increase and could be more than the amount needed to backfill lost property taxes, the fiscal analysis says. An economic downturn could change that, as income tax and sales tax are more likely to decline than property values.

Lawmakers also worry that if they do nothing, school funding obligations will run up against TABOR caps, creating major budget problems.

Voters have rejected other requests to forego TABOR refunds to fund education. Tying it to property tax relief could sweeten the deal. To give renters a reason to vote yes, lawmakers also promised every taxpayer roughly $661 in TABOR refunds next year — but only if Proposition HH passes.

Conservatives promise to challenge Proposition HH

Michael Fields, Advance Colorado president, said his organization plans to challenge the ballot measure. He said he believes Proposition HH violates single-subject ballot rules and that the ballot’s language will need changes.

Fields’ organization has filed a ballot measure currently being challenged in the courts that would cap property tax increases at 3% and backfills revenue to fire departments, he said. The organization plans to propose other tax cut measures next year, he said. Fields already has run two successful measures cutting Colorado’s income tax rates.

Fields said Proposition HH sponsors want more money for education but are pairing that with an unpopular tax policy.

“The only reason that they’re going to the ballot is to take TABOR refunds. They don’t need to go to the ballot at all to deal with property taxes,” Fields said.

Fields said his anti-Prop HH campaign — if he can’t block it from the ballot — will focus heavily on the government asking voters to give up refunds.

“We are very much going to ask that the legislature and the governor call a special session to cap property taxes, and voters should not give up TABOR refunds,” he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Democrats unveil property tax relief proposal with promise to protect school funding

2023-05-01T22:19:11+00:00

Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado legislative leaders announced a deal Monday to provide property tax relief to homeowners and businesses while limiting the hit to school funding.

Lawmakers have exactly a week to move the bill through both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly, where Republicans have slowed the movement of bills to a crawl with extended floor debates.

That bill would place Proposition HH on the November ballot. Then Colorado voters would need to give their approval.

“What really makes this proposal special is that while we can save Coloradans money on property taxes in the short and the long term, we can also at the same time protect the funding for our schools or fire districts or local governments that we all rely on every day,” said Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat.

The governor’s office provided reporters with a two-page summary of the proposal. However, neither the actual bill nor the fiscal analysis was available Monday afternoon.

Proposition HH would reduce the assessment rate for both primary residences and commercial and agricultural properties. The assessment rate determines how much of a property’s value is subject to taxation.

It also would limit the annual growth of property tax collections to roughly the rate of inflation — except for school districts, which could continue to benefit from rising home values.

The proposal also would not tax the first $40,000 of home value for most homeowners. People 65 and older and disabled veterans who qualify for the so-called homestead exemption would get $140,000 of home value tax free and could retain that tax break even if they move, potentially making it easier for some people to downsize. The current homestead exemption exempts half of the first $200,000 of home value and requires the owner to have lived in their home for at least 10 years.

Without any property tax relief, the average Colorado homeowner is likely to pay about $1,068 more this year, roughly $89 more each month if they pay their taxes with their mortgage. Under the proposal, that increase would be just $401 this year, closer to $33 a month.

At the same time, voters would be asked to let the state keep some revenue above the limit set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Under current law, state government cannot grow by more than the rate of inflation plus population, and any tax collections above that from Colorado’s strong economy must be returned to the taxpayers.

Proposition HH would let the state keep an additional 1% above that cap and use that money to backfill local governments — such as school districts, fire districts, water districts, and hospital districts — that stand to lose some property tax revenue. Voters have rejected past efforts to eliminate TABOR refunds, though this proposal is more modest than previous attempts.

In 2024-25, that would add about $167 million more to a state budget of about $40 billion. The state’s TABOR surplus — the amount that needs to be returned to taxpayers as additional refunds — would shrink from $2 billion to $1.8 billion.

This system would be in place for the next 10 years if Proposition HH were to pass.

Colorado schools are funded with a mix of local property taxes and state money. After determining how much money per student each school district should get according to a formula, the state is supposed to backfill whatever local taxes don’t generate.

But when state lawmakers decide they can’t afford to meet that obligation and still pay for other budget priorities, they have withheld money — $10 billion over the last 13 years — in a move known as the budget stabilization factor.

Voters in many school districts have also approved additional property taxes to make up for lost state revenue and cover programs like counselors, arts and music, school nurses, or higher teacher pay.

That means any discussion of property tax relief has the potential to hit school district budgets hard, even as many families and school employees struggle to keep up with rising costs. (Renters won’t be getting any relief this session after a bill to allow cities to adopt rent control or rent stabilization died in committee, though Polis said his proposal would prevent property tax increases from being passed on to renters.)

Homeowners across the state are receiving updated property valuations this week that average 33% more than they did two years ago — and as high as 60 to 70% more in some mountain communities. These valuations are based on market snapshots from summer 2022, when the state’s real estate market was at its peak. Since then, with higher interest rates, home sales have dropped and home prices have declined slightly.

In anticipation of significant increases in property values, Polis promised relief in his State of the State address. Lawmakers are also hoping to fend off a number of competing ballot measures.

By reducing assessment rates, lawmakers would reduce the amount of property value subject to local taxes.

But by exempting school districts from caps on how much tax collections can increase year over year — and by increasing the amount of money the state can use to backfill lost local dollars — the measure would soften the impact on school funding.

Polis, Fenberg, and state Sen. Chris Hansen were flanked by advocates for education and progressive fiscal policies in support of the proposal, as well as several homeowners and small business people who talked about how they were feeling the pinch of higher taxes.

Jen Walmer of Democrats for Education Reform called the proposal a “win-win for schools and communities” and Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, said it would help teachers and school staff whether they own or rent.

Also present were business groups such as Colorado Concern and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

No Republican lawmakers attended the announcement. In a press release, Republicans blasted the “eleventh hour” plan and questioned why their Democratic colleagues had killed or slow-walked Republican-sponsored property tax relief plans.

“The Democrats cannot treat TABOR like an ATM machine to resolve the state’s financial issues, most of which are self-inflicted,” House Minority Leader Mike Lynch said in the press release. “The people of Colorado should be skeptical of the Governor’s hastily introduced plan with only one week left in the session.”

Lynch, a Wellington Republican, called it a “sugar-coated plan” and said it is “concerning the Governor has no PLAN B if it fails.”

Scott Wasserman, executive director of the progressive Bell Policy Center, said the proposal doesn’t solve school funding, but it does address two major concerns his organization had with other property tax relief proposals. People who own homes with lower values would benefit more than those whose homes are worth more, and funding for key services is maintained.

Leaders of the groups that represent school boards and superintendents said they appreciated that the proposal calls out the need to protect school funding, but said they’re waiting to see the actual bill before taking a position.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Release recording of closed-door Denver school board meeting, lawsuit demands

2023-04-28T23:59:10+00:00

Chalkbeat and six other media organizations are suing Denver Public Schools for the recording of a five-hour closed meeting board members held the day after a student shot two administrators at East High School.

When school board members emerged from the meeting, they voted unanimously to return police officers to Denver high schools — a major policy change — with no public discussion.

Colorado’s open meetings law declares that the “formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.”

Colorado law requires public bodies to meet in the open, except under particular circumstances, such as discussing a student or employee or to receive legal advice. Before entering a closed meeting, elected officials have to announce the topics they’ll be discussing “in as much detail as possible without compromising the purpose for which the executive session is authorized,” along with the legal basis for entering a private meeting.

The complaint filed Friday alleges that the Denver school board’s March 23 meeting was not properly noticed. That could render the closed meeting unlawful.

The law also requires that policy decisions happen in public. The lawsuit alleges that the Denver school board made a policy decision behind closed doors that was merely rubber-stamped with a public vote.

“No public discussion, whatsoever, preceded the Board’s historic about-face concerning its policy of preventing armed ‘School Resource Officers’ inside the District’s high schools,” the lawsuit reads. “None.”

The March 23 board agenda said the purpose of the closed meeting was to discuss “matters required to be kept confidential by federal or state law or rules and regulations as a result of the incident that occurred on March 22,” security arrangements and investigations, and sensitive matters pertaining to individual students.

When board members emerged from the closed meeting, President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán entered a memorandum into the record that suspended a previous board policy removing police from schools, called for police to be stationed at all district high schools, and directed Superintendent Alex Marrero to come up with a long-term safety plan by June 30.

The executive session notice made no mention that official safety policies would be discussed or that new safety policies would be proposed. Nor did the notice mention discussion of a potential executive order from Mayor Michael Hancock placing police in schools. Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson said several days after the closed meeting that the possibility of an executive order influenced the board decision.

“You need to inform the public what you are going behind closed doors to discuss,” said attorney Steve Zansberg, who is representing the media organizations with attorney Rachael Johnson of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “And even if it had been a properly convened executive session, they are not allowed to make a decision behind closed doors.”

Zanzberg said it was a clear-cut violation of the open meetings law.

“They adopted a policy without any public discussion. So clearly they discussed it and reached that decision and drafted that memo behind closed doors,” he said.

In addition to Chalkbeat, the plaintiffs are The Denver Post, Colorado Newsline, KDVR Fox 31, KUSA 9News, Colorado Politics, and The Denver Gazette. Each of the media organizations filed requests for the recording or for minutes of the meeting after the closed-door session. In each case, Denver Public Schools custodian of records Stacy Wheeler responded that the district has responsive records but would not release them because they are not subject to disclosure under the open meetings law.

The lawsuit asks a Denver district court judge to release the entire recording on grounds that the meeting was not properly noticed and was not a lawful closed meeting. If the judge won’t release the entire recording, the lawsuit asks that the judge listen to the recording and release a redacted version if the judge feels that certain portions should remain private.

A bill under consideration in the legislature would make it harder for the public to challenge closed meetings that are not properly announced to the public. The bill would allow elected officials to fix the way they announced the meeting after the fact and avoid a lawsuit.

Under current law, not properly announcing an executive session can render a closed meeting unlawful. Members of the public can seek the release of recordings of those meetings.

Jeff Roberts of Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition said the Denver case gets to the heart of why Colorado voters adopted the open meetings law in the first place. The law states that matters of public interest and public policy should be discussed in public, and there is significant public interest in how the board makes decisions about whether to have armed police in schools, he said.

Members of the public, in particular some parents at East High School, also have criticized the board’s use of executive sessions.

The school board responded to criticism of its closed meeting with an unsigned statement posted to the district website. “Due to the nature of an executive session we cannot disclose what was discussed,” the statement says. “However, the Board of Education is confident that it has conducted all meetings in accordance with applicable laws.”

But at an April 20 board meeting — after the board had learned of the media organizations’ intent to sue — some members balked at going into executive session, citing public criticism of past sessions.

“We’ve received a lot of feedback from the public and community members about meeting in public and staying in public unless there’s an absolute reason,” board member Scott Baldermann said. “And I think I am going to honor that.”

The agenda listed two items for private discussion: security arrangements at McAuliffe International School, where the principal has been critical of district leadership and announced plans to have parents help with security, and the superintendent’s contract.

Anderson said he believes the board has used closed session meetings appropriately, and public perception was stopping the board from discussing important issues.

“I am very concerned that if we have something about safety that we’re not willing to go into executive session for, what other matters will we start saying we cannot go into executive session for,” Anderson said at the meeting.

The board ultimately voted 4-3 not to enter executive session for either item.

“It’s not a bad thing for them to examine their use of closed-door meetings and whether they are doing more of that than they need to,” Roberts said.

Chalkbeat reporter Jason Gonzales contributed reporting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Parents who don’t speak English would have more access to translated documents under Colorado bill

2023-04-28T00:08:05+00:00

Leer en español.

The personalized education plans that spell out how a school intends to support a student with a disability can run dozens of pages and be full of technical language.

And in many Colorado school districts, parents who speak a language other than English don’t see a copy of their child’s plan in the language they understand best until they’re being asked to sign a legally binding final version.

A bill in the Colorado legislature would change that, requiring that final education plans be translated, as also required by federal law, and allowing parents to request draft documents in their preferred language. A separate school finance bill would allocate $500,000 to offset school district costs for translating more documents.

By law, parents are a part of the team that comes up with each student’s educational plan — known as an IEP or individualized education program — alongside teachers and other school professionals. And federal law requires that the final version of an IEP be translated into a language parents can understand.

But community organizers and parent advocates said that’s too late in the process for parents to play their role effectively. Parents need to be able to understand draft documents and information from assessments so they can ask questions and provide feedback to the teachers who work with their children, they said.

“Non-English-speaking parents are signing legal documents that they cannot understand and are not able to participate in the decision-making process to support their children,” said Natalia Alvarez, an organizer with the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition who has worked with Spanish-speaking parents in the Boulder Valley School District to secure more translation.

Bri Buentello, director of government affairs for the advocacy group Stand for Children, is a former special education teacher. She said hearing from parents was a critical part of the IEP process, in particular for students with autism. Parents could provide valuable information about what works and what doesn’t for their child, and parents and teachers could work together to support a student’s learning and behavior.

“An IEP isn’t a good IEP unless the parents are providing their input,” Buentello said.

House Bill 1263 received broad bipartisan support in both chambers.

Democratic state Reps. Lorena Garcia and Mary Young are sponsoring the bill. Garcia also serves as the chief executive officer of the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition. Young is a retired special education teacher.

In the Boulder Valley district, officials already are doing a phased rollout of expanded translation services for IEP meetings. Special Education Director Michelle Brenner said the district previously offered oral translation of the main points in an education plan but didn’t provide written translation of draft IEPs or assessments of students’ skills and challenges.

School staff were responsible for calling interpreters off an approved list, and sometimes that task fell through the cracks.

After hearing over a period of years from parents and advocates that many parents felt like they couldn’t participate meaningfully in IEP meetings, the school district revamped its process, starting with three bilingual schools and then expanding to all the schools in Lafayette, where there’s a larger concentration of Spanish-speaking families.

“Even though we met the rules and the letter of the law, hearing that our families could not meaningfully participate, we wanted to do something about it,” Brenner said.

Don McGinnis, manager of translation and interpretation services for the district, said this meant centralizing the request system so that it just takes a few seconds for school staff to make a request, changing timelines to make sure documents can be translated and proofread with care, and developing large databases of appropriate terminology and legal language in Spanish.

“Removing those barriers means schools are using the services more, and parents feel more comfortable asking for them,” McGinnis said.

Where the district once spent $35,000 a year on IEP-related translation and interpretation services, it expects to spend more than $100,000 this year and possibly more going forward, as the service expands to all schools.

The district also has conducted training for teachers to improve communication with parents and sought out parent feedback on how the new system is working. Expanded services are new this year, but anecdotally, Brenner said, schools are making more requests for translation and interpretation, including more requests for interpretation for phone calls between teachers and parents.

McGinnis encouraged any district looking to expand translation of special education documents to meet with parents and ask them what they need.

“They need to figure out face to face what needs are not being met,” he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

¿Tu hijo(a) tiene una discapacidad? Pronto podrás pedir que se traduzcan documentos

2023-04-27T23:43:51+00:00

Read in English.

Los planes individuales de educación, que explican cómo una escuela planifica apoyar a un estudiante discapacitado, pueden tener docenas de páginas y estar llenos de lenguaje técnico.

Y en muchos distritos escolares de Colorado, los padres que hablan un idioma que no es inglés no ven una copia del plan de su hijo en el idioma que entienden hasta que se les pide que firmen una versión final legalmente vinculante.

Un proyecto de ley en la legislatura de Colorado cambiaría esta situación, requiriendo que los planes de educación finales se traduzcan, como también lo requiere la ley federal, y permitiendo a los padres pidan ver los borradores de los documentos en su idioma preferido. Otro proyecto de ley separado sobre financiación escolar asignaría $500,000 para compensar los gastos de traducción de los distritos escolares.

Por ley, los padres son parte del equipo que prepara el plan de educación de cada estudiante – conocido como programa individual de educación o IEP, por sus siglas en inglés – junto con los maestros y otros profesionales de la escuela. Y la ley federal requiere que la versión final de un IEP se traduzca a un idioma que los padres puedan entender.

Pero los organizadores de la comunidad y los defensores de los padres dijeron que es demasiado tarde en el proceso para que los padres desempeñen su papel de manera efectiva. Los padres deben ser capaces de entender los borradores de los documentos y la información de las evaluaciones para poder hacer preguntas y dar su opinión a los maestros que trabajan con sus hijos, dijeron ellos.

“Los padres que no hablan inglés están firmando documentos legales que no pueden entender, y no pueden participar en el proceso de toma de decisiones para apoyar a sus hijos”, dijo Natalia Álvarez, organizadora de la Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition que ha trabajado con padres hispanohablantes en el Distrito Escolar del Valle de Boulder para conseguir más traducciones.

Bri Buentello, directora de asuntos gubernamentales del grupo de defensa Stand for Children, fue maestra de educación especial. Dijo que escuchar a los padres era una parte fundamental del proceso del IEP, en particular para los estudiantes con autismo. Los padres podrían aportar información valiosa sobre lo que funciona y no funciona para su hijo, y los padres y maestros podrían colaborar para apoyar el aprendizaje y el comportamiento del estudiante.

“Un IEP no es un buen IEP si los padres no están aportando lo que saben”, dice Buentello.

El Proyecto de Ley 1263 ha sido aprobado por la Cámara de Representantes y por el Senado. El proyecto de ley ha recibido un amplio apoyo bipartidista.

Los representantes demócratas Lorena García y Mary Young están patrocinando el proyecto de ley. García también es directora ejecutiva de la Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition. Young es maestra jubilada de educación especial.

En el distrito de Boulder Valley, los funcionarios ya están implantando gradualmente servicios de traducción para las reuniones de IEP. La Directora de Educación Especial, Michelle Brenner, dijo que antes el distrito ofrecía interpretación de los puntos principales de un plan de educación, pero no les proporcionaba una traducción escrita de los borradores de los IEP ni de las evaluaciones de las capacidades y dificultades de los estudiantes.

El personal de la escuela se encargaba de llamar intérpretes de una lista aprobada y a veces se olvidaba o no encontraba a alguien a tiempo.

Tras escuchar durante varios años de padres y defensores de los derechos de los niños que muchos padres sentían que no podían participar de forma significativa en las reuniones del IEP, el distrito escolar renovó su proceso, empezando por tres escuelas bilingües y expandiéndolo después a todas las escuelas de Lafayette, donde hay una mayor concentración de familias que hablan español.

“Aunque cumplíamos las normas y la ley, al saber que nuestras familias no podían participar de forma significativa quisimos hacer algo al respecto”, dijo Brenner.

Don McGinnis, gerente de servicios de traducción e interpretación del distrito, dijo que esto significaba centralizar el sistema de peticiones para que al personal de la escuela le tomara unos segundos hacer una petición, cambiar los plazos para asegurar que los documentos pudieran traducirse y corregirse con detenimiento, y desarrollar grandes bases de datos de terminología adecuada y lenguaje legal en español.

“Eliminar esas barreras significa que las escuelas están utilizando más los servicios y los padres se sienten más cómodos pidiéndolos”, dijo McGinnis.

Si antes el distrito gastaba $35,000 en servicios de traducción e interpretación, este año espera gastar $100,000.

El distrito también ha tenido capacitación de los maestros para mejorar la comunicación con los padres y ha buscado la opinión de ellos sobre cómo está funcionando el sistema nuevo. Los servicios expandidos son nuevos este año, pero, según Brenner, las escuelas están pidiendo más servicios de traducción e interpretación, lo cual incluye peticiones de interpretación para llamadas telefónicas entre maestros y padres.

McGinnis animó a cualquier distrito que desee expandir la traducción de documentos de educación especial a reunirse con los padres y preguntarles qué ellos necesitan.

“Tienen que averiguar en persona qué necesidades no se están cubriendo”, dijo.

Erica Meltzer es directora de la oficina de redacción, cubre temas de política educativa y supervisa la cobertura educativa de Chalkbeat Colorado. Para comunicarte con Erica, envíale un email a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado special education gets long-awaited funding boost

2023-04-22T00:30:55+00:00

Tammy Johnson oversees special education services in five rural school districts in southwest Colorado as the executive director of the Uncompahgre Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

And she also puts in time as a preschool special education teacher — doing assessments, writing student education plans, supervising classroom aides — because there’s no one else to do the job.

Administrators in the districts she serves “know that I’m not available in my office to put out fires now that I have to leave my office to work in Norwood with preschool kids,” she said.

A long overdue boost to Colorado special education funding is buying Johnson some relief soon. By pooling their share of new state funding, the UnBOCES and the five school districts plan to hire an experienced preschool special education teacher at $56,000 a year.

“And oh my gosh, we might be able to pay our folks a little salary increase, enough for them to stay,” Johnson said.

The additional funding comes from the 2023-24 state budget and a related special education funding bill and enables Colorado to meet funding commitments it made in 2006 but never honored.

The formula developed back then proposed that school districts get $1,250 for every student with an individualized education plan and another $6,000 for students whose needs cost more to meet, such as students with autism or specific learning disabilities, students who are deaf or blind, those with traumatic brain injuries or who have significant emotional disabilities.

But instead of meeting that obligation, Colorado lawmakers essentially funded special education out of budgetary leftovers. As recently as 2018, Colorado was paying school districts less than a third of what lawmakers had promised for special education students.

State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger has pushed to steadily increase special education funding each of the last five years. In 2019, she argued that increasing special education funding was even more important than paying for full-day kindergarten. (Kindergarten, a top priority for Gov. Jared Polis, won out.)

Last year, Zenzinger and state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican, secured the first inflationary increase since 2006 for all special education students, for whom districts were reimbursed $1,750 this budget year, a 40% increase.

This year’s budget pledges $6,000 for each higher-needs student, the amount set in 2006 but never met. All told, special education funding is increasing about 13.4% to $340 million.

Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and the chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said securing funding was a matter of political will.

“Once we exposed this problem, it was really hard to not fix it,” she said. “Our children are entitled to this, and in order to be successful, we need to provide them resources.”

Colorado also has a lot more money to work with thanks to a strong economy, one-time federal dollars, and rising local property values that have taken pressure off the state education budget.

The special education funding bill passed the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support and awaits Polis’ signature. It’s sponsored by Zenzinger, Kirkmeyer, state Rep. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, and state Rep. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican.

The extra funding still leaves school districts on the hook for about two-thirds of more than $1 billion in total costs to educate students with disabilities. The federal government promised back in the 1970s to pick up 40% of the cost but only reimburses school districts about 14% of their real costs, with the state picking up about 20%.

Lucinda Hundley, who heads the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, said school districts are grateful for the additional money, but they also need lawmakers to understand it’s a fraction of the cost. School districts are legally required to provide special education services, so unreimbursed costs come out of the general education budget.

A study group last year decided against making major changes to how Colorado funds special education, but Hundley said she hopes the state takes another look at how much it invests in special education and considers what a fair share would be between the state and districts.

Rob Gould, a Denver special education teacher and president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said low funding has exacerbated a shortage of special education teachers and special service providers such as speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and school psychologists.

“We do not have enough teachers or support staff to serve our students the way they deserve. At every turn, special education educators rise to the occasion, but the state’s lack of investment has exacerbated the educator shortage,” he told lawmakers this month.

Gould described one teacher who quit after her caseload rose to 40 students because she was the only special education teacher in her building.

“She left the profession entirely so she could spend time with her kids on the weekend,” he said.

Staffing shortages and high workloads sometimes mean students don’t get the services they’re owed. In just one recent example, the Colorado Department of Education found that Denver violated federal requirements by failing to provide speech therapy to more than 1,000 young students.

Colorado’s educator shortage survey found that 17% of open special service provider positions went unfilled last school year, compared to just 8% of classroom teacher openings. Year after year, special education teachers are among the hardest to hire.

Johnson, the BOCES director, cobbles together services uses independent contractors and virtual appointments. If money were no object and she could offer competitive salaries to go with sweeping views of the San Juan Mountains, services would look a little different.

“I would have a psychologist in every building,” she said. “I would have a social worker in every building. I would have a speech pathologist in person. I would have release time for my teams to plan. If we could meet some of our students’ needs proactively rather than reactively, it would make a difference.”

