Okay, the year is almost over. And you won’t see me writing anything here between now and 2009. So I thought it a good idea to close out 2008 with a post that has some good news.

In yesterday’s Rocky Mountain News, Berny Morson reported on a Colorado court decision that almost got completely overlooked. But it definitely is good news:

School districts must apply the same funding rules to charter schools as they do other schools, the Colorado Court of Appeals has held in a Fort Collins case.

At issue is a provision inserted by the Poudre R-1 school board in the contract that governs the Ridgeview Classical Schools, a charter school.

The provision allowed the district to reduce financial support to Ridgeview when students transfer out. [link added]

Basic and simple fairness, right? Students should benefit from the same funding rules whether they are in a traditional public school or a public charter school. Either it’s a good idea to take funds away from a school when a student transfers after the fall attendance count, or it’s not. It shouldn’t be a good idea for charters and a bad idea for others, or vice versa.
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I recently told you that Douglas County’s innovative new teacher training and licensure program would be up for review by the State Board of Education soon. Well, the good news is that today the Board unanimously agreed to extend the waiver so the program can continue to operate.

In cheering what the program has accomplished thus far, State Board member Peggy Littleton even cited the report Douglas County’s Homegrown Teachers (PDF) written by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow. It’s good to see successful local innovation encouraged rather than stymied. More effective and streamlined paths are needed to get high-quality teachers into classrooms.

Kudos to Mike Lynch and the staff at Douglas County’s Learning Center. We hope to see the vision for their program grow and inspire action from other school districts in Colorado and across the country.

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It’s now official. The latest Issue Paper in the *Innovative Colorado School District Series, written by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow, has been released: Douglas County’s Home-Grown Teachers: The Learning Center Waiver Program (PDF).

The Independence Institute website explains what the paper is all about better than I can:

Seeking a creative solution to shortages in various teaching positions, Douglas County School District received a waiver from the state of Colorado to license and train its own teachers through the Learning Center. The district currently is able to license teachers in areas such as math, science, and world languages; to provide special education endorsements to teachers in other specialties; and to equip unlicensed professionals with the basic skills to teach more highly specialized courses to high schoolers. The waiver is scheduled to be renewed at the end of 2008, contingent on Douglas County meeting certain performance goals.

If it’s true that this means a way for schools to get more skilled and effective teachers in our classrooms to help kids learn better, then more power to Douglas County. And I hope other school districts pick up on it, too.

Anyway, the paper is kind of long. As usual, the Independence Institute also has created a podcast to give you a flavor of the topic. This time, author Ben DeGrow interviews Learning Center executive director Mike Lynch about the waiver program:

This story first made the Denver news way back in May 2006, as Douglas County made its case for waivers to the State Board of Education. Ben wrote an op-ed back then. The story may reappear in the news next month when the school district is scheduled to go before the State Board to get the waiver renewed. Stay tuned. I’ll do my best to help keep you informed about that.

*The Innovative Colorado School District Series also includes the following papers (note: all links are PDFs):

• The Ignacio Market Driven Compensation Plan and Why It Fell Short (2005)
• Delta County School District Has VISION for School Choice (2005)
• Contract Schools Bring Innovative New Choices to Denver Public Schools (2005)
• Denver’s ProComp and Teacher Compensation Reform in Colorado (2007)

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The times are changing in Washington, D.C. And that means federal education policy is on the table. What about No Child Left Behind? Should it be eliminated, or just modified? What is worth keeping, and what’s not?

Starting today and going until Thursday, over at the NewTalk website, a group of education experts discuss the question: “Should we scrap No Child Left Behind?” The discussion is moderated by our good friend and prolific scholar Jay Greene. NewTalk is a project of the national legal reform group Common Good.

Panelists include Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform, Neal McCluskey from Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, the Hoover Institution’s Eric Hanushek, and Elaine Gantz Berman from the Colorado State Board of Education.

Take some time in the next couple days to head over and check out the discussion, which is sure to be thoughtful and lively.

