Where we began
This joint venture among the Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Association of School Executives and Colorado Education Association began in 2007.
A kick-off training for 200 school board members, superintendents and association leaders across Colorado unveiled a new DVD, Web site, spread-the-word tool kits and school newsletter articles to help educate public school employees and school board members about conflicting constitutional mandates.
In the first year, teams of school board presidents, superintendents and local CEA presidents hosted conversations with employees and other stakeholders such as parents.
In the second year, many school district leadership teams kept up regular communication to employees. They also teamed up to host conversations with citizen groups and public service managers across Colorado.
Today
As 2011 gets closer, the buzz about this issue escalates. While Colorado has taken small steps forward, they’re not enough. The state budget will be at the edge of a cliff in 2011.
The state cut $1.4 billion from essential public services in the past two years. And revenues are projected to fall short by more than $1 billion over the next two years.
Colorado’s largest investments are in K–12 education, prisons and health care. Those investments are growing to the point where there will be no money for any other programs within five years. That’s because conflicting rules in the constitution dictate spending – regardless of drops in state revenue.
To move toward solutions, a long-term fiscal stability commission appointed by the Colorado legislature is studying the state’s tangled fiscal web. The commission will recommend solutions in November 2009.
CASB, CASE and CEA presented about the Believe in a Better Colorado initiative to the commission in July 2009. Click here to see the slide presentation. Other groups concerned about Colorado’s constitutional knot also presented to the commission – groups such as the Bell Policy Center, Colorado School Finance Project, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, Center for Colorado’s Economic Future, and many more.