In voting to move the bill out of the House Education Committee, state Rep. Mary Young, a Greeley Democrat, said she started working as a special education teacher before there was even a federal law requiring that schools serve students with disabilities. In all those decades, special education had never been adequately funded, she said.

“The people who do special ed do it because their heart is in it,” Johnson said. “Growing up, my brother couldn’t come to school with us because they didn’t have a program for him. That’s why I’m doing this.

“But I’m in my 27th year and funding hasn’t come close to catching up, and it’s a travesty that we have to do it on the backs of general education students who are also struggling.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

CMAS, PSAT, and SAT sticking around: Colorado won’t reduce testing requirements

2023-04-21T22:51:03+00:00

Colorado won’t seek to reduce standardized testing or get waivers from federal testing requirements anytime soon.

The sponsors of a bill that aimed to reduce the burden of standardized testing and encourage school districts to experiment with new ways to measure student achievement withdrew the legislation this week.

Groups that support education reform and test-based school accountability — ideas with which Gov. Jared Polis and many Democrats align — had opposed the bill. It’s also not clear how receptive the federal education department would have been to a waiver request.

State Rep. Eliza Hamrick, an Arapahoe County Democrat and retired teacher, said she brought the legislation because she’s seen pressures around testing have a negative impact on education. She’s also been impressed with the work of Colorado school districts that have participated in a pilot around innovative local accountability systems. She wanted to secure federal funding to continue that work and expand it to new districts.

Many school district leaders said they don’t oppose standardized tests, but the current testing regime takes up weeks of time without providing much actionable data.

House Bill 1239 would have required Colorado to reduce testing to the minimum required under federal law, seek waivers to reduce testing further, and apply for grants to promote local experimentation.

Colorado students take English language arts and math tests in third through eighth grades, the PSAT in ninth and 10th grade, and the SAT in 11th grade, as well as science tests in fifth, eighth, and 11th grades.

Other than the PSAT, these tests are required under federal law, though some educators question whether the tests need to be as long and involved as they are.

A social studies test given to a sampling of fourth and seventh graders — required by state but not federal law — already is set to be eliminated this year.

Colorado law also requires other assessments, such as tests to identify struggling readers in early elementary school, that the bill may have eliminated.

Co-sponsor state Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat and former school board member and teacher, said she recognized the desire among many education advocates to keep certain tests that aren’t required by federal law, such as the early reading assessments and the PSAT.

The legislators said they have received assurances that a task force looking at potential changes to the school accountability system will consider how Colorado uses standardized testing and look closely at the results of the local accountability pilots.

The state system rates schools mostly based on test scores, as well as factors like graduation rates and college enrollment. The experimental local programs have incorporated other measures, such as school climate, the quality of instruction, and student engagement.

Education advocates say they support a more nuanced look at what makes a good school, but they want data that allows for consistent comparisons across schools and districts as well as across time.

House Bill 1241, which would create the school accountability task force, passed the House with broad bipartisan support. It’s due for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.

The task force would produce a final report in November 2024, and the legislature wouldn’t take up recommended changes until 2025.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Expulsion hearing officers would get more training under Colorado bill

2023-04-21T21:33:46+00:00

The hearing officers who decide whether to expel Colorado students who have broken school rules or state laws could soon have to undergo more training.

A bill that aims to give students some protections in the expulsion process cleared its first legislative hurdle Thursday. House Bill 1291 received unanimous bipartisan approval from the House Education Committee.

The bill is a scaled back version of legislation that sponsors withdrew earlier this month after stiff opposition from school districts. The brief hearing and broad support for the new bill was in sharp contrast to how the more expansive version of the legislation was received.

“We started out trying to fundamentally change the way kids and families are treated in this process,” said bill sponsor state Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. “This bill is a starting point to create a more equitable process.”

To become law, the bill needs to move through the full House and the state Senate in the next two weeks.

Democratic sponsors Gonzales-Gutierrez of Denver and state Rep. Junie Joseph of Boulder fear that expulsion is overused in some school districts. They want students’ full circumstances, such as unaddressed learning disabilities and past traumatic experiences that can shape behavior, to be considered when school districts are taking the extreme step of removing a student from the classroom.

They also want to make sure students understand what they’re accused of and have the opportunity to review the evidence and defend themselves.

The bill is backed by advocates for students with disabilities and children who have been involved in the criminal justice system, as well as Denver Public Schools. The Colorado Association of School Executives is registered as opposed in state lobbyist filings but did not testify against the bill.

Attorney Elie Zwiebel with the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center told lawmakers that the youngest child he’s ever represented in an expulsion proceeding was 7 years old. He said he’s seen behavior as minor as throwing a pencil across a room toward a trash can cast as “assault with a deadly weapon” to make the case for expulsion. In another example, he said a student was expelled for giving his sibling, who attended the same school, a black eye in a fight that occurred at home.

If the bill becomes law, it would require that hearing officers undergo training in applicable state and federal law, adolescent brain development, the effects of trauma, and recognizing the impacts of disabilities. Hearing officers may be independent contractors, or they could be a top administrator, an attorney for the district, or the superintendent.

For students with identified disabilities who are facing expulsion, the school district already must consider whether the behavior in question is related to the disability. That doesn’t always happen as it should, advocates said, but there are also cases where a student doesn’t have a formal IEP, but their history and behavior strongly suggest they have a disability. In other cases, students who aren’t getting the help they need in the classroom become intensely frustrated and act out.

Advocates hope that more training will lead school districts to consider alternatives to expulsion in those cases.

The bill requires the Colorado Department of Education to develop the free training. School districts can also show that the training they already provide meets the same criteria.

The bill also requires that parents and guardians receive information about the reason for an expulsion at least two days before a hearing and encourages school districts to consider alternative ways to address student behavior and safety concerns.

The bill also clarifies the standard of proof in expulsion proceedings to say that school districts must demonstrate that it’s more likely than not that the offense occurred.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Many Denver voters have unfavorable view of school board, survey finds

2023-04-20T12:30:00+00:00

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A new poll commissioned by a group of Denver business leaders finds many voters hold unfavorable views of the Denver school board and nearly 63% believe board members care more about their own political ambitions than about improving educational outcomes for children.

The survey by the Republican firm Cygnal and the Democratic firm Chism Strategies was conducted on April 11 and 12 among 410 likely voters in municipal and off-year elections and has a margin of error of 4.83%.

Mayor and City Council runoff elections are scheduled for June 6, while the school board election isn’t until November.

The group A Denver for Us All commissioned the poll, which also asked respondents about the mayor’s race and issues facing city government. The poll found a close race between Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough, with a slight lead for Johnston and many voters still undecided.

The poll found voters evenly divided between those who feel the city is going in the right direction and those who feel it’s going in the wrong direction.

But when it comes to the Denver school board, nearly 60% of voters had an unfavorable view and just 21% had a favorable view. College-educated respondents, women, and Republicans all were more likely to report unfavorable views of the board. Two-thirds of parents in the poll reported an unfavorable view, compared with 57% of non-parents.

Likely voters in off-year elections are more likely to be white and to have higher earnings than average Denver Public Schools parents. Seventy-three percent of poll respondents were white, while 75% of Denver students are not. This mismatch is common in school board elections.

Across questions, women over 50 years old were among the most concerned with safety and how Denver Public Schools is run, and men under 50 were more likely to report positive views.

The overall findings paint a discouraging picture for school board incumbents seeking re-election in November, but seven months out, it’s not clear what the field will look like or how voter concerns might shift.

Three seats on the seven-member board are open. Of those, only Vice President Auon’tai Anderson has declared his intention to seek re-election to the at-large seat. Asked whether they would re-elect Anderson or whether it’s “time for someone new,” more than half opted for someone new, and just 9% said they planned to vote for Anderson. More than a third of respondents were undecided.

The Denver school board has not yet finalized new district maps that will determine the boundaries of Districts 1 and 5, the other open seats. Kwame Spearman, a former mayoral candidate and recent CEO of the Tattered Cover bookstore, has said he’s considering a run for school board.

The seven-person Denver school board is made up entirely of members who were backed by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, the teachers union, but the last two years have been marked by infighting and personality conflicts, in particular between Anderson and board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán.

The school board has grappled with school closure recommendations and budget challenges related to declining enrollment, as well as how to respond to rising community violence.

On March 22, a student whose history required him to undergo daily patdowns shot and wounded two administrators at East High School. The 17-year-old died by suicide later that day. The next day after a lengthy closed session, the Denver school board reversed a 2020 policy and approved stationing armed police officers in Denver high schools.

The Denver district has a low expulsion rate and emphasizes keeping students in school, even when those students have been accused of serious crimes. Principals have said district administrators reject their requests to remove students from the classroom and called for the discipline matrix to be revised, but so far the board and superintendent have defended their policies.

Some parents have called for the entire Denver school board to resign.

The poll tested public opinion on many of these issues, with questions that prompted respondents to see the Denver school board as responsible for recent violence.

“Following the failure of Denver Public Schools (DPS) to prevent the East High tragedy, some have been calling for the entire school board to resign. Would you support the resignations of all the school board members?” the poll asked.

Nearly 39% of respondents said yes, while a third said no, and 28% were undecided or chose neither option. Respondents earning more than $100,000 a year were more likely to support resignation than did those earning less. Men under 50 were the most likely to oppose resignation.

The poll found nearly three-quarters of respondents supported returning police to schools in light of the shooting at East and opposed allowing what the survey described as “students previously known to be troubled and potentially dangerous to others” to return to school.

The poll did not ask respondents about measures like adding more social workers and mental health support or installing metal detectors.

On the open-ended question of what grade respondents would give Denver Public Schools for keeping students safe, 27% of all respondents — and more than a third of parents — gave the district an F, while just 14% gave it an A or a B.

Find complete poll results here.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Amended Colorado school finance bill promises to fully fund K-12 within two years

2023-04-20T04:21:40+00:00

This might be the last year that Colorado lawmakers hold back money from K-12 schools to fund other budget priorities.

Legislators have toyed with the idea of fully funding Colorado schools several times in recent years, but always held back amid economic uncertainty. While Colorado’s constitution requires school funding to go up each year by the rate of population and inflation, lawmakers haven’t met that requirement since the start of the Great Recession.

Since 2009, Colorado has withheld more than $10 billion from its schools.

Now the school finance act that passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee Wednesday includes a provision that would require the state to fully fund K-12 schools starting in the 2024-25 budget year.

The bill also contains a provision to fund state-authorized charter schools at a level similar to other schools starting in 2024-5. District-authorized charter schools get a cut of locally raised tax dollars. State-authorized charter schools do not.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican and bill sponsor, called these provisions the “within-striking-distance amendments.” Lawmakers could still abandon these promises next year — particularly if economic conditions change — but moving to write them into law is a significant step.

The school finance act also will include even more money for 2023-24 than originally proposed after an impassioned appeal from Weld County Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.

“It’s time for the state Senate and this General Assembly to let the governor and the rest of the state know, no more B.S., no more balancing the budget on the backs of students,” she said. “We’re going to set a priority, and it’s called education.”

Kirkmeyer, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee, pointed out that the state education fund has nearly $1.3 billion, and that Democrats have funded a host of new programs since they took control of the legislature in 2018.

“We pay for people’s bus passes, we pay for people’s utility bills, we pay for people’s rent, we pay for hygiene products, we pay for business licenses, we pay for health insurance,” she said. “We darn well ought to pay for education and put our children first.”

The money to fully fund K-12 education would come from a mix of savings in the state education fund and new revenue. Colorado has so much money in the state education fund because lawmakers slashed school funding in 2020 in anticipation of a COVID-related recession that never materialized. When revenues came in above projections, lawmakers socked much of the money away.

State Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat and teacher, found Kirkmeyer’s argument persuasive. She pointed to widespread teacher shortages, salaries that haven’t kept pace with inflation, students still recovering from learning disruptions, unmet mental health needs in schools, and safety fears. Meanwhile, federal pandemic funding will expire in 2024.

“There is no reason for our state to have a rainy day fund if we don’t recognize that we’re in a rainy day,” she said.

The additional money means the withholding for 2023-24 — known as the budget stabilization factor — would be just $141 million or 1.5% out of a more than $9 billion K-12 budget.

A decade ago, lawmakers withheld 18% of the money that should have gone to schools.

State Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat, recalled that early in her legislative service, funding was so limited schools were talking about charging students to ride the bus. The prospect of eliminating the budget stabilization factor feels like entering a final frontier.

“I’m looking at Star Trek,” she said. “We can go to places we’ve never gone before. We can meet new people. We can fund our schools.”

At the same time, she said state government has a lot of responsibilities beyond education.

Joint Budget Committee Chair Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and bill sponsor, cautioned lawmakers that education funding commitments will continue to rise and that covering costs next year could require drawing as much as $415 million from the state education fund.

Analysts warn of a looming structural deficit, when growth in state spending, including on mandatory programs, will run up against caps imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights or against a recession.

Colorado is also in the process of developing a new way to measure student poverty and may change how it distributes money among schools, changes that may require more funding to avoid hurting some districts.

Meanwhile, funding Charter School Institute schools similarly to other schools is expected to cost more than $42 million. Lundeen said it’s an issue of fundamental fairness. State-authorized charter school students include new immigrants, pregnant and parenting teens, and other students who need significant support, yet these schools have had less money per-pupil.

But unlike the local revenue that districts share with their charters, there’s no dedicated funding source for state-authorized charters.

The school finance act still needs to pass the full Senate and the House and could see yet more changes. It’s the only bill other than the budget that lawmakers must pass before they adjourn May 8.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school finance act boosts K-12 spending, steers clear of formula changes

2023-04-19T12:00:00+00:00

Colorado’s school finance act would boost K-12 funding next year to more than $9 billion — $150 million more than described in the recently finalized 2023-24 budget and a 7.5% increase from this year.

“The change to school finance is historic,” said Joint Budget Committee Chair Rachel Zenzinger. Average per-pupil spending is proposed to reach $10,579, a 10% increase from this year.

The bill could set Colorado on the path to fully funding its schools according to constitutional requirements by the 2024-25 school year. Zenzinger said an amendment will lay out a two-year process to eliminate the practice of diverting K-12 dollars to other priorities, known as the budget stabilization factor.

The school finance act would also set aside money for rural districts and those with limited property wealth and give more assistance to charter schools authorized by the state, which miss out on local revenue-sharing.

But the school finance act also kicks the can down the road — for at least one more year — on any bigger changes to how Colorado distributes money to K-12 schools.

Lawmakers on a special school finance committee had proposed in November to take on a major rewrite of Colorado’s school funding formula. Instead, the committee concluded its work after five years without recommending changes to the General Assembly.

Most districts opposed changing how the state distributes money to schools without significantly increasing the overall education budget. That made a formula rewrite a heavy political lift in a session already consumed with contentious fights over gun control, housing policy, and access to abortion and gender-affirming care.

But Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who also served on the school finance committee, saw another opportunity in the school finance act — an annual bill separate from the budget that dictates how education money gets distributed.

Zenzinger had proposed using the school finance act to tweak the formula to send more money to rural districts and small urban and suburban districts and to send less money to large districts serving better-off communities.

By taking money from the state education fund, which functions somewhat like a savings account, lawmakers could have ensured every district saw an increase, Zenzinger said. But districts that traditionally have been disadvantaged by the current funding formula would have come out ahead.

“That was a proposal we put on the table, but the K-12 lobby rejected it,” Zenzinger said. “They were just really nervous about making a permanent change.”

Instead, the school finance act proposes to keep the existing funding formula and convene a new task force to take on the unfinished work of the school finance committee.

School funding formula widely seen as unfair

Colorado’s 1994 school funding formula sets a base for per-pupil funding and then makes adjustments based on factors such as how many students live in poverty or are learning English, the size of a district, and the cost of living.

But the formula gives far more weight to cost of living than it does to student needs, with the effect that wealthier districts often get more money than those serving high-poverty communities.

There is widespread agreement that this formula is unfair — and also widespread resistance to change.

“Everyone is dealing with staff shortages, everyone is dealing with inflation and the impact of that on our staff,” said Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives. “This was not the time to say it would be OK to have some districts not get as much of an increase.”

While per-pupil spending is going up, many school districts are losing students and face tough budget decisions even with more state funding. Districts like Jeffco Public Schools, which Zenzinger represents, benefit from the cost-of-living factor and are using those dollars to ease the budget hit from lower enrollment.

Miles praised Zenzinger and the other bill sponsors for hearing the concerns of school districts and changing course. There’s less than three weeks to go before the legislature adjourns, not enough to work through the implications of any changes, he said. Meanwhile, lawmakers still may take up property tax changes this session that would leave districts with fewer local dollars.

Some advocates, though, see a missed opportunity.

“I was hoping they would do something more interesting with $150 million than pump it into a formula that everyone knows is bad,” said Leslie Colwell of the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

Both Miles and Colwell said the task force may make progress where the committee could not.

The committee was made up of legislators, while the task force would be made up of school administrators, educators, advocates, and finance experts. And it would have a narrow charge, to recommend specific changes to the funding formula and to study how much Colorado should spend on K-12 education, known as an adequacy study.

“It’s a scary question to ask because you may get back a number that says, ‘Wow, we have a long way to go,’” Miles said.

Budget stabilization factor could be be phased out

Colorado’s constitution requires that school funding increase every year by the rate of inflation plus population. But every year since the Great Recession, lawmakers have withheld money to pay for other budget priorities. This withholding, known as the budget stabilization factor, adds up to more than $10 billion.

This budget year, lawmakers withheld $321 million, about 3.7% of base K-12 spending. The school finance act proposes a $171 million withholding for the 2023-24 budget year, less than 2% of K-12 spending.

Zenzinger said she plans to ask for an amendment that would eliminate the withholding entirely next year. Gov. Jared Polis had called for a three-year plan.

The school finance act also would set aside $30 million for rural schools to mitigate their higher costs and smaller student populations. Colorado rural schools have received similar annual payments since 2017.

Zenzinger said her intention is for this to be the last year with a “one-time” rural allowance and that going forward rural schools will get more through the funding formula.

The school finance act would put $23.4 million into a matching fund to help school districts with low property wealth get more benefit from local property tax increases known as mill levy override. The fund was created last year and seeded with $10 million.

The school finance act also allocates:

$2.5 million to charter schools authorized by the state Charter School Institute to make up for local tax revenue that isn’t shared. Coupled with money pledged in the budget, these schools will get an extra $27 million next year.
$1.1 million for universal screening to identify gifted and talented students
$500,000 for school districts to translate draft versions of individualized education plans or IEPs into parents’ home languages.
$300,000 to reimburse school districts for costs associated with replacing Native American mascots.

The school finance act gets its first hearing Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee.

The school finance act and the budget are the only two pieces of legislation the Colorado General Assembly must pass before adjournment.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado bill would add protections for students facing expulsion

2023-04-13T23:38:32+00:00

Some Democratic lawmakers want more protections for Colorado students facing expulsion — including training for administrators and a guarantee that families will get at least two days to review the case against their child.

The bill is a scaled-back version of legislation that was killed earlier this month after widespread opposition from school district administrators who feared that limiting expulsions would make schools less safe. That bill would have made it harder to expel students for things they did outside of school and would have given students more due process rights.

The effort to limit expulsions comes amid debate about school safety and discipline. Educators have reported more student behavior problems in the wake of pandemic closures, while rising community violence has shown up repeatedly at the schoolhouse door. Advocates for youth, though, worry that removing students from school cuts them off from positive influences, derails their education, and makes it more likely they’ll end up in the criminal justice system.

Democratic state Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez of Denver and state Rep. Junie Joseph of Boulder are sponsoring the legislation. Gonzales-Gutierrez has spent her career in the child welfare and juvenile justice system in various capacities.

“I’ve seen firsthand what happens to kids who are not afforded due process in the school system and then put on a trajectory toward more system involvement,” she said.

House Bill 1291 would clarify that school districts have the burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that a student violated state law and school district policy, that alternative remedies aren’t appropriate, and that keeping the student out of school is the only way to preserve the school’s learning environment.

Schools would have to show that it’s more likely than not that the student committed the offenses of which they are accused. It’s the same burden of proof that’s used in most civil lawsuits.

The bill also would require that school districts provide all the evidence they plan to use in an expulsion hearing to a student’s parent or guardian at least two business days before the hearing.

And it would require that hearing officers complete a training that covers topics such as child and adolescent brain development, trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, bias in disciplinary practices, and applicable state and federal law.

Over hours of testimony in support of the earlier bill, current and former students described being kicked out for behavior that stemmed from abuse and neglect. Others described being expelled for fights that happened over the summer or for being a member of a group chat in which someone else made a threat.

Barbara Garza, now a social worker at AUL charter school in Denver, described being expelled as a student. She later went on to earn her master’s degree at the University of Denver so she could help kids like herself.

“Adults always made me feel like school was not for me,” she said. “I always heard, ‘She just doesn’t try hard enough.’ During that time, I was trying hard.

“I had a lot of responsibilities. I was experiencing abuse. But adults had already made up their mind about who I was going to be and what box I fit into. I felt like people were using my behavior as a child to define what kind of adult I would be.”

State data from the 2021-22 school year shows that about a third of expulsions were for assault, weapons offenses, or felonies. The other two-thirds were for violations related to drugs and alcohol, defiance and disobedience, or destruction of school property. The single largest category — 214 out of 794 expulsions — was “detrimental behavior.”

Gonzales-Gutierrez had originally hoped to make it much harder to expel students for nonviolent offenses or for behavior that occurred off school property, such as a fight at the mall, unless administrators could show a “substantial nexus” with the school setting. She also wanted to allow students to cross-examine witnesses and have other rights they would have in a court setting.

That bill already faced a difficult path forward, with strong opposition led by the Colorado Association of School Executives, which represents superintendents, principals, and other administrators. They said expulsion is already a last resort, and they carry a heavy responsibility to keep an entire community safe. State law leaves school districts legally liable if they overlook known threats, and someone is harmed.

Then on March 22, a student who was on probation for a weapons charge and who had previously been removed from the Cherry Creek School District shot and wounded two administrators at Denver’s East High School. The student later died by suicide.

Two weeks later, Gonzales-Gutierrez withdrew her original bill, asking that the House Education Committee postpone it indefinitely, but pledged to bring back some protections for students facing disciplinary action.

She said her bill would not have changed anything about what happened at East High School. The bill still would have allowed expulsions for violent offenses and weapons-related offenses. And Denver Public Schools never sought to remove the student, who was on a safety plan that required daily searches.

She said the focus needs to be on providing more mental health services and other support.

“We are failing our students,” she said. “We failed that young man who took his own life and caused harm to others.”

She hopes this bill is a “fresh start” to the conversation.

CASE Executive Director Bret Miles said he appreciates the change in approach, though his group still has concerns about the most recent legislation. He’s not opposed to training or guaranteeing families time to review evidence, he said, but in general he thinks the current system is working.

Anything that would make it harder to expel students puts administrators in a difficult position, he said.

“What has become incredibly clear over the last few weeks is the impossible job principals have to work with all their families to balance the educational needs of all students,” he said. “Principals care about the most disenfranchised kid in their school. They want that kid to get what they need. And then they have other parents saying, ‘Why is my student put at risk or suffering or in harm’s way or afraid?’”

While administrators aren’t on board yet, the approach of Colorado’s Democratic legislature stands in contrast to other states where lawmakers are making it easier to kick disruptive students out of school. No such bills have been introduced in Colorado.

The expulsions bill is scheduled for a hearing before the House Education Committee April 20.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado offers K-12 schools Zearn digital math learning platform at no cost

2023-04-12T12:30:00+00:00

Colorado is making the digital learning program Zearn Math available for free to schools statewide as part of a broader effort to address gaps in math learning that widened during the pandemic.

Gov. Jared Polis has set aside up to $6 million in pandemic relief money to pay for licenses for the digital program and to pay for printed materials for schools that adopt Zearn’s math curriculum Training also will be available to teachers in how to use the new platform.

