Jared Polis Foundation Education Report Spring 2003

The Jared PolisEducation Report

Spring 2003

Not Paid for by Tax Dollars

It is with great pleasure that I bring you this Education Report lled with useful information on cyberschools, St. Vrain, and school nance. While the state is mired in a recession, it is par-ticularly important to stay informed on education issues so that our children are not the victims of our budget crisis. Thanks for staying informed and involved!

Vice Chair - Colorado State Board of Education

Dear coloradoans,


Spring 2003


Spring 2003

For specic information aboutyour local school district,

please visit www.cde.state.co.us

The St. Vrain School District- located in Boulder, Broomeld, Larimer, and Weld counties- is facing what is perhaps the worst school budget crisis in State history. This article will explain what happened and what is being done to prevent this disaster from occurring anywhere else.

The District’s decit resulted from using inated numbers to cover expense overruns for three years. St. Vrain also overestimated reserves and underestimated salary costs; including failing to consider the previous year’s summer salaries, undercounting 150 full-time employ-ees, and neglecting to add salary increases to the budget. Disturb-ingly, the District’s accounting rm actually signed off on its audited nancials. Accordingly, State policy makers are exploring ways to tighten auditing procedures for school dis-tricts in Colorado.

To keep serving the students of St. Vrain, the State provided a $15 mil-lion interest-free loan to help keep the District aoat. This loan is in addition to the nearly $44 million that the District has borrowed from the State since 1999. St. Vrain agreed to meet several criteria to ensure that it could make the District solvent and repay the loan:

Loan Agreement Facts: • 7.1% pay cut for teachers and

classied staff • 15% decrease in non-salary items • Average of 13% pay cut for all

administrators • 35% cut in administrative costs

next year • Freeze lling vacancies

hat Happened in St. Vrain?WThe District is also planning to elim-inate 21 administrative positions. With these measures, the District expects to have a $3-5 million short-fall at year’s end but a balanced budget by June 2004.

Last November voters approved a $212.9 million bond to build 10 new schools - six of them immediately. The District is proceeding with only four of the six new schools at this time with the other two likely delayed by one year. The new facili-ties are to relieve overcrowding, as district schools are at 97% of capac-ity, which includes a record-break-ing increase of 2,466 students for the last three years. In the fastest growing areas of the district, 14 schools are 100% over capacity.

The State Board of Education is looking at the nancial status of districts through its accreditation process. Legislators are considering several proposals to aid districts and prevent a similar situation in the future, including:

• Allowing land sales • Increasing school board oversight • Accounting for certain

budgeting techniques • Requiring accurate public

information in bond elections

For more information, visit our web-site at www.jaredpolisfoundation.org.

University of Northern Colorado’s Youth Entrepreneurship Confer-ence & Business Competition: The Institute for Entrepreneurship and UNC host a mountain states event providing students (ages 8-18), their teachers, and parents an opportunity to gain rsthand experi-ence with youth business. The con-ference is broken down into two educational tracks, – one for students and the other for teachers (a for-credit option for teachers is available). This year, a track has been added for the parents of budding entrepreneurs. This conference targets not only stu-dents already engaged in business enterprises but also those who have a future interest in starting one.For additional information please contact: David Cessna, (970) [email protected]

OWL.org: This FREE service is provided by the National Education Association and its State and Local Afliates. Devoted to “Educators Helping Educators,” OWL.org is an

nnovations In Education

online community where educators connect to share their knowledge and experience. OWL.org supports teachers and school staff with practical tips, strategies, and edu-cational materials. For additional information visit www.owl.org

Girls Embrace Technology Intern-ships (GET): Supported by CU Boulder’s Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) and the Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Programs, GET provides a six-week IT internship experience to 36 high school girls. The objective is to actively engage them in a “job-like” experience to explore their potential for a career in engineering and technology.

The 2003 interns will create a stand-alone multimedia software product to teach elementary-level students about the fate of various contami-nants introduced into river systems.For additional information please contact:Lucy Sanders at [email protected]

I

The Jared Polis Foundation promotes technol-ogy, community, and education in Colorado. The Foundation currently supports three pro-grams. One of our programs offers the latest technology on a traveling school bus where students learn a standards-based curriculum. Another program refurbishes and redeploys donated computers for education and training in underserved neighborhoods. In addition, the Foundation publishes the Jared Polis Education Report to keep citizens informed about what is happening in Colorado’s K-12 education environment.

bout The Jared Polis FoundationA

Colorado is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. State lawmakers need to cut expen-ditures by more than $900 million, about 15% of the State General Fund Budget, to create a balanced budget this year. They will also need to decide how to deal with an expected $870 million shortfall next year.

Proponents of a strong public edu-cational system, including the State Board of Education, have helped legislators and the media under-

stand that the budget can not be xed at the expense of education alone; and any major changes in school funding must be mixed with changes to the TABOR (the “Taxpay-ers Bill Of Rights”) and the Gallagher Amendment. The TABOR amend-ment, passed by voters in 1992, limits State taxes and spending by the rate of ination plus population

unding Failures & Future FixesFgrowth; the Gallagher Amendment, passed by voters in 1982, limits the growth of residential property taxes.Recently, many of Colorado’s edu-cational leaders agreed to support a ballot issue to allow the people to change Amendment 23, which offers some protection to school funding, and in combination with major changes to TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment to help the State make it through this nancial crisis.

As a State Constitutional Amend-ment, Amendment 23 protects Kindergarten through 12th grade educational funding. The measure requires yearly State education spending increases at the rate of ination plus one percent through 2011 and at the rate of ination there-after. Voters passed this initiative because Colorado’s per pupil spend-

ing fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s, which dropped the State from 18th nationally in 1983 to 39th in 2002, according to the Federal government (see chart above).

Some say the roots of the State fiscal problems are in the tax limitation amendments to the State Constitution; namely TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment. The mixture of these two provisions, plus permanent tax cuts approved during the 1990s, cut local funding to schools forcing the State to pay more, which was still not enough to stop the fall in state per pupil fund-ing. This situation led voters to pass Amendment 23 in 2000.

Both of the major Denver daily newspapers have supported this comprehensive approach involving the three amendments. This summer, several state working groups will look at possible changes to these three constitutional amendments which must be approved by voters. Citizens may participate in these meetings and offer their views. For more information contact 303-333-3580 or e-mail Jared Polis at [email protected] or his policy director Scott Groginsky at [email protected]

To request school accountability reports visit our website at

www.jaredpolisfoundation.org

There is a new type of student in Colorado: the cyberstudent. Currently, over 3000 Colorado students are enrolled in online courses. These online classes can enhance learning for a wide range of students, especiallystudents with the following characteristics:

Some cyberstudents also take one or more classes in a traditional neighborhood school, such as physical education, music, art or other courses unavailable in cyberschools. Online teachers regularly communi-cate with students by e-mail and phone, and some classes have group discussions online or by conference call. To nd out more about Colorado cyberschools, visit www.jaredpolisfoundation.org/cyberschools

ow Students in Colorado Can Take Courses Online!

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• Students with social difculties in physical classroom settings

• Students with disabilities orparticular learning needs

• Teen parents or pregnant teens

• Dropouts or expelled students• Students requiring long-term

hospitalization or• Students needing access to

advanced or remedial courses unavailable in a physical school.