Welcome to Great Education Colorado.
We've been across the state of Colorado collecting stories, conducting interviews, photographing, learning and teaching about the condition of Colorado's public schools. Please explore the links above and join us in our effort! Here are a few links to get you started: you can see a larger view of the map to the left (school districts we've visited) by clicking here. Check out our Actions site, where you can take action today for Colorado's Public Schools. Or, read our journal of education news. Most importantly, though, join us today!
Last week, an amendment to the School Finance Act (the "Maintenance of Effort" amendment) grabbed headlines when House Republicans claimed it as the reason they would not support Speaker Romanoff's budget reform proposal. Read More >>
Students who have little or no knowledge of English are classified as "A/B", while those who are somewhat more proficient in English are designated as "C". The number of children eligible for ELPA services grew by almost 54,000 between the 96-96 and 07-08 school years. Read on...
Pew Center on the States Study: Colorado spends a higher percentage of its state budget on prisons than all but three states. Momentum builds for school autonomy plans. Will the necessary resources follow? A new report describes the common threads among schools that are succeeding in reducing the achievement gap. Many -- like individualized attention for struggling students -- require additional resources. Will legislation encouraging autonomy take that into account?
BEST: On Sunday, November 18, Speaker Andrew Romanoff, State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, Senate President Peter Groff and other legislators unveiled the BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) program, through which growing School Lands revenues will be tapped to provide a new source of state funding to repair, renovate, and replace crumbling, antiquated and overcrowded schools throughout the state more...
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: Our affiliates, Carrying 101 petitions for the Governor and state legislators, Great Education Colorado Action members, took to the committee halls of the Capitol on Monday to deliver the message of hundreds of Coloradans: "Make Education a Top Priority." Read this news entry...
Colorado is still in the bottom quarter of states for funding K-12, according to the annual Education Week report, Quality Counts. Some of Colorado's "highlights" (found in the school finance spreadsheets): more...
BEST Passes House: On a 63 - 1 vote this morning, the House of Representatives passed HB08-1335, "Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST)".
Introduced by Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, BEST will use a portion of the annual income from Colorado's School Trust Lands to leverage as much as $1 billion to help local districts repair, replace and renovate dilapidated public schools throughout the state. If signed into law, the proposal will represent the most substantial commitment of state resources to school construction in Colorado history. Read more...