Math scores on state and national standardized tests declined during the pandemic, with sharper drops in math than in reading and writing. Both educators and policymakers are focused on how to help students gain skills they missed out on during three disrupted years.

Last month, Polis and lawmakers unveiled a bipartisan $25 million proposal to offer widespread after-school tutoring in math, expand teacher training, and encourage districts to adopt high-quality curriculum. In addition, the initiative included plans for the state to pay for licenses for a digital math accelerator and make them available at no cost to schools statewide.

Polis announced this week that Colorado has selected Zearn Math as the state’s online math program. The state did not request proposals, instead choosing Zearn based on studies and reviews and purchasing it from a software reseller at a set price.

“We are taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to boost student math achievement and make sure Colorado kids have the support and practice they need to excel in math,” Polis said in a press release. “This new access saves school districts and families money and is part of our ongoing work to provide high-quality education for every Colorado student.”

Polis spokeswoman Melissa Dworkin said the governor’s team considered several programs and chose Zearn Math based on studies provided by the company that showed students who used Zearn regularly made substantially more progress than those who didn’t.

Educators who study math instruction and ways students learn through gaming and online platforms said Zearn has positive elements but cautioned that teachers need training and time to learn how to use it well. It shouldn’t be used as a substitute for in-person instruction by well-trained teachers, they said, and teachers need to make sure students are engaged and supported in their learning.

Started by New York teachers and backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the program is used widely in states like Tennessee and Texas. Many New York City schools also use Zearn Math. The program is intended to be used in conjunction with in-person, whole class instruction. (The Gates Foundation is a funder of Chalkbeat. See our funders here. Read our ethics policy here.)

Mary Pittman, president of the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said she feels “hopeful excitement” about the plan.

“It is new for Colorado to have access to a program like this across the board,” she said.

She described the platform as offering flexible, high-quality materials built around Common Core State Standards, which are the basis for Colorado’s academic standards. She said Zearn was originally used most often for intervention with students who were far behind in math, but that it also offers a well-regarded comprehensive core curriculum, data that can inform teachers’ daily instruction, as well as lessons that can be used during tutoring or at home.

David Webb, an associate professor of math education at the University of Colorado Boulder who also heads a research consortium on math instruction, said Zearn seems to have good content and be based on solid ideas around math instruction. He worries, though, about relying too much on digital platforms, when it was the lack of interaction with teachers and peers that contributed to learning gaps during online and hybrid school.

“To see it resolved through digital platforms, it rubs me a little bit the wrong way,” he said. “I understand the desire to get back on track and come up with personalized interventions. But to say we’re going to have you spend more time on technology, I think we need a more holistic fix.”

A 2019 Johns Hopkins study found students in some subgroups using Zearn made statistically significant progress but overall results were less significant. Students in schools that used Zearn for more hours a week generally saw more improvement than those that used it for fewer hours. Teachers in the study generally liked the program and felt it supported student learning.

Even so, many teachers reported the format of Zearn — which requires students to work independently and to read, listen, and type responses — made it hard for some students to use.

Meanwhile, students who used Zearn in the study were less likely to express confidence in their math skills compared with students at schools that didn’t use Zearn. A potential explanation, the study authors wrote, was that students may have found the Zearn material “more challenging than previously experienced, which may have affected their feelings toward mathematics in general.”

Webb said these types of findings underscore the importance of coupling digital platforms with instruction from teachers and opportunities for students to work through math problems with their peers. It’s also critical for teachers to get training — something that has become much more challenging as teachers lose their planning periods to cover for colleagues or can’t go to conferences due to substitute shortages, Webb said.

Arturo Cortez, an assistant professor of learning sciences and human development and director of The Learning To Transform (LiTT) Video Gaming Lab at the University of Colorado, said the teachers he works with who already use Zearn love it because it helps them see quickly which students got the lesson and which need more help.

Zearn also has the potential to bridge divides between the home and the classroom and help parents better support their children’s learning, Cortez said.

He cautioned, though, that teachers need opportunities to learn how to use the program, play with it, and think through how it can help their students — not just a perfunctory session to get familiar with the interface. It’s also important to see how — and whether — students engage with the tool.

“With a lot of digital tools, we sit kids in front of them and don’t spend time with them while they are using them,” he said. “What makes them engaging? What makes kids have that commitment? And how do we create environments like that in the classroom?”

Colorado schools can sign up for Zearn Math for the 2023-24 school year.

Chalkbeat Senior Reporter Ann Schimke contributed reporting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Task force could revamp Colorado’s school accountability system

2023-03-31T12:15:00+00:00

Two bills before the Colorado legislature would spur changes to the system Colorado uses to measure school quality and improve performance. Both bills are in response to an audit of the school accountability system, despite that review finding the system to be “reasonable and appropriate.”

One bill, which enjoys broad bipartisan support, would create a task force to recommend changes to the system. A more controversial bill would seek to dramatically reduce the use of standardized testing.

While finding that Colorado’s school accountability system was working as designed, the audit also raised questions about whether the system lets schools serving mostly middle-class students earn high ratings despite failing their students in poverty or whether all schools have access to the same resources.

“I agree it’s doing what it is designed to do,” St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad said of Colorado’s 13-year-old school accountability system. “I think what it’s designed to do is problematic.”

Colorado’s school accountability system, adopted in 2009, uses standardized test scores to rate schools and districts.

Students take English language arts and math tests in third through eighth grades, science tests in fifth, eighth, and 11th grade, the PSAT in ninth and 10th grade, and the SAT in 11th grade. Only the PSAT is a state requirement. The federal government requires that Colorado administer the other assessments.

High schools are also judged on graduation rates and measures of college and career readiness. Schools that have several years of low performance face state intervention.

Haddad is backing House Bill 1241, which would create a task force of superintendents, teachers, charter leaders, advocates, and parents to consider questions raised by the audit and recommend changes to the accountability system.

“My hope is that the task force will tackle some really significant structural issues uncovered in the audit,” he said.

Task force bill unites education groups, up to a point

Sponsored by state Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat, the task force bill has broad enough appeal that Republican state Rep. Rose Pugliese asked to be added as a co-sponsor. Groups like Democrats for Education Reform and Ready Colorado, a conservative advocacy group, testified alongside Colorado Education Association and the Colorado Association of School Executives in support of the bill.

Education reform groups initially feared the task force was an attempt to redo the audit and reach a different conclusion.

“The audit in our minds was very conclusive,” said Brenda Dickhoner, president and CEO of Ready Colorado. “It had pretty strong wording that the overall system was ‘reasonable and appropriate.’”

Jen Walmer, state director of Democrats for Education Reform, said after negotiations, she felt confident the task force would be more forward-looking.

“How to better serve students — that’s the lens,” she said.

The current system has its strengths, she said, but it hasn’t created enough urgency around narrowing opportunity gaps or enough sharing of promising practices.

Nicholas Martinez of Transform Education Now said parents want insights into how their children’s schools are working — for all students.

“Are you really a good school when your middle-class white kids are knocking it out of the park and your Black and brown kids are struggling?” he said. “That doesn’t meet my definition of a good school.”

The other proposed bill is likely to face more opposition. House Bill 1239 seeks to significantly scale back standardized testing and give more room to districts to use their own assessment systems. The bill calls on Colorado to reduce testing to the minimum required under federal law, seek waivers to reduce testing further, and apply for grants to promote local experimentation.

The bill’s legislative declaration notes that the audit uncovered inequities in Colorado’s education system but did not reach a conclusion about whether testing and the accountability system that relies on it “effectively addresses inequities or simply identifies inequities.”

Bill sponsor state Rep. Eliza Hamrick, an Arapahoe County Democrat and retired Cherry Creek teacher, said she saw test prep take up valuable learning time without providing enough useful information.

“It seems like some of the assessments we’re doing at the state level don’t really test or reflect what our kids can do,” she said. “I wanted to allow districts to see which tests they feel are most valuable to evaluate if learning is taking place.”

But education reform advocates fear the bill would take away the ability to make comparisons across schools and districts and identify what’s working and what isn’t.

The task force bill passed the House Education Committee unanimously on Wednesday. The testing bill is set for a hearing before the same committee April 13.

School quality is about more than test scores, critics say

St. Vrain Valley’s schools generally receive high marks, and Haddad is quick to say he doesn’t oppose standardized testing or holding schools to high standards. But the current system gives parents and the general public an overly negative view of school performance, he said, and encourages too much focus on test prep at the expense of other valuable opportunities, from art and music to career education.

Bird said she saw that firsthand when her children’s school canceled its participation in Young AmeriTowne, an immersive experience in which elementary children learn about different jobs and civic roles and then spend a day running their own pretend town.

“These kids would spend a week learning civics, business, and banking, and what it is to be involved in your community — someone got to be the mayor — and that was taken away,” she said. “Because our school needed time to prepare kids and to administer the tests, there was no longer time to take a week off of the calendar to engage in that.”

Critics say the system has to be designed to encourage a fuller set of learning experiences.

But Katie Zaback, vice president of policy at the business education partnership Colorado Succeeds, said she’s seen the accountability system do that. Her child attends a school on an improvement plan, and she’s seen a culture shift, with teachers and administrators working more closely with parents and the school adopting a social-emotional program that puts students in a better frame of mind for learning.

Bird said the task force can bridge these different perspectives.

“We’re making sure that all of these people who care about education are brought together to start talking to one another, come up, lay out your best ideas, and come to some agreement,” she said. “I’m hopeful that will generate ideas that have consensus built into them that really are the basis for good public policy.”

State Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat, chuckled as she said the task force will be “fantastic.” She served on the Denver school board as that district shifted away from previous education reform policies and ditched its own school rating system. The district now uses state ratings and still hasn’t developed a more nuanced school information dashboard that parents and community members said they wanted.

“There’s something to be said about most people believing there’s something we could fix about our current system,” she said. “Those fixes are going to be the hard work.”

The task force would start meeting by September and produce a final report by November 2024. Lawmakers could consider recommended changes in the 2025 legislative session.

Changing standardized testing won’t be easy

Hamrick sees her bill to reduce the testing burden, co-sponsored by Bacon, as complementary to the task force work. Colorado has had a number of school districts engaged in local experiments around more nuanced accountability work. Federal funding would allow those experiments to continue and expand and generate new models, Hamrick said.

But Walmer said it would be more appropriate for the task force to consider whether Colorado should make changes to its testing regime, rather than pursue those changes first.

And Dickhoner said she saw the bill as an attack on testing more broadly.

“We really do see the bill as seeking to dismantle the statewide assessment system,” she said. “Without valid and comparable state data, you lose the ability to effectively allocate resources and you lose the ability to identify bright spots.”

As introduced, the bill also would allow districts to opt out of assessments that track how well early elementary students are reading. Hamrick said she’s working with advocates to understand concerns.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is aligned with education reform ideas and has been more supportive of small tweaks rather than big changes.

Lori Cooper, CASE president and assistant superintendent of student achievement in the Fountain-Fort Carson district in Colorado Springs, said districts already do assessments throughout the year that provide much of what parents and the state might want to know about student progress, without adding state tests that stress students out.

“When it takes five days to complete, it really affects a kid’s grit and resilience, and there are only so many ways you can create value around an assessment,” she said. “Everyone is trying to help kids understand the why.”

Even if the bill passes, securing federal support could be challenging. Without a waiver, Colorado would risk millions in federal funding.

Scott Marion, president and executive director at the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, said he sees little appetite at the federal level for waiving testing, and programs that support innovation have stringent requirements.

The Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority allows for local experimentation and waives some federal requirements but doesn’t provide any money to support that work. New systems have to eventually scale up to the state level or be abandoned entirely, Marion said. Nor is the federal government currently accepting new applications.

The bill would require Colorado to apply for a Competitive Grant for Local Assessments, which is expected to accept applications this year. That program does come with money to support pilot programs — about $3 million over four years — but participants still have to administer all the usual tests alongside those local experiments.

“It’s like, do you want to climb Longs Peak in Colorado?” Marion asked. “Yeah, it’s there. You could do it. But you better be in shape, and you better not get caught in bad weather. It’s the same thing here. You can do this, but it’s not for the faint of heart.”

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct grades in which students take standardized science tests.

Chalkbeat National Managing Editor Sarah Darville contributed reporting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado delays free preschool program matching date to April 26

2023-03-29T03:04:31+00:00

It will be another month before Colorado families know where they can send their children for preschool under the state’s new universal preschool program.

Families were supposed to learn which programs they had matched with on Thursday. But on Tuesday, officials with Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood announced they plan to tell families on April 26.

As reported by Chalkbeat, more than 20 education and early childhood groups had asked the state to push back initial matches due to problems with the algorithm that meant some families might miss out on top choices and other families might be offered seats that didn’t meet their needs. They feared the program was being rushed, and families would end up frustrated.

State officials held firm to the initial March 30 matching date until just two days prior. Denver Public Schools even sent an email to parents Tuesday afternoon telling families to watch their texts and emails for state notifications this Thursday.

Tuesday evening, state officials said in a press release that to “maximize the likelihood of families receiving their first or second choice, allow for additional time that will enable providers to fully consider their capabilities to expand their offerings in the coming school year, and give families the opportunity to fine-tune their preferences, the department is extending the release of the first round of matching until April 26, 2023.”

More than 29,000 families have signed up for a free 4-year-old preschool spot, and more than 1,800 providers are participating, according to the Department of Early Childhood.

The initial enrollment period closed Feb. 24, but families can still apply.

The program, a major policy initiative of Gov. Jared Polis, will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to every 4-year-old in the year before they enter kindergarten. Some children, including those from low-income households, those who are learning English, and those with disabilities, are eligible for 30 hours a week. Some 3-year-olds are also eligible for 10 hours a week of free preschool.

The program is funded in large part by a voter-approved nicotine tax.

Providers and school district officials identified a number of problems with the March 30 match date. Some providers struggled to reach families with incomplete applications, worrying they might lose out on priority points that would increase access to their top choice. Families who got priority at one program were given the same boost for all their choices, potentially displacing other families. State officials said that happened because they did not pay for a more sophisticated algorithm that could have better ranked preferences.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s $38.5 billion budget proposal increases education funding but must contend with inflation

2023-03-27T23:21:40+00:00

Colorado’s $38.5 billion proposed budget would increase per student K-12 spending by 8.4% — an increase that barely keeps pace with inflation — and gives a boost to higher education while also allowing public colleges and universities to increase tuition by as much as 5%, the highest increase in the last five years.

The $38.5 billion proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year represents an 8.9% increase over the current budget. Despite the increase, Colorado lawmakers have less wiggle room this year compared with last year when the state was flush with federal relief funding.

High inflation over the last year has reduced overall state spending power, and state fiscal experts expect tighter budgets in the next few years. State law will require Colorado to return an estimated $2.7 billion in tax revenue to taxpayers at the end of the fiscal year rather than roll that money into future public investments.

The bill introduced Monday in the Senate officially kicks off two weeks of amendments and lengthy debates in both chambers. The six-member Joint Budget Committee then usually rejects most of those amendments before sending it back to the legislature for final approval. Passing a balanced budget and the school finance act are the only actions lawmakers must take before May adjournment.

The budget calls for a 5.7% increase in base education spending to $8.9 billion and an 8.4% increase in average per-pupil spending to $10,404.

Most of the new money, though, will come from higher-than-expected local property tax collections due to rising home values. The budget calls for state spending to go down $158 million next year and funding from local taxes to increase $644 million.

Colorado’s constitution requires education spending to go up each year by the rate of population growth plus inflation. State law determines how much money each school district will get per student as well as total spending, then the state makes up whatever isn’t generated by local taxes.

Student enrollment is going down, so most of the increase in school spending is driven by inflation. In real terms, funding is basically flat.

Colorado’s budget also fails to increase education funding as much as the constitution mandates. Instead, as usual, lawmakers propose to divert money to other priorities in a budget maneuver known as the budget stabilization factor. This withholding has totaled more than $10 billion since the Great Recession.

Next year’s budget calls for withholding $321 million, the same amount as this year. Some of that money could be restored through the school finance act before the budget process is finalized.

Gov. Jared Polis in January proposed withholding of $201 million, more than one-third less than the legislative proposal, which would nudge total K-12 funding above $9 billion.

In recent years, Republicans have pushed unsuccessfully for amendments to add more funding to K-12 while casting other Democratic priorities as less important.

The budget also calls for $14.8 million to create a new Office of School Safety. That money includes grants for school-level safety improvements, as well as additional resources for threat assessment, emergency response, data analysis, and an ongoing working group.

School improvement efforts would get $1 million more for a total of $7.5 million. The extra money would go to eight to 10 schools that have just a few years of low performance on standardized tests in the hopes that early support can avoid state-mandated interventions later.

Charter schools authorized by the state Charter School Institute would share $24.5 million in extra funding, a 44% increase from this year. Districts are required to share money from local tax increases with the charter schools they authorize but not with state-authorized charters within their borders. The state allocation makes up about 58% of the difference for those schools.

The budget also sets aside $115 million for free meals for most Colorado students. Voters approved the creation of the program, paid for by raising taxes on higher earners, last fall.

Colorado college students could pay more tuition

The budget would boost higher education spending to about $5.8 billion next year, or a 5.1% increase. That total includes other programs such as the state’s historic preservation fund.

For college and university budgets and student financial aid, the proposal calls for $147.6 million more next year.

The budget increase includes $120 million more than current spending for college and university operating expenses and about $27.5 million more for student financial aid to offset rising tuition for in-state students.

The increase is more than the $86 million Polis set aside in his November budget, but less than the $144 million that college leaders sought. In response to Polis, college and university leaders in January said they needed more state funds to cover inflationary increases, increased student support services, and the need to increase wages.

To cover possible gaps in higher education funding, the budget leaves open a larger-than-expected tuition increase.

The state would allow public institutions to raise tuition by 5% — a percentage point more than expected. The University of Northern Colorado would be allowed to raise tuition by 6%.

This is the second year that higher education institutions have successfully lobbied for more funding than what Polis proposed. Last year, however, the state limited tuition increases.

Colorado prepares for free universal preschool

Colorado’s budget also includes $322 million toward the rollout of the state universal preschool program, which will offer 15 hours of tuition-free preschool a week for every Colorado 4-year-old child. Children with additional needs, such as those from lower-income households and those learning English, are supposed to get 30 hours a week of free care.

The application for the program opened in January and the state is marching toward a summer start. The state has seen higher-than-expected interest in the program and may not have money to provide all the extra hours.

Budget documents say the money will cover 25 hours a week for those students, but legislators and legislative staff told Chalkbeat that was an error. The intention is still to offer 30 hours a week for children who would benefit from more time in preschool, they said.

The state budget includes support for the program, such as an additional $5 million for programs that provide therapy to children ages birth to 3 with developmental delays. In addition, the state would spend $311,000 to create a hotline to connect families, caregivers, child care providers, and educators to clinically trained consultants with expertise in early childhood emotional and mental health.

About $4 million would be used to better the department’s licensing application and review process as the program gets underway. Another $3 million would go toward grants for employer-based child care programs.

The budget also would provide about $2.8 million for a statewide equity officer, a liaison to work with governments and tribes, and interpretation services.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to explain why budget documents say the state will cover 25 hours a week of preschool for some students, while program rules call for 30 hours a week of free preschool.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Policía regresa a escuelas de Denver

2023-03-24T22:34:56+00:00

Read in English.

La junta escolar de Denver suspendió su política que prohíbe la presencia de agentes armados en los campus.

La decisión se produjo un día después del tiroteo contra dos administradores en la Denver East High School. Después de una sesión a puertas cerradas, la junta ordenó al superintendente Alex Marrero que trabajara con el alcalde de Denver, Michael Hancock, y otros funcionarios para buscar financiamiento externo para hasta dos policías y hasta dos profesionales de la salud mental en cada escuela secundaria durante el resto del año escolar.

Los miembros de la junta escolar enfatizaron que el cambio es temporal. Sin embargo, lo decidido va más allá de lo que solicitó Marrero el día de la tragedia. El superintendente dijo que colocaría un oficial en cada escuela secundaria, incluso si violaba la política de la junta.

La decisión se tomó el mismo día en que estudiantes y maestros marcharon hacia el Capitolio y presionaron a los legisladores para que aprueben leyes más estrictas sobre el control de armas. Los maestros también saldrán a la calle para manifestar sobre este tema.

Marrero dijo que devolver a los policías a las escuelas es la decisión correcta. “Nosotros, los educadores, llegamos a esta profesión para apoyar y ayudar a los estudiantes a prosperar y, lo que es más importante, brindarles la oportunidad de tener éxito”, dijo Marrero luego de conocer la decisión de la junta escolar. “Reconozco que hemos fallado como distrito”.

Hancock dijo que apoyaba la decisión de la junta y estaba listo para ayudar a colocar oficiales en los edificios escolares.

¿Qué pasará después de junio 2023?

La decisión unánime de la junta suspende la prohibición de oficiales hasta junio. En su lugar, la junta ordenó a Marrero que elabore un plan a largo plazo para proteger a los estudiantes y al personal de las escuelas de Denver antes del 30 de junio.

La presidenta de la junta, Xóchitl Gaytán, dijo que la junta no ha cambiado de posición, sino que ha hecho una pausa para que Marrero elabore un plan de seguridad a largo plazo. La junta ordenó a Marrero que incluyera en su plan los aportes de los estudiantes, los padres, el líder escolar, los maestros y la comunidad.

La junta solicita que todos los oficiales de policía colocados en la escuela reciban capacitación sobre cómo reducir las situaciones y en la vigilancia escolar. La junta también quiere que esos oficiales comprendan la comunidad escolar donde serán colocados.

Marrero también deberá brindar actualizaciones mensuales sobre cómo se utilizan los agentes de policía dentro de las escuelas, incluida la cantidad de multas emitidas y arrestos realizados. La junta quiere estar segura de que los agentes de policía no se involucren en la disciplina de los estudiantes.

Personal de la escuela manejará búsqueda de armas

No está claro cómo el hecho de tener oficiales en el edificio habría cambiado el resultado de la tragedia ocurrida en la Denver East High School. O si los oficiales hubiesen podido prevenir los disparos a los estudiantes en las afueras de esta escuela secundaria en septiembre 2022 y febrero 2023.

Los dos administradores recibieron disparos mientras registraban a un estudiante en busca de armas como parte de un plan de seguridad individual que requería cacheos diarios.

El jefe de policía de Denver, Ron Thomas, dijo que no querría que sus oficiales hicieran tales búsquedas porque los oficiales de recursos escolares quieren tener interacciones positivas con los estudiantes. Marrero confirmó que el personal de la escuela seguirá realizando estas búsquedas.

Eso sorprende a Mo Canady, director ejecutivo de la Asociación Nacional de Oficiales de Recursos Escolares. Los oficiales no necesitan órdenes de cateo o causa probable para registrar a los estudiantes, solo una sospecha razonable.

Jason Gonzales es reportero que cubre temas de educación superior y la legislatura de Colorado. Chalkbeat Colorado trabaja con Open Campus en la cobertura de temas de educación superior. Para comunicarte con Jason, envíale un mensaje a jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Erica Meltzer cubre temas de política educativa, y supervisa la cobertura de educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Erica enviándole un mensaje a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver board lifts ban on police on campus

2023-03-24T01:33:55+00:00

Leer en español.

The Denver school board on Thursday suspended its policy banning armed officers on campuses, a day after the shooting of two administrators at East High School.

After a closed session, the board directed Superintendent Alex Marrero to work with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and other officials to seek outside funding for up to two police officers and up to two mental health professionals at each high school for the rest of the school year.

Even as board members emphasized the change is temporary, it goes further than Marrero requested on Wednesday, when he said he would place one officer at every comprehensive high school even if it violated board policy.

The decision came on the same day students and teachers marched to the Capitol and lobbied lawmakers for stricter gun control laws. Another teacher rally is planned for Friday.

Marrero said placing police officers back into schools is the right decision.

“We educators came into this profession to support and help students thrive, and most importantly, provide them an opportunity to succeed,” Marrero said during a Thursday news conference. “I acknowledge that we have failed as a district.”

In a written statement, Hancock said he supported the board decision and stood ready to help place officers in school buildings.