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According to the Alamosa Valley Courier, the Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could redefine how (and how much) schools are funded:

A lawsuit initiated by Anthony Lobato and family of Center along with 14 San Luis Valley school districts and other districts statewide will go before the state Supreme Court sometime early next year, according to attorney Kathleen Gebhardt.

Lobato vs. the State Board of education [sic] went before the Court of Appeals in Denver for oral argument Jan. 7 of this year. The Appeals Court quickly returned a decision stating that the State had no jurisdiction in the matter, so the case could not be referred for trial to the appropriate court.

I haven’t had the chance yet to take the course in civics that teaches the different jobs of different branches of government. But I’m told that the legislature is elected to make laws, and the judges are appointed to interpret them. The history of these kinds of school finance lawsuits in other states should teach us this is the wrong path to go down.

But then comes a statement in the Courier article that needs plenty of clarification:

The current Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) law further limits the amount of funds schools receive. TABOR requires that schools set aside a certain reserve in their budgets as a hedge against government growth, requiring that any excess funds in given years be returned to taxpayers.

“This has really ratcheted down the government’s ability to provide funds for schools,” Center Schools Superintendent George Welsh commented. While he feels the law was intended to be beneficial, legislators failed to foresee the negative effects it could have on school funding, he said.

First of all, it’s the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, not the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. And it wasn’t passed by the legislature. It was a constitutional amendment approved by Colorado voters in 1992.

But anyway, what are the supposed negative effects? In 1992-93, when TABOR passed, Colorado spent $5,785 per K-12 student. In 2005-06 (most recent data), Colorado spent $9,897 per K-12 student. After you take away inflation, that’s an increase of 16.7 percent per student. Maybe some school leaders were hoping for a 26.7 percent increase per pupil - in that sense, TABOR would be seen as having “negative effects”. But there’s no doubt that Colorado schools have continued to be funded at reasonable rates.

Whatever the school finance amount should be, let’s leave it up to the people and their elected representatives - not unelected judges.

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Last week, I introduced you to two candidates for Colorado’s State Board of Education from the 3rd Congressional District - Democrat Jill Brake and Republican Marcia Neal - but had to close with an important question about them:

I know I can sound like a broken record at times, but wouldn’t it be good to know where Ms. Brake and Ms. Neal stand on school choice (e.g., charter schools, online schools, open enrollment)? What about expanding local innovation? The students and parents of Colorado - especially those trapped in failing schools - deserve to know.

So my friends in the Education Policy Center went back and did a little research, and followed up with emails to each of the candidates to give them a fair chance to explain themselves on where they stand on school choice and local innovation.
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The big election is less than a month away. A few of the races that get little attention - but many Coloradans will have to decide - are the contests for the State Board of Education. Few Colorado voters are aware that this elected body is about to become more important, as Rocky Mountain News reporter Berny Morson pointed out on Saturday:

The Colorado Board of Education labored in obscurity for years, setting rules that were mostly of interest to teachers, superintendents and other insiders.

That’s about to change. A law adopted last spring with the backing of Gov. Bill Ritter gave the board broad authority over school reform. The result could put the board’s mark on everything from statewide achievement tests to high school graduation requirements.

The article goes on to highlight the two candidates vying to represent the 3rd Congressional District (southern and western Colorado) on the State Board. These two candidates have some clearly different views. Democrat Jill Brake wants to spend more money on early childhood education, and supported the automatic education funding increase of Amendment 23 and Gov. Bill Ritter’s unconstitutional property tax hike.

On the other hand, Republican Marcia Neal - a retired Grand Junction High School teacher - believes in providing more career education opportunities for non-college-bound students, while also opposing the various education-related tax increases and spending mandates that have faced Colorado this year and in recent years past.

I know I can sound like a broken record at times, but wouldn’t it be good to know where Ms. Brake and Ms. Neal stand on school choice (e.g., charter schools, online schools, open enrollment)? What about expanding local innovation? The students and parents of Colorado - especially those trapped in failing schools - deserve to know.

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