The board’s unanimous decision puts its officer ban on hold until June. In its place, the board directed Marrero to come up with a long-term plan to protect students and staff in Denver schools by June 30.

Board President Xóchitl Gaytán said the board hasn’t flip-flopped in its position, but instead has hit pause for Marrero to come up with a long-term safety plan.

The board directed Marrero to include student, parent, school leader, teacher, and community input in his plan.

The board requests that every police officer placed in school be trained in how to de-escalate situations and in school policing. The board also wants those officers to have an understanding of the school community where they will be placed.

Marrero also will be required to give monthly updates on how police officers are used within schools, including the number of tickets issued and arrests made, and to ensure that police officers do not get involved in student discipline.

Police officers primarily will be on school campuses to assist in safety issues, including to reduce the amount of time it takes to respond to an emergency, Marrero said. He said he also wanted to be responsive to community concerns.

School staff will continue to handle weapons searches

It’s not clear how having officers in the building would have changed the outcome Wednesday or when East students were shot just outside the school in September and again in February.

The two administrators were shot as they searched a student for weapons as part of an individual safety plan that required daily pat-downs. On Wednesday, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said he wouldn’t want his officers to do such searches because school resource officers want to have positive interactions with students.

And on Thursday, Marrero said it will continue to be district policy to have staff do these searches.

That surprises Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. Officers don’t need search warrants or probable cause to search students at school, just a reasonable suspicion, he said, and they have the training to remove weapons safely.

“I am continually stunned when a civilian is charged with having to search someone for a weapon,” he said. “That’s not fair to do. That’s a law enforcement role, that’s what we’re trained to do, and we know how to handle the gun if one is found.”

But Denver Classroom Teacher Association President Rob Gould, a former special education teacher who was involved in many student safety plans, said he considers this a job for educators, not law enforcement.

“A lot of parents are shocked that we have to do this, but this is a daily thing for many students,” Gould said.

Denver not the only district bringing police back

Denver was one of at least 50 school districts nationwide to get rid of or significantly reduce police presence in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, according to an Education Week tracker. Eight others have since brought police back — sometimes, like Denver, in response to specific acts of violence.

Gould said he supports bringing officers back to schools for now, and many educators agree.

“Right now people need to feel safe,” he said. “Everybody is traumatized and retraumatized from the events of yesterday.”

That sentiment was echoed by many Denver students who left their classrooms to walk to the Capitol and call for stricter gun control laws.

“For the rest of the year, I don’t think I can imagine school a place where I can feel safe to learn again,” said Lila Port, 17, an East High School junior.

Others were more skeptical. East High School junior Linus Cole, 16, said unarmed, specially trained staff members would be more appropriate.

“We don’t need law enforcement sending students to jail for small crimes because that’s also not going to help,” he said.

Canady said that when schools bring police into schools, it’s critical to have a memorandum of understanding that lays out roles, responsibilities, and expectations, that the police department pick officers who want the assignment and have a good temperament for working with kids, and that they be well trained.

The research on the impacts of school resource officers is limited, said Franci Crepau-Hobson, a University of Colorado Denver professor who studies violence prevention, in part because there is such range in the roles and training of officers stationed in schools that it’s hard to draw comparisons or conclusions.

Research has found correlations between having officers in school buildings and more Black and brown students getting suspended, Crepau-Hobson said. In Denver, student referrals to law enforcement have declined since school resource officers were removed at the end of the 2020-21 school year — one goal of the previous policy change.

The idea that officers might deter violence just by their presence — something many parents and teachers have hoped — is hard to measure, Crepau-Hobson said.

“In some contexts, SROs can increase a sense of safety and security with kids, and in some cases it’s the opposite,” she said. “And when kids don’t feel safe, sometimes they do stupid things. It’s not a one-size-fits-all.”

Students rally for gun control

On Thursday morning, hundreds of students from the Denver area crowded into the State Capitol building to demand lawmakers take action after the shooting, including passing a package of gun control measures that are under consideration.

They joined teachers from the Colorado Education Association, the state teachers union, who have thrown their support behind the gun control measures and who also want more funding for mental health resources in schools.

East High School senior Abigail Niebauer said she wanted to look lawmakers in the eye and share how much fear students feel when a school goes into lockdown.

Niebauer was inside the building on Wednesday’s lockdown following the shooting. She was also nearby when Luis Garcia was shot outside the building in February. Garcia died almost two weeks later.

“We don’t want to sit back and feel powerless in this situation,” Niebauer said. “We want to continue to do as much as we can to make change. Even if we’re young kids, we think our voices speak loud.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver cancels classes Friday for mental health day after East High shooting

2023-03-23T20:19:09+00:00

Denver Public Schools has called a mental health day Friday, with no classes for students and no work for teachers, in the wake of the shooting of two administrators at East High School.

“As we learn more about the developments coming out of the shooting that took place at East High School yesterday, I want to extend my heartfelt apologies to the East High School community, and the larger DPS community,” Marrero wrote in an email to parents. “No student or employee should have to carry the fear of potential violence when they walk into our buildings each day.”

Marrero said canceling classes would allow the community to “take a moment to pause and process the challenging events this year.” Among those, he cited a recent data breach that exposed personal information of school employees and students.

Friday would have been the last day of classes before Denver spring break next week. Teachers were planning a “Sick for Safety” march to the Capitol Friday. Classes had already been canceled at East for the rest of the week after Wednesday’s shooting and lockdown.

Police say two administrators were shot as they searched 17-year-old Austin Lyle for weapons Wednesday morning. Lyle fled and was found dead in Park County southwest of Denver that evening. Lyle had previously been expelled from the Cherry Creek School District.

On Thursday, students from many Denver schools left class and marched to the Capitol to call for better gun control. A number of bills, including one raising the age to purchase firearms and another expanding who can request that guns be removed from people who are a danger to themselves and others, are moving through the Colorado legislature.

Also on Thursday, the Denver school board voted unanimously to return police to high school campuses, suspending a policy they adopted in 2020 in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

East High shooting prompts fear, frustration, and calls for action in Denver

2023-03-23T12:45:26+00:00

Two administrators at Denver’s East High School were shot Wednesday morning as they searched a student for weapons, shaking a school community already reeling from gun violence and prompting a sweeping policy change from the district superintendent.

It was the third shooting this school year to touch Denver’s largest high school but the first to happen inside the building. The shooting sent the school’s dean of culture and its restorative practices coordinator to the hospital, where one was in serious condition Wednesday evening.

Late Wednesday, authorities in Park County reported that a body had been found in the woods near a vehicle that police had connected to the student suspected in the shooting. Overnight, the Park County Coroner’s Office confirmed it was 17-year-old Austin Lyle.

In the aftermath of the shooting, students and teachers endured another lockdown, parents another stressful rush to City Park, where they gathered across the street from East High School and searched for their children’s faces among the students released in twos and threes and hugged them fiercely.

The shooting may also have shifted the conversation about police in Denver schools.

In a letter to the school board Wednesday, Superintendent Alex Marrero said he plans to return armed police officers to all of Denver’s comprehensive high schools for the rest of the school year, stationing two at East. The board voted in 2020 to remove all police from Denver schools.

“I can no longer stand on the sidelines,” Marrero wrote in the letter.

In a separate statement hours later, the school board said it supports the superintendent.

Students leave Denver’s East High School after a shooting there on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

The shooting happened at about 9:50 a.m. Wednesday while two East staff members — identified by the district as Eric Sinclair and Jerald Mason — were alone in a front office with a male student whom the police later identified as Lyle.

The staff members were searching Lyle as part of a safety plan put in place by the school, Marrero and Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a press conference outside East with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

Lyle fled the scene and was believed to be armed, according to police, who were looking for him on suspicion of attempted homicide. Authorities in Park County, southwest of Denver, reported discovering a vehicle connected to Lyle near the town of Bailey, then a few hours later announced the body had been found.

Lyle previously attended Overland High School in the suburban Cherry Creek school district. District spokeswoman Abbe Smith said he was disciplined and removed from that school last year. Smith said she could not release more information. Citing unnamed law enforcement sources, CBS 4 reported that Lyle was on probation for a previous weapons offense.

Students have safety plans for a variety of reasons, including because they’re at risk of injuring themselves or because they’ve made threats, a district spokesperson said. Marrero said federal student privacy laws prevent him from disclosing why this student had a safety plan.

Thomas said the student’s plan involved being searched at the beginning of every day. Previous searches of this student at school had not turned up any weapons, he said.

Sinclair, the school’s dean of culture, was in serious condition Wednesday evening following surgery, according to a Denver Health hospital spokesperson. Mason, the school’s restorative practices coordinator, had been released from the hospital, the spokesperson said.

Paramedics were inside East when the shooting happened, treating a student who’d had an allergic reaction, and they began treating the shooting victims immediately, police said.

School will be canceled the rest of the week at East, Marrero said. Next week is spring break.

Denver police and paramedics converged on Denver’s East High Wednesday after two deans were shot while searching a student for weapons. The shooting may have shifted the conversation about police in Denver schools.

East students and parents are fearful, frustrated

Freshman students Lydia Nelson-Gardner and Laurel McMahon said they were in the auditorium for an assembly put on by the Latin Student Alliance when a dean came in and whispered to a teacher that the school was in lockdown.

The student who was performing finished their song, and then the students sat in the auditorium being quiet for about 10 minutes before being sent to their third-period classrooms. Students who would have been on the first floor went instead to the school library, they said, where they stayed about an hour and a half before being released.

They turned to Twitter and group texts to try to figure out what had happened.

What has it been like to experience so many shootings and lockdowns in a single school year? “It sucks,” McMahon said.

The girls said that they don’t feel afraid for their own safety but that the events add a layer of stress to every school day. They aren’t sure what would help, though. Metal detectors, maybe, but not police, they said.

“That’s not going to help,” Nelson-Gardner said. McMahon said it’s been “freaky” to have armed officers around the school since the February shooting that killed 16-year-old East High student Luis Garcia, and it doesn’t make her feel safer.

Sophomore Davianna Carter was outside the school when the shooting happened. The 16-year-old said it’s not just that her school feels unsafe, “it is unsafe. School is supposed to be the safest place to be.” But Carter said it’s not anymore.

Hundreds of parents gathered in City Park on the north side of East High. They talked in small groups about how done they were, how tired they were, of the threats and shootings and lockdowns.

“Get the police back in school,” said one woman who did not want to give her name as she loaded her children into a minivan. “That’s all I can say.”

Another woman said she didn’t want to do an interview because nobody listens to parents anyway. She asked why the mayor talked to the media but not to parents.

Samantha Lindstrom said her 18-year-old son, a senior, tries to hide how he feels but she can tell this school year has taken a toll.

“Therapy is needing to happen for so many of these kids,” she said. And as a parent, “It’s stressful, it’s frustrating, it’s ridiculous, it’s sad. It’s all of that.”

Lindstrom said she’d like to see metal detectors at the school and added that “we need to refresh the school board.” She hasn’t seen them take any action to make schools safer, and she reluctantly has reached the conclusion that police should return to Denver schools.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about our kids,” she said. “We should be worried about their grades, not them being killed.”

East High students comfort each other after laying flowers in memory of student Luis Garcia.

Deans are ‘heroes’ but shouldn’t have to be, teacher says

Even if police officers hadn’t been removed from Denver schools, Thomas said an officer wouldn’t necessarily have been the one to search the student per his safety plan because “we don’t want to have negative interactions with the students.”

School board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán said the board will hold a press conference Thursday in place of its regularly scheduled meeting. Marrero has also asked for a closed session to talk about safety policy. Gaytán said board members are talking about gathering feedback from students, parents, and other community members about school safety.

“There’s a lot of conversation we want to have with community to hear what their needs and wants are,” Gaytán said.

East High students have been decrying gun violence since the fall, when a student was shot in the face near a recreation center next to the school in September. Five months later, Garcia was shot outside the school. Two days after he died from his injuries, hundreds of East students rallied at the state Capitol chanting “No more silence! End gun violence!”

A week later, a group of East students held a summit with local officials. Many officials said part of the problem is that young people are able to access unsecured guns too easily.

When the students asked Marrero and Thomas if police should have a larger presence at schools, both said that answer should come from the students themselves.

“If the youth and the parents of these youth that are going to these schools feel like the solution to having safer schools is to have officers in those schools, then certainly that’s something I will comply with, certainly with the school board’s direction,” Thomas said at the forum. “But I don’t think that the police are the only solution.”

Earlier this school year, Marrero called gun violence his top concern. District data shows the number of guns found at schools or confiscated from students is rising, from two guns in the 2018-19 school year, before the pandemic, to 13 guns last year.

As of Feb. 15, six months into this school year, the district’s department of safety had already recovered 10 guns inside schools, a district spokesperson said.

Andy Bucher, an English teacher at East High, said the school’s deans have been “heroes,” in one case even talking a student into handing over a gun, but they should not have to do the job alone. He hopes school resource officers, as the police officers stationed in schools are called, would serve as a deterrent and allow school staff to focus on their jobs.

Deans were among the first people on scene both times students were shot near East, he said.

“They saw things they shouldn’t see, that belong on a warfront in Ukraine, and they are seeing them on 17th and Esplanade and they are seeing them in the dean’s office,” he said.

Bucher was in a social room overlooking the giant red “E” on the Esplanade outside East working with a student on an essay when the first emergency vehicle arrived. They said little to each other as more and more police and ambulances arrived and the school went on lockdown. It didn’t feel like there was much to say.

Bucher recalled how on Monday, the school had celebrated the state basketball championship with a pep rally and dunk contest.

“We’re a school that’s relevant and that’s having success, and we’re pining for those high school experiences of going to prom and all that,” he said. “Instead we’re putting flowers on the E and having moments of silence and navigating the legalese of what can be said and not be said.

“We love our school, and it’s been hard and heavy.”

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, covering Denver Public Schools. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Where candidates for Denver mayor stand on education issues: an election guide

2023-03-14T11:15:00+00:00

Seventeen candidates are running for mayor of Denver during a time when the city’s schools face challenges ranging from declining enrollment that’s led to school closures to rising youth violence that’s prompted discussion of the role police should play in schools.

The Denver mayor plays no formal role in running the school system, but that hasn’t stopped some candidates from suggesting that person should have a louder voice and even appoint members to the school board.

Internal divisions on the school board have played out in public and led some critics to say the board isn’t focused on the needs of students. Other candidates say it’s important to respect the authority of the independently elected school board.

We asked all the candidates what they see as the role of the mayor in Denver Public Schools, how they would address an affordable housing crisis that’s pushing teachers and families out of the city, and how they would address gun violence that’s showing up at the schoolhouse door.

The election is April 4. If no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff election on June 6.

Ten of the 17 candidates responded. Here, in their own words, is what they said.

Estudiantes de East High marchan contra la violencia armada tras la muerte de Luis García

2023-03-14T01:16:22+00:00

Read in English.

Varios cientos de estudiantes de East High School corearon “¡No más silencio! ¡Fin de la violencia armada!” mientras marchaban hacia el Capitolio del Estado de Colorado el 3 de marzo para pedir a los legisladores que hagan más para restringir el acceso a las armas.

Habían pasado dieciocho días desde que Luis García fuera tiroteado a las puertas del instituto, y dos desde que el joven de 16 años sucumbiera a sus heridas.

Los alumnos portaban pancartas con su nombre y el número 11, el dorsal que llevaba en el campo de fútbol. Guardaron 11 segundos de silencio en su memoria.

Clayton Thomas, que jugó al fútbol con Luis, recordó lo trabajador que era Luis, una cualidad que también describieron sus familiares. Al final de cada entrenamiento, los jugadores podían quedarse 15 minutos más para practicar de forma independiente. Luis se quedaba 30 minutos, dijo Clayton.

“Lo que daría por 15 minutos más con Luis en este momento”, dijo Clayton.

East High Estudiantes Exigen Acción, un grupo que aboga por el control de armas, organizó la manifestación para que coincida con un día de promoción en el Capitolio en apoyo de un paquete de proyectos de ley de control de armas. Los demócratas quieren añadir un período de espera de tres días para todas las compras de armas, evitar que los menores de 21 años compren armas, y ampliar quién puede tratar de quitar las armas de un individuo bajo la ley de “bandera roja” de Colorado.

El impulso de nuevas leyes estatales sobre armas se produce tras el tiroteo masivo de noviembre en el Club Q de Colorado Springs, así como por el aumento de la violencia armada en Denver y en toda la región.

La tarde del 13 de febrero, Luis García fue tiroteado en el East High. La policía de Denver detuvo a otros dos estudiantes de las escuelas públicas de Denver esa misma tarde por otros cargos. Hasta el momento, no han sido acusados del tiroteo.

Luis era el segundo estudiante que sufrió disparos cerca de la escuela de 2.600 alumnos este año académico. En septiembre, East High también fue objeto de una broma de ‘swatting’ que provocó el cierre y la evacuación del centro y dejó a los estudiantes y al profesorado conmocionados.

En la última semana, más de una docena de escuelas de Colorado han sido objeto de bromas sobre tiroteos.

El pasado miércoles, los organizadores cancelaron un foro sobre la violencia armada en el que participan cargos electos locales, después de que se difundiera la noticia de la muerte de Luis.

Fabian Morris, estudiante de segundo año en East, dijo que no conocía bien a Luis, pero que ha conocido a otras personas que recibieron disparos y quería apoyar la causa.

“Solía pensar que la escuela era uno de los lugares más seguros, pero ahora me siento intranquilo”, dijo.

Celes Bufford, alumna de último curso y miembro del consejo estudiantil de East, se hizo eco del sentimiento.

“Estamos aquí porque estamos cansados”, dijo. “No debería haber ninguna razón por la que las armas sean más importantes que los estudiantes, o la gente en general. Nadie se siente seguro”.

Ryan Lo, estudiante de tercer año en East, dijo que se sintió insensible ante el tiroteo hasta que los estudiantes se reunieron fuera de East para depositar flores en memoria de Luis. Fue entonces cuando sintió la pérdida. Ryan señaló que el mismo día en que le dispararon a Luis, un hombre armado mató a tres personas en la Universidad Estatal de Michigan.

Zach Fields, también estudiante de tercer año en East, dijo que la frecuencia de la violencia armada hace que sea difícil de comprender.

“Ni siquiera parece real”, dijo. “Parece una película”.

Erica Meltzer es jefa de la oficina de Chalkbeat Colorado. Cubre temas de política educativa, y supervisa la cobertura de educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Erica enviándole un mensaje a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Juan Carlos Uribe, The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.

Los estudiantes de East High marcharon al Capitolio del Estado de Colorado el 3 de marzo de 2023 para unirse a un día de defensa de la legislación de control de armas.

Math scores dropped during the pandemic. Colorado plans to invest in tutoring, teacher training.

2023-03-07T18:15:00+00:00

Gov. Jared Polis and lawmakers hope to reach 50,000 Colorado students struggling with math skills through after-school tutoring while also offering more training to teachers and even parents.

Math scores have dropped in Colorado and the nation after three severely disrupted school years. Leaders hope the math initiative can turn around that trend and give students strong foundations as they enter high school and encounter more challenging material.

“We’ve seen a lot of kids who lost a couple of years during COVID,” said House Education Chair Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat and bill sponsor. “And so we want to get them caught up for what they missed and get them to where they should be now, so at the end of the school year, they’re ready to go into the next year.”

Leaders unveiled the bipartisan math initiative Tuesday, though Polis had hinted at the outlines of the program in a January budget request. In contrast to Colorado’s yearslong efforts to improve reading proficiency, the program is voluntary and designed as a short-term intervention.

School districts, charter schools, and after-school programs run by community groups could apply for three-year grants to run math tutoring programs. Polis said the proposal is based on evidence that additional learning time can result in higher achievement. It should also save parents money on after-school care, he said, predicting that demand will be high.

Programs that work with high-needs students and with students in the transition years from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school would get priority, as would those using evidence-based math instruction.

The bill proposes setting aside $25 million for tutoring to be distributed over the next two years, plus another $3 million for other programs.

In addition to the after-school tutoring initiative, the bill would:

Encourage — but not require — school districts to identify students performing below grade level in math, tell their parents that they’re struggling, and offer interventions.
Make training programs available to both teachers and parents on a voluntary basis.
Require the Colorado Department of Education to maintain a list of evidence-based math programs. However, school districts would not be required to use evidence-based math curriculum or make any changes to instruction.
Require teacher preparation programs to train new teachers in evidence-based math instruction practices, including how to help students who are below grade level and those who have learning disabilities.
Require preschool teachers to learn how to help young children understand and work with numbers.

The bill does not define “evidence-based,” instead deferring to the state education department to highlight curriculum and instructional programs that experts believe will best serve students.

Math initiative aims to reverse pandemic-era declines

Since 2020, math scores have declined more than reading scores have, and middle school students showed greater declines on last year’s Colorado standardized tests than younger students did. Colorado ninth graders posted the biggest drops when compared with their peers in 2019. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, often known as the nation’s report card, just 28% of Colorado eighth graders tested proficient, the lowest rate in a decade.

“While many districts are doing great work to reverse that trend, additional support from the state, specifically around math achievement, will really help move the bar,” Polis said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis calculates the benefit of a new bipartisan proposal to improve math instruction.

Because each stage of math learning builds on the previous one, disrupted learning in one grade can cause trouble for years down the road.

State Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat and bill sponsor, works as a middle school math interventionist when she’s not at the Capitol. Her job is to ensure students are ready for high school and achieve the algebra competency they’ll need in a wide range of professions.

Her job has gotten harder during the pandemic as students missed out on consistent instruction. Often she’s going back to fractions and multiplication.

“A lot of what I do is starting back with the grade four and grade five curriculum,” she said.

McLachlan predicted teachers would be eager to take the training and improve their own skills, even if it’s not required. The state hopes to reach 36,000 teachers. The bill calls for a “train the trainer” approach in which teachers who participate could take ideas for improvement back to their home schools. Many elementary teachers, in particular, need more help, she said.

“We get a lot of people who teach elementary because they don’t need to do the math,” McLachlan said. “And so they focus on reading, maybe, because that’s more fun. But we need to get really good educators for math.”

The bill would also make training materials available to parents to support their children at home, something many parents find challenging, especially as schools have adopted new approaches that differ from how parents learned to do math when they were young.

Marchman is particularly excited the bill includes funding for a digital math accelerator, a computer program that will be aligned with state standards and can offer personalized instruction. The program could allow students to learn while freeing up teachers and tutors to support students in areas where they need more focused help, she said. Polis said the state, by paying for a master license, can save school districts money that can be put back into the classroom.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican and bill sponsor, said the bill combines rigorous instruction with local flexibility and provide public money to support parents and out-of-school learning, something he would like to see more of.

Math proposal differs from Colorado’s literacy strategy

Colorado is not alone in looking for ways to boost math achievement. Alabama recently passed a major numeracy law and several other states are considering such bills now.

“There is a lot of traction around math,” said Christy Hovanetz, senior policy fellow at the Florida-based nonprofit ExcelinEd, which recently released recommendations for state-level policy changes. With low test scores in nearly every state, “policymaking bodies have really seen a need to act this session.”

ExcelinEd wants states to adopt high-quality curriculum, train prospective and current K-8 teachers on math instruction, administer math screenings early in the school year, and notify parents if their children are struggling.

Relying on voluntary programs and grants can result in a patchwork of practices that shortchanges kids, Hovanetz said.

“I think it’s very reasonable for a state to say, here are the four, five, six curriculum series that align with our state standards, are proven to be effective, and are easy to use for teachers,” she said.

That’s how Colorado has approached efforts to improve reading proficiency since 2019, when lawmakers revamped the 2012 READ Act. Frustrated with limited progress under the original program, Colorado now requires the use of evidence-based reading curriculum and training on reading for all K-3 teachers.

It was a major undertaking interrupted by the pandemic and represented a sea change in a state accustomed to local control. Many schools only recently have rolled out new curriculum and completed training for all teachers.

While Colorado’s math scores declined from 2019 to 2022, even before the pandemic fewer than 40% of middle-school students showed proficiency on state math tests.

Polis didn’t explain why he’s not calling for a more comprehensive overhaul of math instruction.

“That’s a different discussion,” he said. “This is a grant program for after-school programs. It’s additional time on task for those who need it to be able to improve math performance.”

Nonetheless, the proposal calls for a far greater state role in math and incorporates math into many existing school improvement efforts.

For example, under the bill, schools placed on a state watchlist due to low test scores would have to present plans specifically related to improving math instruction. Schools receiving grants to help ninth graders get a solid start in high school would have to show how they’re incorporating math.

In addition, the state is rewarding 12 schools that improved students’ math scores from 2019 to 2022 with $50,000 grants from federal pandemic relief money and plans to share lessons from those schools’ success with other educators.

The schools are: Thornton Elementary School, Roosevelt Charter Academy and Chipeta Elementary School in Colorado Springs, Fowler Junior High School, Hi-Plains High School in Siebert, Chatfield Elementary School in Grand Junction, Moffat Senior High School, La Jara Elementary School, Minnequa Elementary School in Pueblo, Avondale Elementary School, Rocky Mountain Elementary School in Longmont, and Hudson Elementary School.

The schools all increased the number of students performing above grade level despite pandemic disruptions, and many serve large populations of low-income students and English learners.

Minnequa Principal Katie Harshman noted that five years ago, her school faced possible closure due to persistent low test scores. Now it’s being recognized by state leaders. The turnaround required an effort by the entire community, but two elements included in the statewide math initiative were key — teacher training and personalized learning.

Chalkbeat senior reporter Ann Schimke contributed reporting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

East High students march against gun violence in wake of Luis Garcia’s death

2023-03-03T21:48:11+00:00

Leer en español.

Several hundred students from East High School chanted “No more silence! End gun violence!” as they marched to the Colorado State Capitol Friday to tell lawmakers to do more to restrict access to guns.

Eighteen days had passed since Luis Garcia was shot just outside the school, and two since the 16-year-old succumbed to his injuries. Students held signs bearing his name and No. 11, the number he wore on the soccer field. They observed 11 seconds of silence in his memory.

Clayton Thomas, who played soccer with Luis, recalled how hard-working Luis was, a quality family members described as well. At the end of each practice, players could stay an extra 15 minutes to practice independently. Luis would stay 30 minutes, Clayton said.

“What I wouldn’t give for an extra 15 minutes with Luis right now,” Clayton said.

East High Students Demand Action, a group that advocates for gun control, organized the rally to coincide with an advocacy day at the Capitol in support of a package of gun control bills. Democrats want to add a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases, prevent people younger than 21 from purchasing guns, and expand who can seek to remove guns from an individual under Colorado’s “red flag” law.

The push for new state gun laws comes in the wake of November’s mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, as well as rising gun violence in Denver and around the region.

Luis Garcia was shot outside East High on the afternoon of Feb. 13. Denver police took two other Denver Public Schools students into custody later that afternoon on other charges. So far, they have not been charged in the shooting.

Luis was the second student shot near the 2,600-student school this academic year. East High also was the target of a swatting hoax in September that led to a lockdown and evacuation that left students and faculty rattled.

In the last week, more than a dozen Colorado schools have been the target of swatting hoaxes.

Organizers canceled a forum on gun violence with local elected officials Wednesday after news spread of Luis’ death.

Fabian Morris, a sophomore at East, said he didn’t know Luis well, but he’s known other people who were shot and wanted to support the cause.

“I used to think school was one of the safest places, but now I feel uneasy,” he said.

Celes Bufford, a senior and member of the East student council, echoed the sentiment.

“We’re down here because we’re tired,” she said. “There should be no reason that guns are more important than students, or people in general. No one feels safe.”

Ryan Lo, a junior at East, said he felt numb about the shooting until students gathered outside East to lay flowers in Luis’ memory. That’s when the loss hit home. Ryan noted that the same day Luis was shot, a gunman killed three people at Michigan State University.

Zach Fields, also a junior at East, said the frequency of gun violence makes it hard to comprehend.

“It doesn’t even feel real,” he said. “It feels like a movie.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

East High students marched to the Colorado State Capitol Friday to join a day of advocacy for gun control legislation.

Judge: Denver school board member doesn’t have grounds for restraining order against critic

2023-02-21T23:51:31+00:00

A Denver County Court judge has lifted a restraining order against community activist and Denver school district critic Brandon Pryor.

Denver school board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson obtained a temporary restraining order last month after Pryor and Anderson had a heated argument at the nonprofit where Anderson works. Anderson said Pryor threatened him and used abusive language and that the incident was part of an escalating pattern of behavior that included intimidating phone calls and negative social media posts.

Pryor said he had begun the conversation because he disagreed with Anderson’s vote to move the Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy to a new building in a different neighborhood and felt that Anderson had misrepresented certain information about the move to the community. Pryor is a founder of the school, which is modeled on historically Black colleges and universities.

Pryor said Anderson got angry and escalated the argument first. Though Pryor acknowledged he raised his voice, he said he never threatened Anderson.

On Tuesday, Denver County Court Judge Kerri Lombardi found there wasn’t enough evidence to support a permanent restraining order.

Lombardi said that while Anderson testified that he felt afraid of Pryor, he hadn’t provided evidence that Pryor had assaulted him in the past or was likely to do so in the future. She told Pryor that she suggested he avoid interacting with Anderson at work but that she would not order any restrictions.

The two men work for different organizations located in the same office building in the Montbello neighborhood.

Even under the temporary restraining order, Pryor could address the school board at public comment.

Anderson’s attorney, Josh Amos, called three witnesses as part of his case to make the restraining order permanent: a woman who works for Denver Human Services who overheard the argument; Joel Hodge, who stood between Anderson and Pryor and walked Pryor out of the building; and Anderson himself.

Hodge’s testimony ended up complicating the case. In a statement to police, Hodge previously wrote that Pryor told Anderson he would “kick your ass” and made a similar threat against Hodge for standing between the two men.

Hodge is a co-founder of Struggle of Love, an organization that works on violence prevention among Denver youth. Anderson is Struggle of Love’s operations director.

On the stand, Hodge said he initially got between the two men because Anderson had stood up from his desk and was yelling at Pryor, and he wasn’t sure what would happen. He said Pryor’s comments came after Anderson stood up.

Hodge stopped his testimony several times to express frustration that the situation was being heard in court.

“We couldn’t come to a conflict resolution amongst ourselves, and I don’t think the court should be involved,” he said at one point. A few moments later, he interrupted his own retelling of the incident to say, “This is so stupid. God. Jesus. I can’t believe y’all are doing this.”

Pryor planned to call two other Struggle of Love employees as his own witnesses and take the stand himself, but after Anderson concluded his case, the judge ruled he had not met the burden of proof necessary to issue a permanent restraining order.

Samantha Pryor, Brandon Pryor’s attorney and wife, said she believed the restraining order was an act of retaliation for Brandon Pryor’s federal civil rights lawsuit against the district — even though Anderson made statements supportive of Pryor back in the fall.

Superintendent Alex Marrero and five of the six other school board members attended the hearing in support of Anderson.

Brandon Pryor said he had no intention of changing how he approaches his advocacy as a result of the case. Samantha Pryor said that while she was glad the judge ruled in their favor, if their witnesses had been called, they would have further established that Brandon Pryor did nothing wrong.

In a statement issued after the ruling, Anderson said he appreciated that the judge suggested Pryor stay away from his work and noted that he could seek another restraining order or pursue criminal charges if he experienced “continued aggressive acts.”

But Anderson also said he was disappointed that the judge didn’t feel Pryor’s behavior already met the bar for a permanent restraining order.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Poll: Majority of Colorado voters support targeted education savings accounts

2023-02-17T01:17:03+00:00

Colorado voters continue to support school choice at high rates — so high they’d support a state constitutional amendment to protect access to it — even as more parents feel that schools are on the wrong track.

And about two-thirds of voters said they would support giving parents of students with disabilities extra money to address their needs outside of public school.

A new poll conducted by Cygnal on behalf of the conservative education advocacy group Ready Colorado found a number of areas of broad, bipartisan agreement, a notable finding given how polarized certain education topics have become.

But the poll also found growing concern about the state of public schools. Nearly 47% of voters said schools were on the wrong track, and 55% of parents said schools are on the wrong track, compared with just 33% who thought they were on the right track.

“I hope that’s a call to action,” said Brenda Dickhoner, president and CEO of Ready Colorado. “How do we improve student outcomes and ensure all students have access to a high-quality school in their neighborhood as well as access to public school choice?”

The poll didn’t ask respondents why they felt that way. The results align with a Magellan Strategies poll from last year that found diverse reasons for dissatisfaction. In that survey, Democratic voters felt schools were underfunded and under attack, while Republican voters were more likely to say schools had become centers of liberal indoctrination.

The Cygnal poll was conducted among 540 Colorado voters in late January and has a margin of error of 4.17%. Cygnal has a B+ rating among pollsters from the website FiveThirtyEight.

This is the third year that Ready Colorado has conducted the poll, which serves as a snapshot of voter sentiments as well as a tool for Ready to show support for policies it backs.

A smaller portion of voters said education should be a top priority of state government than in 2019, but it still ranked in the top 5, with 12.9% of voters saying it should be the top priority. More voters said homelessness, crime, and government spending should be the top priority.

The poll found that a majority of voters think Colorado schools are underfunded and that teachers are underpaid. Asked how to fund schools better, just 13% wanted to raise taxes and 78% said the government should reprioritize its spending. This tracks with other Colorado surveys as well as with voter behavior at the polls, where they have shot down several statewide tax increases to fund schools.

Nearly 72% of voters support annual standardized tests to measure student learning.

The poll found 68% of voters would support a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to school choice. Colorado law already allows students to enroll in any school that has room and can meet their needs, even across district lines. Dickhoner said support for a constitutional amendment shows voters view this a fundamental right, and she hopes that builds support for improving transportation options and addressing other barriers to using school choice.

About half of respondents had a favorable view of charter schools, while a quarter had an unfavorable view and a fifth had no opinion. Favorable views rose to 60% after respondents heard charters described as tuition-free public schools that “have more flexibility in terms of teacher hiring and curriculum but are held accountable for student performance.”

And 65% of respondents favored funding charter schools at a level comparable to traditional public schools, including more than 60% of Democrats.

About 15% of Colorado students attend charter schools. Schools authorized by their local district get a share of local property tax revenue and have similar funding to district-run schools. Schools authorized by the state Charter School Institute don’t get that extra money and have lower per-student funding, even though some of them serve student populations with higher needs, such as immigrant students who arrived here at an older age or pregnant and parenting teens.

The state provides some extra funding, but it doesn’t close the gap. Lawmakers have maintained funding on a bipartisan basis, but Republicans have not been successful in fully funding state charter schools.

Nearly three-quarters of voters supported more money to improve math instruction, including new materials, teacher training, and after-school programming. There’s been a bipartisan push to address math learning after test scores dropped in the wake of the pandemic, and the governor’s budget proposal includes more funding for math. But specific proposals have not yet been introduced.

Ready Colorado also asked voters if they would support the creation of $1,200 education savings accounts for students with special education needs. Their parents could use the money to pay for tutoring, therapy, and other support. Two-thirds said yes.

The poll question did not explain that education savings accounts are funded with public money. When Magellan Strategies asked voters last year if they would support giving tax money to parents to pay for tutoring or other educational needs, 60% said no. Magellan asked in the context of pandemic-related learning loss, rather than special education needs.

In other states, Republican governors and legislators are pursuing education savings accounts that could be used for nearly any educational expense, including private school tuition, similar to vouchers.

That idea is unlikely to make headway in Colorado. The Democratic-controled legislature has repeatedly shot down any proposal to give public money to parents. With Colorado schools funded below the national average, lawmakers say money is better spent in public schools. In 2021, Colorado voters also shot down a proposal to use marijuana taxes to fund after-school programs and tutoring.

For Dickhoner, limited public school resources are a reason to back education savings accounts.

“We don’t fully fund special education in Colorado, so what can we do to make sure students’ needs are met?” she asked. “How do we empower parents and families to make those decisions?”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

9,000 children don’t show up in Colorado school data. Are they missing or in private school?

2023-02-11T00:25:12+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Subscribe to our free Colorado newsletter to keep up with education news from around the state: ckbe.at/subscribe-colorado

Kindergarten enrollment is down. Dropout rates are up. Public school enrollment still hasn’t rebounded to where it was in 2019, before COVID turned education upside down.

Where have the kids gone? A new analysis by The Associated Press and Stanford University’s Big Local News project found an estimated 230,000 students in 21 states absent from publicly available data on public and private school enrollment and home schooling. That tally includes as many as 9,000 uncounted in Colorado, or about 1% of the state’s school-age children.

The uncounted likely include students learning in private school and at their kitchen tables who simply haven’t been reported, along with children who aren’t in school at all.

The findings further illustrate the pandemic’s profound impact on education, with some families rethinking their options and other students struggling to stay connected. They also demonstrate the difficulty of getting a full picture of where students have landed as a result of the upheaval.

States like Colorado where kindergarten is voluntary have many more unaccounted-for children than states where kindergarten is required, the analysis found. Birth rates have declined, meaning there are fewer 5-year-olds than even a few years ago, and thousands of families have moved out of state. But those changes don’t fully account for the decline in kindergarten enrollment.

More families could be keeping their 5-year-olds home even as Colorado prepares to launch a major expansion of public preschool.

“That’s important because kindergarten is the first experience kids have with a formal learning environment, and readiness to learn is really important as they move onto older grades,” said Thomas Dee, a Stanford University education professor who worked on the analysis.

At the other end of their school careers, more Colorado students are dropping out, state data shows, with 10,500 middle and high school students leaving the system in 2021-22, a 23% increase from 2019-20 and the highest dropout rate in four years.

Chronic absenteeism is up too, said Johann Liljengren, the state education department’s director of dropout prevention and student re-engagement.

“We definitely are seeing higher levels of disengagement across various measures, from attendance to dropouts,” Liljengren said. “What we’re trying to do is dig in and find out why and can we see some of those kids come back?”

The analysis used enrollment and U.S. Census data to look at changes from 2019-20 to 2021-22 and doesn’t include the current school year.

State data shows home school declining from its peak in 2020, and private school enrollment is nearly flat, raising questions about where other students who left the public system may have gone. But state education officials acknowledge their data on both student populations is “loose.”

Private schools don’t have to report enrollment, and more than 30% of 700 non-public schools in a state database report no information, potentially accounting for thousands of students. Home-school families are supposed to notify a school district every year of their intentions, but not all do.

Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center, said the gap is a symptom of Colorado’s lax approach to data collection. Without better information, it’s hard to know what’s happening or what to do about it, he said.

“We don’t know what the problem is,” Schoales said. “Is the problem that younger parents entering the school system during COVID had bad experiences and don’t trust the system? Or is the problem that high schools abandoned kids who were on the brink? Or maybe parents are making different choices.”

Kindergarten slide raises concerns

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis made improving early childhood education a centerpiece of his administration. He made full-day kindergarten free to parents in 2019 and enrollment surged, only to plummet the following year when many school districts started the year remotely.

Kindergarten enrollment rebounded somewhat in 2021-22 school year that was included in the Associated Press/Big Local News analysis — only to drop again this school year. But even in 2021-22, the share of 5-year-olds who weren’t in kindergarten was higher than before the pandemic. (Demographers caution that population estimates are imprecise.)

In 2019-20, fewer than 2% of Colorado 5-year-olds weren’t in public or private kindergarten. In 2021-22, roughly 4% were not enrolled.

The decline in participation is a concern, said Leslie Colwell of the Colorado Children’s Campaign. But without more information, it’s hard to know if vulnerable children are missing out on key early learning opportunities or if families with more resources are “red-shirting” or holding back their kindergarten-eligible children or enrolling them in private options, she said.

Complicating the kindergarten trends, enrollment in both preschool and first grade are up this year. The launch of universal preschool in August could bring thousands more children into the public school system with part-time free care.

Who’s not in school?

State data gives some insight into how public school enrollment is changing. The largest decrease is among white students. There are 30,000 fewer of them in Colorado public schools this year than in 2019-20. The largest percentage decrease is in Native American students.

Dropout rates increased among all student groups but increased most among Hispanic and Native American students. Hispanic students accounted for more than half of all Colorado students who left school last year without graduating. Some school districts have stepped up efforts to find and bring back students who left school to work or who just didn’t see the point.

Attendance advocates in the Greeley-Evans district go door to door in search of students who are missing school.

Liljengren said state education officials are also revamping how they do their work — bringing together sections that once worked in isolation to better use data to identify students in trouble and to support high schools in revamping their programming to keep students engaged, including with more pathways tied to career options.

But enrollment isn’t down everywhere. Alan Smiley, who heads the Association of Colorado Independent Schools, said the 39 schools his association accredits have seen enrollment grow between 1% and 3% a year since 2019, including families who have moved to Colorado as well as those switching from public school.

Families are attracted to small class sizes, specialized programming, and school environments that reflect their values, he said. Many start in preschool with the intention of remaining in one school for years. His members watch demographic trends just as other school officials do but haven’t seen the declines public schools report.

Regardless of the choices families make, public school enrollment is not expected to rebound anytime soon. There are 79,000 18-year-olds in Colorado, but just 67,000 5-year-olds, according to U.S. Census data provided by state demographer Elizabeth Garner.

Colorado home-school trends are hard to track

Joanna Rosa-Saenz was among more than 15,000 Colorado families who reported home schooling in the 2020-21 school year. She started out running a learning pod from her Denver home and continued after schools opened. She worried about vaccine mandates and wanted to be more hands-on with her children’s education, especially after her middle son fell behind when his school didn’t address his special education needs.

Her children are back in Denver Public Schools this school year. As a single parent, she couldn’t educate her children and support them financially and get more than a few hours sleep a night, she said. And she couldn’t afford tuition at the private Christian schools that most appealed to her.

The state’s official count of home-school students has gone down each of the past two years — perhaps reflecting parents like Rosa-Saenz who could not sustain it — but Stephen Craig, executive director of Christian Home Educators of Colorado, said his membership is holding steady after a notable increase in 2020.

Rosa-Saenz said she knows many home-schooling families that are still going strong. Some didn’t like what their kids were being taught or the political direction of their district. Others were frustrated by high teacher turnover and frequent leadership changes. Still others felt a public school education just wasn’t very good.

“Parents have a lack of trust and so they are pulling their kids out and seeing what they can do to really support them,” she said.

Public school approaches on everything from math instruction to gender have alienated conservative parents, Craig said. Families want an education tailored to their child and their faith.

“For too long we’ve put education in its own box and said 2 plus 2 is 4 and that’s not religious,” he said. “And that’s just not true. Our world view is in everything.”

Tracking these students is tricky. Some families may not report. The Christian home educators group advises families they are not legally required to report if their children are being taught by a parent who is a licensed teacher — an interpretation of the state’s compulsory attendance law supported by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. State education officials told Chalkbeat they interpret the home-school statute to mean such families should still notify a school district.

Colorado’s public school enrollment data also includes thousands of home-school students who take a class or receive a service from a local public school. That means the real number of home-school students is higher and the real number of public school students lower than publicly available data suggests.

Fall 2020 saw hundreds of thousands of Colorado students learning at home. Some of them stayed there.

Enrollment declines are cause for concern

Regardless of the exact number, missing students and disengaged families demand attention, observers said. Schools connect students not just with education but also with meals, medical care, and community. Schools with fewer students also get less money. Many Denver metro area districts have closed schools or plan to.

Polling data that the conservative education group Ready Colorado expects to release this month shows a big increase in parents concerned that schools are on the wrong track. That aligns with a Magellan Strategies poll from last spring — though the reasons for dissatisfaction were diverse.

Ready Colorado President Brenda Dickhoner said she knows more families who thought private school was out of reach but re-examined their options as they grew less satisfied with their local public school.

“I’m less concerned with whether Joey is in private or public school, but I’m really interested in understanding the parent motivations,” she said.

Colwell of the Children’s Campaign said she worries that more families may be opting out — even though the vast majority of Colorado families continue to enroll in public school.

“We want kids to be connected to high-quality learning opportunities,” she said. “For families to make the choice that they’ll disengage entirely, to see an increasing number of families making that choice in the wake of the pandemic and the political environment, is concerning.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Bill would allow Colorado school districts to sue State Board of Education

2023-02-10T20:24:42+00:00

A bill introduced in the Colorado legislature would allow school districts to sue the State Board of Education when they disagree with decisions related to the school accountability system.

The proposal would put a check on the State Board’s ability to intervene in schools and districts that report many years in a row of low student test scores. It comes as the Adams 14 school district is engaged in an extended legal fight to block a state-ordered reorganization process.

Supporters of the proposal, including groups representing superintendents and school boards, predict lawsuits would be rare but say they deserve some legal recourse when they disagree with the State Board. Opponents fear it will slow down efforts to improve education and put complex policy issues in the hands of judges who don’t have the expertise to handle them.

Senate Bill 71 would allow school districts to appeal any rule, regulation, or final order of the State Board related to the accountability system. It is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Education Committee on Monday.

State Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Jefferson County Democrat sponsoring the bill, said most state agencies are subject to judicial review, and the State Board should be as well.

“The situation involving Adams 14 involves concerns that the State Board is intruding on local control and constitutional rights,” she wrote in an email. “Why shouldn’t Adams 14 or every other local school district in the accountability system be entitled to a court’s review of a State Board’s order?”

The State Board opposes the measure, with members saying lawsuits would delay improvement plans that could help children who already have waited too long.

“By and large, we’ve been very successful in assisting districts to move forward academically,” board member Steve Durham, a Colorado Springs Republican, said. “When the district works with the department, we’ve had extraordinary success. I think it’s in the best interest of the children that the present system be preserved, and this bill be defeated.”

The State Board of Education is an independently elected body that oversees the state accountability system, among other duties. That includes administering standardized tests, rating schools and teachers on their performance, and ordering changes in schools and districts with persistently low performance. There is no appeal process after the State Board rules.

In most cases, the State Board approves improvement plans developed at the district level, but it has ordered schools to turn over some or all authority to an external manager, often a consultant or private company. The State Board also has the power to close schools, convert them to charter schools, or order the reorganization of an entire school district.

That’s what happened in Adams 14 last year. The process could result in schools closing or parts of the district being absorbed by its neighbors, but that seems unlikely. Neighboring districts, which have representatives on the reorganization committee, have pledged their support for the district, and any big changes would require voter approval.

Nonetheless, Adams 14 officials say state orders have been deeply disruptive, harmed their ability to hire teachers, and intruded on the authority of local elected officials.

Last year, a Denver district court judge dismissed Adams 14’s lawsuit challenging the state order, saying the law doesn’t allow for judicial review. The district is appealing.

Joe Salazar, a former legislator now serving as attorney for the Adams 14 school district, could not be reached for comment on the bill.

Organizations that support Colorado’s test-based accountability system such as Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform oppose the bill, as do groups representing charter schools. Brenda Dickhoner of the conservative education advocacy group Ready Colorado said the bill poses “grave concerns.”

“It’s incredibly broad in scope and would allow districts to bring a lawsuit forward and challenge anything under the accountability act,” she said. “It’s not helpful or productive.”

State Board members fear the bill could leave open to judicial review everything from state ratings to grant awards to the thresholds used to determine whether students meet expectations on standardized tests.

But Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, which represents superintendents, said locally elected boards need some recourse when they disagree with a State Board ruling. He believes school districts would only sue about things that matter a lot.

“There is no reason we shouldn’t have that opportunity, but it will be sparsely used,” he said. “It would take time and money and resources.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school finance committee backs special ed increase, won’t vote on new formula

2023-01-27T19:44:18+00:00

Colorado would fund special education at the levels lawmakers promised back in 2006 under legislation recommended unanimously Friday by a special committee on school finance.

The special education bill was the only one recommended this year by the school finance committee, which originally convened six years ago with the goal of rewriting Colorado’s decades-old school funding formula. House Speaker Julie McCluskie said she’s still hoping to present a new formula to lawmakers outside the committee process.

The special education bill would reimburse districts $6,000 for every student with what’s known as a Tier B disability that requires more intensive support for students to be successful in school. These include dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, deafness, blindness, emotional disabilities, and traumatic brain injuries, among others.

The bill also calls for Tier B funding to increase every year by the rate of inflation.

Both the federal and state governments require school districts to provide a “free and appropriate” education to all students, including those with disabilities, but they pay just a fraction of the cost. That won’t change with this bill.

School districts would still bear about two-thirds of the additional cost of providing special education services, but a few years ago, the state was paying less than half of what it had promised.

Pushed by state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, state funding for special education has increased dramatically. A bill last year raised the amount provided to all special education students to $1,750 from $1,250 and required funding to increase by inflation, along with increasing Tier B reimbursements.

This money is on top of the average of $9,559 that goes to schools for each Colorado student.

Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who chairs the Joint Budget Committee and serves on the interim committee on school finance, sounded a note of caution even as she signed on as a prime sponsor of the funding increase bill.

“We’ll put it out there as what we’d like to see, and we’ll see what’s available to us in the budget,” she said.

Lawmakers said increasing special education funding reduces the amount districts have to divert from general education needs to meet their legal obligations to students with disabilities.

“You don’t want to pit students against each other,” state Rep. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, said. “When you provide more funding for special education, it helps all students.”

The bill would add $40.2 million in special education funding to next year’s budget, bringing the total to at least $340 million, a 13% increase. The amount could be more, depending on how lawmakers handle requirements to respond to inflation, or the bill could get scaled back in budget negotiations.

Colorado schools spend more than $1 billion a year on special education services.

Colorado lawmakers are also under pressure to increase base operational budgets for school districts and provide more for transportation, gifted and talented students, and other needs. And once they commit to more spending, state law obligates them to maintain that level and increase it by inflation.

Legislative analysts and lawmakers alike have raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of education spending — even as Colorado funds its schools below the national average and withholds constitutionally required school funding for other budget purposes.

The special education bill, sponsored by state Sens. Zenzinger and Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, along with state Reps. Kipp and Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, will be the only bill to come out of the Interim Committee on School Finance this session.

With its charter expiring, the committee met for the last time Friday after six years of operating in various iterations. The committee was not presented with a new school funding formula as envisioned back in November or as envisioned when the committee was conceived back in 2017.

McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat who also chairs the school finance committee, said she still hopes to bring forward a formula rewrite this year, but the issue was too complex to work out by the end of the month, the deadline for special committees to propose legislation.

There is broad agreement that Colorado’s school funding formula is unfair and out of date, but settling on a new formula without a substantial increase in school funding has proved politically challenging. No school district wants to get less money than it gets now.

Polis has called for $100 million to be set aside in the state budget to ease the transition to a new funding formula.

Zenzinger said the many changes the committee has made over the years set the stage for a larger rewrite. Lawmakers previously increased special education funding, added funding for English learners to the existing finance formula, and convened a group to develop a new at-risk measure to better identify students living in poverty and facing other challenges outside of school.

House Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican who has worked on school finance issues for years, said the special education bill was a step in the right direction, but he called for lawmakers to go further and create a formula that addresses student needs according to a wide range of characteristics.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Denver school board member obtains restraining order against district critic

2023-01-26T02:48:59+00:00

Denver school board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson has obtained a restraining order and filed a criminal complaint against vocal district critic Brandon Pryor, who recently won a court victory overturning Denver Public Schools’ efforts to bar him from district property.

Both men agree they had an argument Friday morning about Anderson’s December vote to move the school Pryor founded, Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy, from its current location to a former elementary school miles away from the Far Northeast community it serves. But their accounts of what happened differ.

In an affidavit filed with Denver County Court and in an interview with Chalkbeat, Anderson said Pryor swore at him, used abusive language, and threatened him in his place of employment. Pryor said he works in the same building and stops by regularly. He said the affidavit is a lie, that he never threatened anyone, and that Anderson swore at him first.

Anderson also filed a municipal criminal complaint against Pryor on Monday. A Denver Police Department spokesman declined to release a police report on the incident, citing an open investigation.

The restraining order issued Tuesday is temporary, according to Denver County Court. A hearing is set for Feb. 7 to determine whether it will be extended.

The restraining order requires Pryor to stay 10 yards away from Anderson at public forums and otherwise stay 100 yards away from Anderson. Pryor is not allowed to contact Anderson while the order is in place.

Pryor attended Tuesday’s school board meeting with his wife and several Robert F. Smith STEAM parents and students who all spoke against moving the school.

The podium was set farther back from the board dais than usual, roughly aligning with the sixth row of audience seating rather than the first row. District spokesman Scott Pribble said it was to comply with the restraining order while still allowing Pryor to participate in the meeting.

In an affidavit to support the restraining order, Anderson said Pryor swore at him, used racial slurs, and told Anderson to “meet him outside” and that “he would ‘wait for me outside.’”

“The clear import of his statements and actions was that I felt physically threatened, unsafe, and believed Mr. Pryor would physically harm me,” the affidavit reads.

Anderson said he agrees with the county court judge’s decision not to bar Pryor from board meetings and that he opposed the previous district ban that Pryor is challenging in federal court.

Anderson said he sought the restraining order reluctantly and only because he perceived Pryor to be escalating their disagreements.

“I am an unpaid elected official,” Anderson said. “I love serving on the Denver school board. I should not fear coming to my private place of employment because of a vote I took on the school board.”

Auon’tai Anderson, seen here speaking against school closures in November, said elected officials deserve to feel safe at work.

Pryor said the affidavit is “completely false and filled with lies.”

“I work in the same building, right down the hall,” he said, adding that he visited Anderson’s place of employment, the Struggle of Love Foundation, two or three times a week.

Pryor said Anderson responded angrily when Pryor wanted to talk to him about the school move, in particular the claim that Smith STEAM Academy’s principal supports it. Pryor said school families are divided and some are angry at the principal because they blame her for the pending move.

“Because he didn’t have a valid answer for me, he got defensive, and now he’s the victim,” Pryor said.

Pryor said he swore at Anderson after Anderson swore at him but he didn’t use the language that Anderson accuses him of using. He said he did not ask Anderson to meet him outside.

“I did not threaten anyone,” Pryor said. “We all fall short in the heat of the moment, cussing and stuff. I was responding to him. I feel like he fell short. He is an elected official and he should be responsive to his constituents.”

Pryor and Anderson were once political allies, and each expressed disappointment and sadness about the situation. Anderson said he considered Pryor “a big brother or a mentor,” and Pryor said he defended Anderson from charges that he was too young to serve on the board and again when he was accused of sexual misconduct. An independent investigation found no basis for the most serious allegations against Anderson.

Pryor, a parent, community activist, and football coach, provided the initial vision for Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy, a high school modeled on historically Black colleges and universities. Before the school opened in 2021, the district promised to find it a permanent home, but at Tuesday’s meeting, Pryor, along with parents and students, said the Barrett Elementary site was not acceptable.

In the 1960s, Barrett was used as part of a plan to keep Black children from attending predominantly white schools in the Park Hill neighborhood, a plan that ultimately led to the Keyes school desegregation case. Parents and students cited that history, along with the size of the building, its location 9 miles from the Far Northeast in a largely gentrified neighborhood, and the lack of a clear transportation plan to say Barrett was not the right home for their school.

In mid-October, the district served Pryor with an eight-page letter banning him from district property, except the schools his sons attend. The district also barred him from volunteering as a football coach and from speaking during the public comment portion of school board meetings.

District officials said the decision was made based on “a long pattern of conduct toward district staff,” including yelling and cursing at people in person, over the phone, and in virtual meetings.

But a federal judge said the ban was not warranted.

Pryor had sued Denver Public Schools, alleging the district violated his First Amendment rights, and the judge ordered the ban lifted before that case even goes to trial. The district is appealing the decision.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Overworked, underpaid, under attack: Survey shows Colorado teacher challenges

2023-01-25T00:30:16+00:00

Colorado educators feel overworked, underpaid, and under attack, and they think students’ education is suffering as a result.

Those were the findings of the Colorado Education Association’s most recent survey, completed in late 2022 by more than 1,600 of the union’s 39,000 members and released Tuesday.

According to the survey, 85% of educators say the shortage of classroom teachers in their school is worse than in previous years and 90% say the shortage of support staff is worse.

Two-thirds of educators worry about a mass shooting at their school. Just 34% feel that elected officials respect them.

Sixty percent of educators said they’re thinking about leaving the profession in the near future, with 21% saying they could be driven out by politically motivated attacks on curriculum and teaching.

That’s actually an improvement from last year, when two-thirds of respondents said they were thinking about leaving the profession soon, but a CEA spokesperson said the union doesn’t know if morale has improved or if some of those thinking about leaving last year have already left and didn’t respond to the survey.

“We obviously didn’t see 67% of our educators leave the profession [last year], but it is a warning sign that people are feeling defeated and deflated and burdened,” CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert said.

Burnout and high turnover lead to higher workloads for the staff who remain, which lead to more burnout and turnover, local union officials said on a press call about the survey results. It also means teachers can’t teach at the level they’d like to or work together to improve instruction.

David Lockley, president of the union in Adams 12 Five Star Schools, said dozens of vacancies in special education mean 30% higher caseloads for special education teachers. And when instructional coaches have to fill in on special education, they aren’t available to help newer teachers refine their craft.

One survey respondent told CEA, “We don’t have enough aides to support our special needs behavior students. We often lose support staff in the middle of the year. Subs do not fill most of the time. … We have had to cancel every team planning day for the last year and a half because of lack of subs.”

For the first time, the union asked LGBTQ educators how safe and supported they feel at work. The results were alarming but not surprising, union officials said.

The vast majority — 85% — said they did not feel safe being out at school, and 80% said there was not a gender-inclusive bathroom in their building. Forty percent said they had witnessed students being discriminated against due to their gender identity or sexuality, and 45% said that equity work at their school didn’t include LGBTQ perspectives.

Kasey Ellis, president of the Cherry Creek teachers union, said LGBTQ teachers have received derogatory notes and comments. When parents call for books with LGBTQ characters or themes to be removed from school libraries, as has happened in Cherry Creek, it also makes educators feel unsafe and unwelcome.

When educators aren’t out, that also affects students, the teachers said. Last year’s Healthy Kids Colorado survey found that fewer than half of LGBTQ students felt safe at school.

“If an educator is not accepted, what does that mean for me as a student?” Ellis said.

Lockley said many districts have anti-discrimination policies in place, but administrators often aren’t trained in how to support LGBTQ staff or navigate conflicts. The message ends up being that it’s better to stay in the closet, he said.

Baca-Oehlert said political rhetoric that casts teachers as “groomers” who indoctrinate students has made the situation worse. She said there is work to do at the state and local level to build more welcoming communities.

“That’s something we’ve really seen wear on our educators, that they aren’t trusted to teach in an age-appropriate way and teach appropriate content,” she said. “We need to work harder against those attacks that teachers are indoctrinating our children.”

The teachers union’s annual survey represents a snapshot of the concerns and hopes of educators around the state. Colorado Education Association also uses the results to support its legislative agenda. This year that includes more school funding — always a priority for CEA — plus affordable housing, gun safety regulations, youth mental health and more.

The survey found that while educators are worried about violence at school, a large majority said arming teachers would not make them feel safer. A fifth of teachers supported policies to beef up physical security, such as adding metal detectors and better locks, while 39% said their top priority for enhancing school safety was better mental health support.

Baca-Oehlert said it’s important for school districts to hire more professional counselors rather than ask teachers to do more. They said the state needs to fund those efforts along with bolstering community mental health resources.

Gov. Jared Polis has proposed a new Office of School Safety. Baca-Oehlert said CEA hopes those efforts don’t lead to more students being ticketed and arrested, and don’t focus on “hardening” schools without attention to student well-being.

Baca-Oehlert said there is also more the state could be doing to address the teacher shortage. They’re backing legislation to increase stipends for student teachers and make it easier for teachers from other states to get Colorado teaching licenses. They’re also backing affordable housing policies that would make it easier for teachers to live in the communities where they work.

Increased school funding in recent years has helped fund raises in many school districts, but they haven’t kept pace with the rising price of housing. And Colorado teachers pay a big penalty for going into education, earning almost 36% less than other workers with college degrees, the widest such gap in the nation.

Baca-Oehlert said she would like to see more political will to find new revenue and increase school funding dramatically.

“What we’ve been doing for many years is putting Band-Aids on a gushing wound,” she said. “We would love to see [lawmakers] get behind a systemic fix.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Former Pueblo charter leader Stephen Varela appointed to State Board of Education

2023-01-20T23:37:37+00:00

Stephen Varela will represent Pueblo and western Colorado on the State Board of Education.

Varela, 38, is a military veteran and father of four children ages 7 to 15 who attend schools in Pueblo. Varela previously served three years on the board of Pueblo charter school Chavez Huerta Preparatory Academy, including time as board president. He holds a master’s degree in social work and volunteers helping other veterans in the community, he said.

A vacancy committee of Republican Party members chose Varela to replace board member Joyce Rankin of Carbondale, who resigned earlier this month. Varela will represent the Third Congressional District on the State Board of Education.

Stephen Varela

Varela was sworn in Thursday. His term runs through November 2024, when an election will determine who will serve the remainder of Rankin’s term through January 2027.

Varela becomes one of three Republicans on the nine-member board and one of three new members. He is the first Latino to represent CD-3 on the State Board and the only board member with school-age children.

In an interview, Varela said he wants to represent the perspectives of parents, work to improve educational quality and reduce achievement gaps, and make sure all students have opportunities after high school, whether going to college or pursuing a trade. He also wants to reduce unnecessary burdens on teachers and school systems and do more to support student mental health.

“Our public schools face many challenges as far too many students aren’t learning grade level material,” he wrote in a press release. “We need to take the politics out of our classrooms, return to teaching basics, honor parents, strengthen collaboration between teachers and parents, and support our high performing, dedicated education professionals.”

Varela said he’ll also be an advocate for southern Colorado and represent the diversity of rural Colorado.

Varela ran for the Colorado Senate last year but lost to incumbent Democrat Nick Hinrichsen.

Varela faced controversy during his time on the Chavez Huerta board, the Pueblo Chieftain reported, including calls for his resignation related to a basketball tournament being moved to make room for a Republican Party event and staffing reductions. Varela also helped the school secure a $30 million Building Excellent Schools Today or BEST state school construction grant to expand the middle and high schools.

When Varela resigned from the charter school board in November, he told the Chieftain it was to spend more time with his family.

In an interview, Varela said he believes much of the criticism came from misunderstanding the role of the charter school board — they aren’t involved in day-to-day operations — or was politically motivated. He said the people who criticized him didn’t attend board meetings until he was a state Senate candidate.

Varela said he grew and learned during his time on the charter board and looks forward to learning more in a new role.

“I’m going to give it my all and do my best for my community,” he said.

The State Board of Education is an independently elected body that hires the education commissioner, sets academic standards, oversees the school accountability and teacher licensure systems, hears charter school appeals, and sets rules for grant programs.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Gov. Jared Polis promises to fully fund Colorado schools within four years

2023-01-17T23:33:57+00:00

In Tuesday’s State of the State speech, Gov. Jared Polis promised to fully fund K-12 schools within four years — something Colorado hasn’t done since the Great Recession — even as he also promised major property tax relief and further reductions in the state income tax rate.

Polis also touted the launch of universal preschool this coming August, asked lawmakers to ask voters to keep more money from nicotine sales to expand preschool, pledged support to help high school students earn college credit, and highlighted efforts to boost students’ math skills.

The speech was Polis’ first State of the State of his second term as governor. Colorado will celebrate 150 years as a state in 2026, the last full year of his second term.

In a speech that leaned heavier on housing and health care than on education, Polis framed his goals as creating more opportunity for all by the time the state marks that milestone.

“At 150, I want to see an education system that prepares every child and learners of all ages for success,” Polis said.

In an interview, Polis said he would only support tax cuts that wouldn’t reduce overall state revenue and that his proposals depend on an ongoing strong economy.

“If we’re going to fund our schools and cut taxes at the same time, the overall economy needs to do well,” he said.

Polis included many of the education policies described in the speech in his recent budget requests, including new training opportunities to help workers get in-demand jobs and more money for afterschool tutoring.

Here are a few education highlights from the State of the State speech.

Polis promises to fully fund K-12 schools

What he said: “I am proud to submit a proposal to buy down the budget stabilization factor to its lowest level ever and set our state on a path to finally eliminate it altogether during my second term, fulfilling our state’s commitment to our schools.”

What it means: Colorado’s constitution requires school funding to go up every year by the rate of population growth and inflation, but every year, lawmakers withhold hundreds of millions that should go to schools to help fund other priorities. The practice known as the budget stabilization factor started in 2009-10 and added up to more than $10 billion.

Eliminating the budget stabilization factor is a longtime priority for the state’s education advocates. Lawmakers have reduced the annual withholding but never eliminated it. Last year they held back $321 million out of more than $5 billion in state K-12 funding.

In a budget letter sent Tuesday, Polis proposed a $201 million withholding and saving money to allow for more so-called buy-downs in future years.

In an interview, Polis acknowledged doing so depends on a continuing strong economy. Republicans believe schools could be funded at a higher level if Democrats scaled back other programs.

Colorado schools would get more money per student

What Polis said: “For K-12 learners, I’m proposing in my supplemental and budget amendment package today that we raise per pupil funding by an additional $925 — or an additional $20,000 for [individual] Colorado classrooms every year … Districts can use these funds to increase pay, like the Lake County School District that raised teacher pay by 16% in just one year with a major bump for staff … Or how Colorado’s two largest school districts are starting their teachers at just over $50,000 per year. That would have been unheard of a decade ago.

“These new funds can also support smaller class sizes, revive extracurriculars, or fund mental health support for our students.”

What it means: The governor said in November he wants $861 more per student. Now he’s calling for an additional $64. That money would bring per-pupil allocations to $10,485.

Many Colorado school districts are losing enrollment, so the bottom line would vary from district to district. The legislature could also send more — or less — money to schools than called for in Polis’ budget request.

In the budget letter, Polis said higher per-pupil funding is possible in part because Colorado has 1,600 fewer students this year than expected and is likely to have 2,700 fewer next school year.

School districts can spend the money how they choose, and many Colorado school districts have raised pay. At the same time, inflation has eaten into the value of those raises. A recent study found the price of housing — another priority for Polis and lawmakers — has risen far faster than educator wages.

Property tax relief is a top priority

What Polis said: “We must work together to pass a long-term property tax relief package that reduces residential and commercial property taxes and creates a long-term mechanism to protect homeowners from being priced out of their homes, while protecting school funding.”

What it means: Property taxes, school funding, and the state budget are closely related. Colorado sets per-pupil funding at the state level and backfills whatever local property tax revenues don’t cover. Higher local property taxes means K-12 school funding can go up without putting as much pressure on the state budget.

Last year’s $700 million property tax relief deal was one reason lawmakers held back from fully funding schools then. The deal meant the state needed to backfill more dollars for districts.

Senate President Stephen Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, said he doesn’t expect a cut to property tax rates to conflict with the governor’s call to increase school funding. Property values have soared and it leaves room for the state to make cuts while still bringing in enough for K-12.

Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said lawmakers need to find ways to both fund education and provide property tax relief.

“We rank in the bottom of the United States, depending on how you slice that metric, as far as funding, and yes, we have to provide property tax relief,” she said. “We have to be talking about both and what that path is forward.”

Free preschool program could serve more children

What he said: “Free preschool will save families at least $6,000 per year and give our children the best possible start in life. This is a monumental achievement and today is the first day families can apply to enroll their children. I’m so excited to share that more than 4,300 Colorado families have already started applying …

“I’m calling for the legislature to refer a ballot measure that would allow Colorado to utilize excess Prop EE funds for preschool, just as the legislature did on a bipartisan basis for excess marijuana funds in 2015. This would give voters the choice to support more services for more children and help lower-income families enroll their child in full-day preschool.”

What it means: The parent application for Colorado’s new free preschool program opened just hours before Polis’ speech.

The program uses money from Proposition EE, a voter-approved nicotine tax, to pay for at least 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool for all 4-year-olds statewide, with many students eligible for 30 hours of free preschool. Some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours as well.

But excess tax collection must be sent back to taxpayers. A ballot measure would ask voters to ensure all of the money the state collects, even above the limit of the 2020 ballot measure, would go to preschool. That could allow the state to pay for more hours and open seats to more 3-year-olds.

Student math skills suffered during pandemic learning

What he said: “The last few years have been tough for our K-12 learners and educators, and those challenges are reflected in test scores, particularly math. To help improve achievement, we are proposing new investments in high-quality math curricula and training to ensure that our educators have the support they need to help all our students thrive. And we are increasing our commitment to high-quality before- and after-school programming.”

What it means: Student math scores declined since before the pandemic, showing bigger decreases than reading. The governor has proposed a one-time $25 million for after-school math tutoring and $3 million for new curriculum. Legislators have also proposed improving teacher training and educating parents on how to help kids with math.

The state has made a long-term effort to boost reading skills, but no such effort exists for math. And so far, no one has proposed that kind of systemic reform or tracking of student skill in math.

Polis proposes more training for workers, free college credit

What Polis said: “The reality is that today’s economy demands access to quick skill acquisition, whether that is a one-, two- or four-year degree, professional training, an apprenticeship, or on-the-job training. We are going to jump-start access to training to help more Coloradans be career ready, earn more, and power our economy.”

What it means: Colorado has a worker shortage. For every two jobs available, there’s only one qualified worker. Colorado also has many adults who could benefit from workforce training and fill those in-demand jobs.

The governor would spend about $70 million to provide free career training in in-demand fields and scholarships to students. The money would help about 35,000 recent graduates and older adults get training in the most in-demand fields like advanced manufacturing, education, law enforcement, and nursing fields.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Two Democratic lawmakers propose ending TABOR refunds to fund Colorado schools

2023-01-12T02:26:27+00:00

Colorado voters would be asked to give up tax refunds when state revenue exceeds constitutional caps and instead send the extra money to the state’s K-12 schools, under a proposal being developed by two Democratic lawmakers.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limits the growth of state government according to population growth and inflation. Money collected above that cap when the economy is strong must be returned to taxpayers. These refunds are separate from income tax refunds for people who withheld too much from their paychecks. In some years, there are no refunds. Last year, every person who filed income taxes received a $750 check — refunds celebrated at the time by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Colorado funds its schools below the national average, and teacher salaries have not kept pace with the rising price of housing or wage growth in other sectors.

A bill expected to be introduced this week in the Colorado House would ask voters to agree to end the practice of giving TABOR refunds and put the money into school budgets for the purpose of hiring and retaining teachers.

“We need to figure out how to fund our public schools, and salaries are 85% of school district budgets,” said state Rep. Cathy Kipp, a former school board member from Fort Collins who is co-sponsoring the bill with state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who chairs the powerful Joint Budget Committee. “We think this could have a huge impact and really help with our teacher shortage.”

The most recent state economic forecasts predict Colorado will have more than $2 billion above the cap this fiscal year, and between $469 million and $1.5 billion above the cap in 2023-24. An economic downturn could change those numbers.

State revenue exceeding the TABOR cap goes first to property tax exemptions for seniors and then to a new voter-approved affordable housing fund. Kipp and Zenzinger’s proposal would not change that. Education would be third in line for excess funding.

Colorado Politics first reported the proposal Tuesday.

Both Kipp and Zenzinger said the proposal would not change the state’s underlying school funding challenges because it would not provide a steady source of money.

“It’s not a sustainable solution,” Zenzinger said. “It’s more in keeping with what we have done in the last couple of years, which is to prop up education through one-time funding.”

But Zenzinger said it would put an end to funding schools below constitutional requirements while returning money to taxpayers.

“Last year in particular, we saw unprecedented excess revenue, and it was just so frustrating to not be able to fully cover public education,” she said.

Colorado lawmakers have increased school funding significantly in recent years but it still doesn’t meet constitutional requirements. Since the Great Recession, Colorado lawmakers have held back more than $10 billion under what’s known as the budget stabilization factor.

And there are major questions about whether current state funding levels are sustainable.

In the 2022-23 budget, Colorado lawmakers held back $321 million from a more than $5 billion in state K-12 funding in the face of high inflation and a Polis-backed deal to limit property tax increases, which would have helped support school funding as well.

Republicans — who have said Democrats could fully fund schools now if they reconsidered their other priorities — are expected to fight this new proposal.

Michael Fields, president of the conservative Advance Colorado Institute, who has led successful efforts to reduce the state income tax and kill proposals to raise taxes for education, said in a press release that Coloradans value their tax refunds and want more accountability for how schools spend the money they get now.

In 2019, Colorado voters rejected Proposition CC, a referred measure that would have ended TABOR refunds and divided that revenue among K-12, higher education, and transportation projects. They’ve also rejected statewide income tax increases to fund schools. Last year, a proposal to dedicate one-third of 1% of income tax revenue to K-12 schools failed to make the ballot despite polling well.

“In 2019, Coloradans made it clear that they want to keep their refunds,” Fields said. “After receiving their $750 refunds last year, we imagine that voters will be even more willing to defend TABOR, and the same coalition that was assembled to defeat the last proposal will be prepared to defeat this one.”

Kipp said she thinks voters will be more receptive to forgoing tax refunds to fund schools now.

“Since the pandemic, people are much more aware of the issue facing our schools, and people are more aware that our teachers are very underpaid,” she said.

Colorado voters have approved tax increases to fund preschool and free school lunch.

The bill is designed as a statutory measure, which only requires a simple majority to place on the ballot, not the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional measure. The governor does not need to sign off.

Democrats have a large majority in both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly, and Kipp said she already has 36 co-sponsors. At the same time, she doesn’t expect the proposal to race through the legislature. Instead, she expects it to be one idea amid larger negotiations related to school funding and tax policy.

Democratic leaders have made affordability — especially in health care and housing — the theme of this session, and Polis has pledged more property tax relief. Some Democrats may balk at ending tax refunds when Coloradans face rising costs for daily goods and have supported tax cuts on the ballot.

In a legislative preview held by the Colorado Sun Wednesday, House Speaker Julie McCluskie said it may be time to talk about how the TABOR cap is calculated to help the state pay for education and health needs and noted that voters have allowed many cites and school districts to remove their own TABOR-imposed and keep all revenue raised by existing taxes.

Zenzinger called the proposal a conversation starter and one that’s within the bounds of TABOR.

“If we want to do something different with those revenues, we have to ask the voters,” she said. “That’s the whole point: to ask voters. They may say yes, and they may say no.”

Melanie Asmar contributed reporting.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado State Board of Education gets more Democrats, picks new chair

2023-01-11T21:08:05+00:00

Two new State Board of Education members took the oath of office Wednesday and joined a board with an expanded Democratic majority that will hire a new Colorado education commissioner and oversee the state response to numerous learning challenges.

The board unanimously chose Rebecca McClellan, a Littleton Democrat, as its new chair, replacing Angelika Schroeder of Boulder. McClellan won reelection to her second term in November.

Board member Lisa Escárcega, a Denver Democrat, is the new vice chair, replacing Republican Steve Durham of Colorado Springs.

Both Schroeder and Durham, who also won reelection in November, continue to serve on the State Board of Education.

“I want to make sure I run a clean meeting where everyone has a chance to be heard,” McClellan said in an interview. “Every one of these members was sent here to represent their districts and in the case of board member Plomer, the entire state.”

The board is growing to nine members, up from seven, with six Democrats and three Republicans. The board members are elected from each congressional district. Due to Colorado’s growing population, there’s a new district in northern Colorado and a new statewide, at-large seat.

Rebecca McClellan takes the oath of office for her second term on the Colorado State Board of Education. She was unanimously chosen as the new board chair.

Kathy Plomer, a former Adams 12 Five Star Schools board president, is the new at-large member, and Rhonda Solis, a former Greeley-Evans school board member, represents the new 8th Congressional District.

Solis said she’ll seek to represent community perspectives as the State Board works to improve school performance, and said she would balance her passion as an advocate with the responsibilities of being a board member.

Plomer said she’ll work to elevate the concerns she heard on the campaign trail from school communities around the state and make sure state programs work on the local level. She pointed to that morning’s detailed discussion about how to administer a newly approved free school lunch program as an example of the issues she’s excited to work on.

Republican board member Joyce Rankin, who represented western Colorado, resigned effective Tuesday, and a vacancy committee made up of local party officials still needs to select a replacement. The new member will serve through November 2024 and then need to seek election to finish the rest of Rankin’s term.

Education Commissioner Katy Anthes plans to resign this summer after six years leading the state education department. One of the new board’s first jobs will be developing a process to hire the next commissioner. On Wednesday, the board agreed to look for a search firm to lead a national search.

The State Board also is overseeing the reorganization of the Adams 14 school district after more than a decade of persistently low test scores — an effort district leaders have resisted — as well as improvement efforts in other schools on a state watchlist and the larger pandemic recovery effort.

In addition to hiring the commissioner, the State Board sets academic standards, oversees the school accountability and teacher licensure systems, hears charter school appeals, and sets rules for grant programs.

The State Board also implements laws passed by the Colorado General Assembly and can put its own stamp on policies through the rules governing the administration of new programs and grants.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Here are first education bills Colorado lawmakers filed during the 2023 legislative session

2023-01-11T00:12:04+00:00

The first bills of the legislative session are a way for Colorado lawmakers to signal their priorities.

On education, that means addressing shortages of teachers and mental health professionals, helping adult students who didn’t get what they needed from the school system the first time around, and providing incentives for incarcerated people to learn while in prison.

These are far from the only education issues that will arise during the 2023 Colorado General Assembly — more complicated issues often take weeks or months to hash out behind the scenes before bills get filed — but these bills represent issues their sponsors are passionate about and want to make sure to address.

Here’s a look at some of the first education bills filed this session:

Helping educators with the cost of their own education

House Bill 1001 — the very first bill filed — would expand eligibility for student teacher stipends and for educator student loan forgiveness.

This bill would expand several programs to ease the path into the teaching profession and keep more teachers in the classroom as districts around the state struggle to hire and retain staff. It’s sponsored by state Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat who chairs the House Education Committee; state Rep. Cathy Kipp, a former school board member from Fort Collins; and state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, chair of the Joint Budget Committee, who has been a longtime advocate of educator student loan forgiveness.

The bill would allow student teachers whose families earn up to 300% of the Pell grant threshold to apply for stipends to cover living expenses or offset the cost of licensing exams. It also allows Colorado student teachers working in schools in other states to qualify in some circumstances.

The bill would make loan forgiveness available to principals and special service providers as well as classroom teachers and school counselors. It also removes the requirement that applicants teach in a rural school or in certain subject areas in a high-poverty school.

Addressing student mental health needs

A number of bills seek to address an ongoing youth mental health crisis.

School districts have stepped up hiring of counselors and psychologists in recent years, but caseloads remain high and many positions go unfilled. Senate Bill 4 would remove the requirement that mental health professionals working in schools have both a professional license and a license from the state education department. Counselors would still have to pass background checks before working with children. It’s sponsored by Democratic state Sens. Janice Marchman of Loveland and Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Lafayette.

House Bill 1003 would create a voluntary program through the state health department to provide mental health assessments and referrals for students in sixth and through 12th grade.

Schools could choose whether to participate, and parents could opt their child out — though children 12 or older could participate even if their parents objected. The school would have to notify parents if their child was recommended for additional services. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, a Commerce City Democrat, and state Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Jefferson County Democrat. It’s likely to prompt debate about the role of schools in meeting student mental health needs outside the classroom.

House Bill 1007 seeks to ensure college students know how to access mental health services at their institutions. A recent national survey found that only half of college students knew where to turn for mental health support. The bill would require colleges and universities to put state and national suicide prevention hotline information on student ID cards or otherwise distribute it at the start of each semester. This is a bipartisan bill sponsored by state Reps. Marc Catlin, a Montrose Republican, and Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat.

House Bill 1009 would create a committee to recommend best practices for schools to help students who are abusing substances. The Colorado Youth Advisory Council recommends the bill and notes that Colorado youth have high rates of substance abuse and that Colorado schools have inconsistent practices.

Supporting adults who never got a high school diploma

Two bipartisan bills would help adults who never graduated get an education.

Senate Bill 3 would create a high school program for those 21 years or older. The program would teach adult students free of cost and allow them to graduate with a high school diploma. Further, it would provide child care, transportation assistance, and the opportunity to graduate with skills in high-demand jobs.

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Janet Buckner, an Aurora Democrat; state Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican; and state Rep. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat.

The program would allow the Colorado Department of Education to partner with Colorado community-based nonprofit organizations to operate it.

Another bill from state Sens. Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat, and Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican, and state Reps. Kipp and Catlin, would try to address a key learning gap for adults who are working toward a diploma.

Senate Bill 7 would require high school-equivalent diploma or basic adult education programs to ensure students learn digital literacy and numeracy skills. The bill says adult students working to gain an education often lack those skills and the programs often don’t address that gap.

Incentivizing college for incarcerated students

The federal government will once again allow incarcerated students to receive its grants for college.

State Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Monte Vista Democrat, filed House Bill 1037 to incentivize incarcerated people to get an education by allowing them to reduce their sentence by six months if they earn a college certificate or credential, or up to a year if they earn an associate, bachelor’s, or graduate degree.

The option would be available only to non-violent offenders.

Giving youth more of a say in education

Coming on the heels of a contentious debate over state social studies standards, Senate Bill 8 would create a formal process for current students to have a voice in the development of Colorado academic standards, which are reviewed every six years. This bill was requested by the Colorado Youth Advisory Council.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

First day: Colorado lawmakers pledge ‘thoughtful’ school funding debate amid budget constraints

2023-01-09T23:12:38+00:00

Colorado lawmakers convened Monday for the 2023 legislative session with promises to invest more in public education and address the cost of both college and child care.

“For our students, teachers, and parents who want higher pay for educators and more resources in their classrooms, your Colorado dream will be our focus,” Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie said at the conclusion of a speech that also pledged to focus on expanding civil rights, protecting clean air and water, and advancing affordable housing and health care.

But lawmakers also sounded notes of caution about the state’s capacity to spend more.

Senate President Stephen Fenberg called for a “mature and thoughtful debate” on school funding levels.

“Let’s make another historic investment that isn’t just a one-year windfall, but instead is done in a way that is a sustainable and long-term promise to our teachers, students, and parents,” he said.

Senate President Stephen Fenberg of Boulder presides over an expanded Democratic majority.

Last year lawmakers came close to meeting their constitutional obligations to fully fund K-12 education, with Republicans saying the state could have spent more if Democrats had reconsidered their priorities. This year, the budget forecast suggests Colorado may not be able to sustain much larger education spending for more than a few years.

In November, Colorado Democrats expanded their majorities in both chambers, and Gov. Jared Polis easily won reelection. Colorado is entering its fifth year with Democrats controlling all the levers of state government. The legislature is diverse, with women for the first time holding all Democratic leadership positions in the House. Nearly 40% of lawmakers are new to their jobs, potentially introducing new dynamics.

In the last four years the legislature passed free full-day kindergarten and a universal preschool program set to open to families this fall. The state endured a historic pandemic from which Colorado schools and higher education institutions are still trying to recover.

In her opening-day remarks, McCluskie noted policy achievements from the previous term, including the launch of iMatter, a free online counseling service for children and teens, and $85 million to develop partnerships to connect education and job training.

“Our expanded Democratic majority is a recognition that Coloradans agree with the path we’ve charted and support a policy agenda and approach to governance that reflects our and their priorities,” she said.

Two of the first bills introduced in the House give an indication of those priorities. One would expand access to student loan forgiveness for teachers, while another would create an assessment program to identify students with mental health challenges early and assist them in getting help.

McCluskie promised additional investments without going into details. In an interview, she said she’s committed to making progress on rewriting the formula that distributes funding to school districts — one of the thorniest policy problems in education — but that it might take time to find the right approach. McCluskie also chairs the committee that’s spent years considering school finance issues.

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, a Wellington Republican, acknowledged his party’s reduced representation and asked that the majority let other voices be heard. He said Republicans would work with the majority but also be vocal about advocating for their perspective.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican, also recognized how small his caucus is with only 12 members, but said they would play a strong role in this year’s deliberations. He also called for lawmakers to come together to improve education for all students.

Lundeen especially wants to see lawmakers tackle the problem of teachers leaving the profession, a complex challenge fueled by low pay, low prestige, and heavy workloads.

Colorado Democrats have long cast themselves as the party of public education, but now with a large majority, they are grappling with the implications of high inflation, the cost of other budget priorities, and questions about whether more K-12 funding is sustainable.

Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat, said in an interview that legislators may be able to pay down the budget stabilization factor, the technical term for the money lawmakers withhold from K-12 education to pay for other budget priorities. But lawmakers are cautious to spend more given the budget uncertainty.

“I think the challenge is that it would require a concerted effort and for that to be the only thing that we do,” Moreno said.

He will push for more funding for higher education. Polis has called for $86 million more for higher education institution budgets and student financial aid, and for colleges to be able to raise tuition by up to 4%.

“That is difficult in this environment for students and families to absorb,” Moreno said. “I think anything we could do to limit those tuition increases as much as possible is something that I think we’re all interested in doing.”

House and Senate leaders already have plenty of competing priorities.

Both chambers’ leaders called for investments in public safety, especially after the deadly Colorado Springs Club Q shooting and in light of an ongoing fentanyl crisis. They hope to tackle affordability, including housing and health care. Both Republican and Democratic leaders promised bipartisanship in their deliberations.

Lundeen asked lawmakers to first listen and understand each other before launching into partisan debates. Fenberg said he also believes the Senate can “authentically deliberate” to solve problems.

In the House, the session opened with some friction as some Republicans nominated one of their own, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, to serve as speaker. That move went against the tradition of the House voting unanimously for a speaker from the majority party.

But ultimately more than half of the Republican caucus, including Lynch, joined Democrats to support McCluskie for speaker.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie received the support of 55 representatives, including 11 Republicans.

Seven issues we’re watching in the 2023 Colorado legislative session

2022-12-21T23:24:34+00:00

How to fund Colorado schools in ways that reflect student needs. How to open college opportunities to more students. How to narrow pandemic learning gaps, especially in math.

When Colorado lawmakers convene Jan. 9, they’ll have pressing education issues to address, competing needs to balance, and a tricky budget to navigate.

Expect bills that seek to address youth mental health, school safety, and teacher shortages. Lawmakers could find bipartisan agreement on efforts to improve math instruction and better connect higher education and job opportunities. But debates over rewriting the school finance formula and overhauling the school accountability system could divide Democrats.

For a fifth session, Democrats will control both chambers and the governor’s office. They grew their majorities in November’s election. The Colorado General Assembly will be full of new members, many from the progressive wing of the party, potentially introducing new political dynamics.

At the same time, lawmakers with a long history of engagement on education issues have moved into leadership positions. Members of a special committee on school finance, for example, now lead the House Democrats, the Senate Republicans, and the powerful Joint Budget Committee. The House Education Committee has at least four former teachers, a former school board member, and members with experience in mental health and higher education administration.

Colorado economists expect the state to have more money in its 2023-24 budget, but inflation will play an outsize role controlling spending. And the risk of a recession could diminish revenue. Questions of short-term uncertainty and long-term sustainability will affect K-12 and higher education.

Here are seven issues we’ll be watching in the 2023 legislative session:

Colorado could get a new school funding formula — or not

Is this the year? The interim committee on school finance has been trying for five years to rewrite a decades-old school finance formula that nearly everyone agrees is unfair.

In November, the bipartisan committee voted unanimously to begin reworking the formula to better account for student needs and educational changes like fifth-year high school students taking college classes.

The chair of the school finance committee, state Rep. Julie McCluskie, is also the incoming speaker of the House and has the power to marshal support for a new approach. But rewriting the school finance formula will be politically challenging.

The current formula sometimes sends more money to well-off districts than to ones serving more students in poverty, and no school district wants to get less than they get now. Bret Miles, head of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said his members would object to a formula rewrite that “takes from one school district to give it to another.”

State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said one of her priorities will be developing a “hold-harmless” provision for the new formula. Fewer students and higher local property tax revenues take some pressure off state education funding obligations. Lawmakers could use that cushion, she said, then phase in a new formula to ensure no district gets less than it does now.

Brenda Dickhoner, president and CEO of the conservative education advocacy group Ready Colorado, expects Republicans to push their own priorities for school finance, which means more focus on money following students and less concern for the impact on district budgets.

Dickhoner said she hopes all sides are “at the table thinking about how we can more equitably fund our students and really get to a student-focused formula.”

Colorado could make a push on math instruction

State and national test data show that students’ math skills took a bigger hit from pandemic learning disruptions than did reading. Right now, Colorado doesn’t have the tools to address it.

House Education Chair Barbara McLachlan said she’s working with Gov. Jared Polis’ office on legislation that would better train teachers on best practices in math instruction and make training available to parents so they can better support their children.

In his November budget letter, Polis called on lawmakers to ensure that every school district adopts high-quality instructional materials and training and gets all students back on track in math.

How to improve math skills also remains a priority for conservatives. Dickhoner said her organization is looking to higher-performing states for ideas.

The push comes after years of intense focus on improving reading scores. Expect the debate over the math bills to mirror ones about reading instruction, including how much the state should be involved in setting curriculum.

There’s never enough money for either K-12 or higher ed

Last year Colorado flirted with fully funding its K-12 system after years of holding back money for other budget priorities. But a last-minute deal to reduce property tax increases would have reduced state revenues, and Democrat lawmakers held back.

Getting more funding for schools is always a top priority for the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, but wiping out the withholding known as the budget stabilization factor and fully funding Colorado schools are unlikely to happen this year.

Colorado will have less money overall after voters approved two ballot measures — one lowering the income tax rate and the other setting aside money for affordable housing. That shouldn’t cut into budgetary spending, but will reduce the buffer the state has in case of an emergency.

Zenzinger said it’s important to increase K-12 spending and that lawmakers hope to do better than the $9.1 billion proposed by Polis in his budget recommendation.

But budget writers also have their eye on long-term sustainability and any future recession.

The picture is different for higher education, which has to fight for scraps. Polis wants to increase university budgets and financial aid by 6.8%. Schools are expected to make a case for more funding, especially to keep tuition low and because inflation exceeds that.

Metropolitan State University of Denver President Janine Davidson said the school will seek more investment from lawmakers. Programs to help students from low-income backgrounds or who are the first to go to college in their family are costly, she said. And the state funds schools with a lower share than it did 30 years ago.

College access could be increased

Lawmakers also may address how to ensure students can get to and stay in college.

Elaine Berman, Colorado Trustees Network chair, said college board members want more support for students who need skills or credentials for in-demand jobs. School trustees want more funds to build partnerships with businesses and communities to better connect college degrees to jobs, she said.

Lawmakers also may explore how to make it easier for students to get college and workforce skills earlier, including extending opportunities in college and vocational schools.

The Colorado Community College System also wants more college options for incarcerated people. The federal government will begin to allow those students access to federal grants, and the system wants the state to prepare for the changes. It’s also a priority for Representative-elect Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista, who led Adams State University’s prison education program.

“I think it’s time that we really boost up education for this population,” Martinez said.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Higher Education has a small agenda starting with removing military draft questions from college enrollment applications, which colleges report stops some students from enrolling.

Students are leaving financial aid on the table

Advocacy groups plan to ask lawmakers to make filling out the FAFSA a requirement to graduate. That’s the federal application for financial aid, and each year Colorado students who don’t finish the form leave behind almost $30 million in federal grants. Plus students who fill out the FAFSA are more likely to go to college, according to research.

“We want to make sure that we get it right,” said Kyra DeGruy Kennedy, Rocky Mountain region director for the advocacy group Young Invincibles. “And so if that means we have to wait another year, we’ll totally wait another year, but we are hopeful that this is a year that we’ll be able to make some progress on it.”

Superintendents want to rework the school accountability system

The top priority of CASE, the school executives group, is convening a task force to consider changes to the school accountability system. They will press this even though a recent audit found that the system is largely “reasonable and appropriate” and that most schools receiving state intervention improve.

Miles said the system still hurts school districts that receive low ratings called turnaround and priority improvement, even if the intentions are good.

“It’s terrific that they make a difference,” he said of the state teams that work with schools with low test scores. “It doesn’t change the fact that it’s harder to hire in a turnaround school than a performance school” — the schools that meet state academic goals.

Jen Walmer, state director of Democrats for Education Reform, said she expects any reform to be contentious, with debate about the makeup of the task force and the scope of its work — as well as whether Colorado needs a change at all.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

You’re invited: Chalkbeat’s 2023 Legislative Preview

2022-12-20T23:08:53+00:00

Join Chalkbeat Colorado for our annual discussion of key education topics likely to surface during the upcoming legislative session. This year’s conversation will be held virtually on Zoom Webinar from noon - 1:30 MT on Thursday, Jan. 5.

Last year, our conversation with lawmakers ranged from school funding to student mental health and child care challenges to higher education access. The 2022 session saw big investments in K-12 education and career education training, plus the signing of a historic universal preschool bill. There were lost opportunities as well.

This year, we’ll discuss a potential rewrite of the school funding formula, student discipline and school safety, the state of math instruction, the future of the accountability system, the impending launch of universal preschool, and how to make higher education pay off.

We’re excited to be joined by:

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument
Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora
House Education Committee Chair Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango
Joint Budget Committee Chair Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada
House Education Vice Chair Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista

A special thanks to our event sponsor, the Colorado Education Association. And thank you to our event partner, the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.

Please RSVP for this event so we’re able to provide the webinar information and can hear your ideas for questions. Chalkbeat Colorado is a nonprofit organization, and tickets are priced at a suggested donation of $25 to support our journalism and events such as this one. Please note that price shouldn’t be a barrier to anyone who wants to attend, and we encourage you to give as you are able.

Caroline Bauman is the community engagement manager at Chalkbeat.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat Colorado’s bureau chief.

Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes stepping down next summer

2022-12-21T01:08:48+00:00

Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes plans to resign in July.

Anthes, who has led the Colorado Department of Education for six years, announced Tuesday her plan to step aside. Her decision comes as an expanded, nine-member State Board of Education is set to take office in January and as Colorado schools settle into long-term pandemic recovery after more than two years of severely disrupted learning.

Advocates, superintendents, and State Board members praised Anthes as someone who listened to all sides and strove for consensus on politically contentious issues.

“She was pretty exceptional at managing really disparate views and threading the needle to implement policy,” said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center.

Anthes said in a press release that she was proud of the work the department has done during her tenure.

“Through all the challenges, I’ve always been committed to listening to diverse perspectives, and aiming for the productive middle ground on issues that could have divided us — with a clear focus on students,” she said. “I’m proud to have helped build a culture of responsiveness, transparency, and pride in providing excellent customer service at CDE.”

Anthes, 48, acknowledged in an interview that the pandemic took a toll — ”I don’t have all the 110% energy that I did before” — and said the arrival of new State Board members makes now a good time for leadership transition.

“We have new board energy, new board leadership,” she said. “I just think it’s time for someone with fresh ideas and that a fresh look on things at the state would be good.”

Unlike other cabinet-level department heads who are appointed by the governor, Colorado’s education commissioner is hired by the independently elected State Board of Education to run the state Education Department.

While on the job, Anthes could have stayed in her silo, said Jen Walmer, state director of Democrats for Education Reform. Instead, she worked closely with the governor’s office and other state departments, including with the Colorado Department of Higher Education on ways to improve the quality of teacher instruction and open more pathways for aspiring educators, Walmer said.

Anthes first was hired as an interim commissioner by a Republican-majority board in May 2016 but largely served under a Democratic majority that took office in January 2017. During her tenure, Colorado implemented a school accountability system that allows state intervention in struggling school districts, adopted new academic standards, and stepped up efforts to improve reading instruction in the early grades and career learning opportunities for high school students.

And she led the department through the pandemic, which saw many students in remote learning for extended periods of time and schools experimenting with new instructional models.

“She got Colorado through one of the most disruptive times with the pandemic,” Walmer said. “She was a consistent leader who always put students first. I have no doubt that it took a tremendous toll on her personally to lead through that time.”

Rob Stein, who retired earlier this year as superintendent of the Roaring Fork school district, said he could call Anthes and vent during some of the most difficult decisions around school reopening, when state guidance was limited and inconsistent. She would always hear him out.

“Through COVID, there was a lot of conflict, and she put her head down and tried to find solutions,” he said. “She was a real servant-leader.”

Colorado’s system of local control gives school districts broad autonomy and constrains the role of state government.

Board Chairwoman Angelika Schroeder said in a press release that Anthes created a positive foundation for challenging school improvement work. In Colorado, schools and districts with persistently low test scores qualify for extra help but schools that still don’t improve can lose autonomy. Under Anthes’ leadership, the Colorado education department often has endorsed district-developed improvement plans.

“Many of the districts that came before the board are now seeing positive trends, and I credit Katy for these outcomes because she understands that we can go farther when we listen to each other and work together respectfully to support students,” Schroeder said.

A notable exception has been the Adams 14 school district, whose superintendent ousted a state-mandated external manager and unsuccessfully took the state to court to fight a State Board order that the district be reorganized after more than a decade of low test scores.

But after district officials testified in court about how the largely symbolic loss of accreditation had hurt the district’s ability to hire bilingual teachers, Anthes recommended that accreditation be restored while reorganization efforts proceed.

Aurora Public Schools has several schools under state orders to improve student achievement. Superintendent Rico Munn frequently has disagreed with the state approach, but he said he always found Anthes willing to listen and consider alternatives.

“I appreciated that because we always had a lot of alternative ideas for how things should work,” Munn said.

And as a former State Board member, Munn said he appreciates the tightrope that the commissioner walks, serving students, district leaders, educators, and the State Board of Education.

Anthes served a board that was deeply divided on key issues, such as the adoption of new social studies standards that included perspectives from diverse racial and ethnic groups and LGBTQ people. But many State Board decisions have been unanimous or nearly so, and there has been broad consensus on new approaches to reading instruction and workforce training.

Vice Chair Steve Durham, a Colorado Springs Republican, said Anthes always has respected different perspectives while keeping a focus on student achievement.

“We’ve been able to make great strides in several key areas under her leadership — especially the expansion of work-based learning opportunities for our high school students and the meaningful implementation of the READ Act to ensure all students are reading at grade level,” Durham said in the press release.

The State Board is expected to discuss the replacement process in early 2023, after the new board takes office and chooses a chair. Anthes said she gave six months’ notice because she wants the new board to have some time to work together before making a decision and to avoid the disruption of an interim commissioner.

Anthes replaced Rich Crandall, who abruptly resigned in 2016 after only four months on the job, during a time of turnover and turmoil at the state Education Department. She was hired as commissioner after serving as interim for seven months.

She first joined the department in 2011 to oversee the state’s rollout of a landmark teacher evaluation law. She later served as the department’s chief of staff, earning a reputation for being a consensus builder amid often tumultuous policy debates, before becoming commissioner.

Anthes’ career with the state spans a period during which a broad bipartisan consensus around certain education reform policies has frayed.

Anthes said she has never stopped believing in the power of data to shed light on problems in education and drive solutions. She also worries that the accountability system is seen as punitive, when it should be seen as a source of help.

“It takes strong leadership and a strong culture in the organization to counter that natural tendency” to reduce schools and teachers to ratings, she said. “You have to say, ‘No, this is about improvement. This is about serving our students. This is about understanding where we are so we can get better and so we know what to hone in on.’”

Stein said that Anthes’ focus on finding a middle ground didn’t necessarily move Colorado closer to real resolution of policy differences.

“Under her tenure, there were some important questions that remained in stalemate,” he said. “I don’t know that she could have driven that to more consensus or closure. I don’t know if a stronger hand might have broken the logjam or just led to more conflict.”

Anthes said she wishes she could have done more to offer leadership training for principals, who hold some of the hardest and most important jobs in the education system.

She said some of her most rewarding times as commissioner were announcing Teacher of the Year awards and recognizing Blue Ribbon schools.

“You see how important teachers are in the lives of students and in the lives of their colleagues,” she said. “I just think there are a lot of really creative, innovative things going on in schools.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Superintendent group: Colorado’s system for grading schools needs revamp

2022-12-15T17:00:00+00:00

Colorado’s superintendents still see plenty of room for improvement after an independent audit found the state’s school accountability system is working as designed.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said his organization’s top legislative priority will be the creation of a task force to recommend changes to the system, which rates schools and districts based largely on test scores and allows for state intervention in those that perform poorly for many years in a row.

“There are areas where we can evolve and do better,” Miles said. “We need an accountability system that incentivizes innovation.”

Colorado school districts and community groups had urged lawmakers to request the audit to look for evidence the accountability system is biased and hurting the low-income students of color it was supposed to help. Districts and schools with low ratings often serve more students in poverty than those with higher ratings, and some educators contend low standardized test scores reflect conditions outside their control.

Opponents of the accountability system hoped to use the audit as a springboard for larger reforms of a system that’s been in place since 2009.

But before legislation was finalized, supporters of the accountability system drafted amendments that placed limits on the scope of the audit — and secured the support of Gov. Jared Polis, who is a supporter of education reform and test-based accountability.

When the audit was released Monday, it described the system as “reasonable and appropriate” and working largely as legislators intended. Supporters of test-based accountability said the findings were encouraging.

“I don’t see the bones of the accountability system changing much,” said Brenda Dickhoner, CEO of the conservative education advocacy group Ready Colorado.

In particular, they were pleased to see that schools that took advantage of state education department help showed improvements in test scores.

“It’s a confirmation of the importance of what we do with this data, that schools and districts that need the most help get that help and it’s working,” said State Board member Rebecca McClellan, a Littleton Democrat, during a Wednesday presentation on the audit.

But board member Lisa Escárcega, a Denver Democrat and previous director of CASE, the school executives group, asked pressing questions about whether the audit determined which types of help were most effective, how data from large and small schools varied, and whether state tests measure the quality of instruction or outside factors like poverty.

Researchers from the Human Resources Research Organization, known as Humrro, said the audit was not designed to answer those questions.

For Miles, that’s a key point. He said he was neither surprised nor disappointed in the results, given the scope of the audit outlined in 2021 legislation. Instead, he said he’s pleased the audit identified certain gaps in the system.

“There were several places where they clearly laid out areas for improvement, areas that CASE members have been talking about for years,” he said.

For example, the audit noted that measurements are less accurate in small schools and districts, where a handful of students doing better or worse in a given year can make a big difference in average scores. And some schools with high ratings don’t meet benchmarks on every measure, while some schools with the lowest “turnaround” rating still have bright spots.

In addition to standardized test scores, Colorado uses a growth measure that shows student progress, graduation rates, college enrollment, and workforce readiness.

The audit also noted a correlation between having more students in poverty and lower average test scores. Even many highly rated schools and districts still report lower average scores for students in poverty and students of color.

The audit went on to say that students with more access to advanced coursework and career and technical education had better outcomes, while schools and districts with more students in poverty had fewer such courses.

“The question that is not addressed in the audit is: What role does the accountability system play in that?” Miles said. “If I have a district that is not meeting performance targets, what pressure is the district under to raise test scores rather than offering those classes? What role has the accountability system played in stifling innovation?”

Miles said the current system is punitive even if districts that got help improved. A label like “turnaround” turns off parents and teachers, who go to other districts and make it harder to improve.

Supporters of test-based accountability also see some areas for potential change, such as improving how schools communicate with parents about test scores and ratings and holding high-performing districts accountable for gaps in how they serve students in poverty.

Miles said these questions and others could be answered by a task force made up of educators and administrators.

He said educators don’t want to scrap the whole system, and the audit itself supports the need for change.

“Why would we do this at all if we’re not going to use it to make things better?” he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Audit: Colorado school accountability system ‘reasonable and appropriate’

2022-12-13T00:21:48+00:00

Colorado’s school accountability system provides a “reasonable and appropriate basis” for measuring school performance, and most schools and districts receiving extra help and guidance from the state show some improvement, an audit of the system found.

Education Commissioner Katy Anthes said the results suggest the system doesn’t need an overhaul — so long as legislators still believe in the focus and intent of the accountability law.

Supporters of test-based accountability echoed that belief and said they were pleased to see that schools targeted for intervention often showed improvement. Critics of the accountability system — who had hoped to use the audit to press for bigger changes — said it was simplistic and failed to answer big questions about how to best support all students.

The audit also found that Colorado schools that serve large percentages of students of color and students in poverty on average do worse on state tests. Even in districts with high overall performance, students from those subgroups had lower scores on state tests.

The audit could not answer the question of whether those students receive lower-quality instruction or face greater barriers to learning due to factors outside the classroom, or both. Nor did the audit look at whether any bias is embedded in the tests that measure student performance.

“Whether you love the accountability system or hate the accountability system, this report will be a Rorschach test for people to reflect their own views,” said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center and a longtime education advocate. His own take is that the system is “mostly fair and valid and doing what it’s designed to do.”

Colorado’s school accountability system goes back to 2009. The system uses standardized test results, graduation rates, college enrollment, and other factors to rate schools and districts. The state provides extra help to those that receive either of the lowest two ratings. If they don’t improve after several years, the State Board of Education can order more significant changes and remove some decision-making power from superintendents and school boards.

At the urging of school districts and community groups, Colorado lawmakers ordered the performance audit to determine if the accountability system is working as intended and if it’s helping or harming student performance.

The Office of the State Auditor hired the Human Resources Research Organization, known as Humrro, to conduct the audit at a cost of $384,000. The audit released Monday is based on data from the Colorado Department of Education and surveys and interviews with school district officials, educators, parents, and interested groups.

The report outlined nine main findings:

The state’s performance measures are “reasonable and appropriate” to gauge the performance of schools and districts. The audit found that schools that do worse on the accountability system also do worse on state tests.
Schools with higher proportions of Hispanic students, students who receive free or reduced-priced lunch, or students with disabilities had worse academic outcomes. Higher proportions of girls in the student body were associated with better academic outcomes.
High-performing schools still have students from underrepresented groups not meeting expectations in achievement, or in growth. In 82% of the elementary schools that received the highest rating in 2018–19, students with disabilities as a group did not meet expectations in English language arts. Similarly, in 24% of elementary schools with the highest rating in 2018–19, the English learners group did not meet standards.
The size of a school does matter. Schools with fewer students were more likely to have higher variability in average test scores and larger margins of error. The audit points out that the state tries to correct for this by using three-year averages for small samples.
Participation rates don’t have a significant effect on school or performance ratings.
For high schools, those with more Advanced Placement course offerings or a higher percentage of career and technical education graduates tended to have better student academic outcomes. But simply providing more Advanced Placement courses or career and technical education opportunities may not increase academic achievement, academic growth, or postsecondary and workforce readiness.
Colorado’s growth measures generally support the state’s objectives, set by law. For example, growth measures show where students are making progress even if they don’t yet meet grade-level expectations. However, the audit notes that all growth models have some inherent unreliability.
Surveys, which the report says aren’t completely representative, indicate the accountability data is being used to “help inform decision making in support of students’ educational outcomes.” But the report notes that parents need the data to be more understandable and accessible.
From 2014-15 to 2018-19, schools with low ratings that used one of the state’s four improvement programs generally improved academics more or declined less than did low-rated schools that didn’t participate in state programs to improve. However, this happened less frequently with math scores.

Education Commissioner Katy Anthes said she was pleased the audit found the system is working as intended under the original legislation and that schools that were targeted for intervention showed improvement.

Going forward, she said the state needs to do more to ensure both parents and educators have access to data and understand it.

She also said the state probably needs to focus more on math instruction. Colorado is in the midst of an ongoing push to improve reading instruction. Improvements in early literacy may lead to improvements in other subject areas, Anthes said, but the state may also need to put more attention on how math is taught.

Anthes said it’s not simple to determine whether the system is measuring the impact of poverty and racism when it identifies more schools serving low-income students of color as low performing, or whether it’s measuring poor educational services.

“None of the questions are black and white,” she said. “You’re always measuring multiple things, and our system is designed to identify the students that need the most support and prioritize directing our limited resources to those students.”

The report also pointed out that based on interviews, many people still perceive the accountability system to be punitive rather than supportive. Low ratings make it difficult for districts to hire and retain staff, and often students transfer to other schools, all factors that can make improvement more difficult.

“Rather than a rating system that is positive and focused on learning and helping schools and districts achieve high levels of student academic performance, one stakeholder referred to the performance ratings as being improperly interpreted and treated by families and communities as an Angie’s List or consumer review-type rating,” the report states.

Schoales noted that most educators surveyed think parents don’t understand state test results or school ratings, and many parents told the auditor they never received a paper copy of their child’s results on state tests. Schools and the state could encourage better communication between teachers and parents about academic performance.

Oliver Grenham, chief education officer for Westminster Public Schools, said he was disappointed with the report.

“I found it to be very simplified,” Grenham said. “There wasn’t really any depth. The most pertinent question was, ‘has this made a difference for overall students over time?’ and that was not clearly articulated.”

Westminster is one of the districts that received multiple consecutive low ratings and faced state intervention, but has managed to improve and avoid state orders. Leaders in the district have continued to speak out against the accountability system.

“I was thankful we received funds from the state, but that was really on us to implement our strategies,” Grenham said.

He said the auditors should have further examined the correlations they found between certain groups of students and low performance. He said he also would have liked to see more discussion on why schools that have more advanced course offerings have better outcomes. He said it may be related to funding and other resources available to schools.

“When you have a small portion of schools beating the odds, but the overall system remains the same, that’s an issue the state needs to address,” Grenham said.

“If anything this might set up another review that will go in depth,” Grenham said. “I don’t think this matched the legislative intent. More work needs to be done there.”

Jen Walmer, state director of Democrats for Education Reform, said the audit supports the idea that the accountability system is accurately identifying schools and districts that need more support and that improved instruction, more access to advanced classes, and other interventions do make a difference for students.

While the authors of the audit were careful to describe correlation and not causation, Walmer said the finding that low-performing schools generally improved shows that change is possible. Going forward, Walmer said she hopes to see more focus on how to ensure improvement is more widespread and less focus on changing accountability measures.

“What can we do to make sure all kids have what they need, instead of whacking at the mirror because we don’t like what the mirror shows us?” she said.

Brenda Dickhoner, CEO of the conservative education advocacy group Ready Colorado, agreed.

“We cannot correct for everything going on in a child’s life, but there are a lot of things we can control within the school environment,” she said. “We believe each child can learn.”

Walmer said she sees places where the system would benefit from changes. For example, higher-performing districts should be more accountable for how smaller student subgroups, such as students in poverty, perform.

She would also like to see a higher bar for schools to get the highest rating — right now, schools can get the highest rating even if they don’t meet performance standards on all the available metrics — and more attention to whether students are making progress fast enough to eventually meet grade-level expectations.

A new on-track measurement that the state is phasing in over the next two years could help, she said.

Read the full report here.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Republican Joyce Rankin resigning from Colorado State Board of Education

2022-12-06T23:26:22+00:00

Colorado State Board of Education member Joyce Rankin plans to resign her seat in January.

Rankin, a Carbondale Republican, has represented western Colorado on the State Board of Education since 2015, when she was appointed to fill a midterm vacancy. She was reelected to a full six-year term in 2020.

Over the last few years, Rankin has been one of the most forceful board members in pushing for strict oversight of school districts and teacher prep programs as they work to meet state requirements related to reading instruction.

During her tenure and with her support, Colorado lawmakers required school districts to adopt reading curriculum backed by evidence and mandated that early elementary teachers get new training. The legislation was co-sponsored by her husband, state Sen. Bob Rankin, who also announced his resignation last week.

Joyce Rankin

The State Board has been responsible for implementation and oversight of these changes. Rankin took required reading training herself and asked many detailed questions about reading instruction, reading assessments, and teacher training in numerous State Board hearings.

“It’s been an honor to serve the children and educators of our state alongside my fellow board members,” Rankin said in a press release announcing her resignation. “I’ll always be proud of the board’s collaboration on key issues to support children and educators, especially our commitment to ensuring all students can read at grade level because this is absolutely the foundation for success in school and throughout life.”

Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes praised Rankin’s leadership and the time she devoted to visiting schools and libraries and working on reading issues.

“Board Member Rankin’s commitment to the goals of the READ Act and support of scientifically based reading instruction for teachers will make a positive impact in the lives of children for years to come,” Anthes said in a press release.

Rankin has served in the minority for most of her time on the State Board. Democrats, who first took control of the Board in 2016, expanded their majority in November. The State Board is growing from seven members to nine, and six of them will be Democrats.

During recent debates about social studies standards, Rankin said Colorado should be trying to produce informed citizens rather than active citizens, and said history and civics lessons should reflect the European origins of the United States. The Democratic majority turned down many of her amendments.

Rankin plans to formally step down Jan. 10. On Jan. 11, new board members will be sworn in. A Republican vacancy committee for the Third Congressional District will choose her replacement.

A November 2024 election will determine who will serve out the remainder of the term through January 2027.

The State Board of Education hires the education commissioner, sets academic standards, oversees the school accountability and teacher licensure systems, hears charter school appeals, and sets rules for grant programs.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn resigning at end of school year

2022-12-03T03:03:15+00:00

Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn plans to resign at the end of this school year and assume a less active role in leading one of the state’s most diverse districts starting in January.

Aurora Public Schools announced the change in a letter from school board President Debbie Gerkin Friday afternoon.

The Aurora school board plans to vote on a transition agreement and plan at its Tuesday meeting. Munn’s contract expires at the end of this school year. This fall, the board and superintendent had been in conversations about Munn’s evaluation and contract.

Munn “will begin transitioning to a support role” for the remainder of the school year, with a modified schedule, the announcement says. The board plans to hire an acting superintendent for the rest of this school year.

The district will launch the search for its next permanent superintendent later this month. Munn has agreed to help the new superintendent adjust to their job during the first semester of the 2023-24 school year.

“I am incredibly proud of the difficult and crucially important work that we have done together to accelerate learning for every APS student every day,” Munn said in the announcement. “I thank the community for allowing me to serve our diverse and dynamic students.”

Gerkin thanked Munn for his years of service and dedication to the community.

Aurora Public Schools serves more than 38,000 students in the southeast Denver suburbs. The district is the state’s fifth largest and one of its most diverse, with students coming from 130 countries and speaking 160 languages.

Munn was the 2019 Colorado superintendent of the year. His more than nine years at the helm of the district have been marked by significant improvements as well as challenges — and an often tense relationship with the school board.

Munn oversaw a substantial increase in the district’s graduation rate, including the largest increase in Hispanic graduation rates in the state, as well as decreases in the dropout rate, expulsions, and referrals to law enforcement.

Aurora is losing students in parts of the district closer to Denver, where many low-income families find themselves priced out, and gaining students on its eastern edge, where new subdivisions are sprouting from the plains. Munn led the development of Blueprint APS, the plan to adapt to shifting enrollment patterns, close some schools, and reimagine others.

But the decision to close schools has upset parents and community members and even school board members, some of whom rejected his recommendations before ultimately approving them.

Several Aurora schools are under state intervention orders due to low academic performance. Munn has fought to maintain district autonomy and shape these schools’ improvement plans.

His relationship with the Aurora school board has been marked by a push and pull over who gets to make key decisions. At various points, the board has overridden his decisions about when to open schools during the pandemic and whether to lay off employees due to budget pressures.

Few superintendents serve for as long as Munn has led Aurora Public Schools. Denver’s Tom Boasberg led the state’s largest district for 10 years before departing in 2018. Among the state’s five largest districts, Munn is the only superintendent still serving who was in office before the arrival of COVID.

Across the state, dozens of superintendents have left their jobs or been fired in the last two years. Some lost their jobs after the election of new school boards with differing philosophies. Some pursued other opportunities. Others said they were just tired.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers want to craft a new school funding formula. Details TBD.

2022-11-16T02:56:19+00:00

Colorado lawmakers could make fundamental changes this year to how the state funds its schools, targeting more money to serve students in poverty, English learners, and gifted students. They also might better fund programs that help high school students earn college credit and industry credentials.

But many details still need to be worked out, and the proposal will have to overcome political hurdles that have doomed past efforts.

On Tuesday, the members of a special committee on school finance unanimously backed a call for a new school funding formula.

Colorado’s current system gives far more consideration to district factors like size and how expensive it is to live there and far less consideration to how many students live in poverty or are learning English, with the effect that sometimes school districts serving better-off students get more money than those serving more students in need. Many education advocacy groups consider the status quo unacceptable.

The new formula, proposed by committee Chair Julie McCluskie, the incoming speaker of the Colorado House, would:

Use a “student-centered” approach to address the needs of students in poverty, English learners, and gifted learners.
Address the needs of rural, remote, and small school districts.
Use a more targeted approach to support districts with high cost of living
Address issues related to declining enrollment.
Review charter school funding.
Consider programs that allow high school students to remain a fifth or sixth year as they earn college credits or workforce certificates.
Be phased in over time to avoid shocks to the system.

But nearly all the details still need to be worked out. McCluskie said lawmakers will be working with education groups and using a sophisticated modeling tool to examine the impact and trade-offs of giving more or less weight to various factors.

The goal is to have a more specific proposal for the committee to vote on in January, one that can win the backing of five Democrats and five Republicans who can then make the case to the full legislature that it’s time for a big change.

“We need to modernize an antiquated school finance system,” said McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican who has long been active in school finance debates, said doing nothing is not an option.

“The pandemic showed parents, showed teachers, showed policymakers the weaknesses in our system, and the foundation of all of it is in how we spend our money,” he said.

The school finance committee has been meeting in the legislative off-season for five years, and members came close to voting on a new formula three years ago. The proposal did not move forward in large part because Colorado doesn’t have an extra $1 billion to put into its K-12 schools.

Without more funding, formula changes would have meant some districts got less so that others could get more. No school administrator in Colorado wanted to make do with less, even if most agree the current system is unfair.

“Should we rob from one group of districts and students to give it to another group of districts and students?” is how Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, described the debate in a recent interview.

Colorado taxpayers have repeatedly voted down efforts to increase statewide education funding. The most recent effort didn’t even make it on the ballot.

In the meantime, Colorado lawmakers have made a number of incremental changes to school funding. They added English learners to the weighted formula, guaranteeing districts would get more money as that student population grows. They changed how they counted students in poverty, moving away from unreliable free lunch applications. They increased funding for special education. And they required certain school districts to gradually raise local property taxes to levels that voters had previously agreed to.

McCluskie sees these steps as important precursors to a larger formula overhaul.

The call for a new formula comes as Democrats have expanded their majorities in both chambers and as lawmakers deeply involved in the school finance debate ascend to new leadership positions.

Will this year be different? McCluskie said Colorado schools are underfunded, period, and she doesn’t want any school district to get less. She promised to work closely with education interest groups to understand the impact of changes and to take a careful, phased approach so that no district is harmed.

The modeling tool isn’t available to the general public, but McCluskie said she’s working on ways to create a transparent process with public participation, including from parents.

State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and incoming chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said there may be ways to find money that don’t depend on new taxes.

The recent changes to local tax policy, alongside rising property values, mean school districts are raising more money locally, easing pressure on the state portion of K-12 funding. High inflation coupled with declining enrollment means Colorado is spending more on fewer students. That opens up wiggle room to reallocate dollars.

The state could also change how it counts enrollment, Zenzinger said. Districts that are losing students can use their five-year average enrollment to ease the budget blow. Moving from a five-year student average to a three-year average would reduce the amount the state spends for students who don’t exist anymore, for example.

But some changes may not move forward, Zenzinger said, if the state can’t afford to do them without hurting some districts.

Lundeen said everyone in education needs to find the will to make big changes.

“You can’t tinker in a marginal way and get a fundamental change,” Lundeen said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.