2025 Handbook on K-12 Policy Issues for Colorado
One of the Education Policy Center’s primary goals is to educate local education leaders about important education policy issues, thereby equipping them to make intelligent, well-informed decisions in their school districts. Biennially, we update our K-12 policy issues school board member handbook to provide leaders with historical and current information from a common-sense perspective on […]
Establishing New Public Schools of Choice: An Alternative Pathway
Establishing New Public Schools of Choice: An Alternative Pathway highlights the role of educational service agencies, specifically Colorado’s Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), in authorizing alternative public schools of choice. The Education reEnvisioned BOCES (ERBOCES) is noted for its creation of brick-and-mortar schools, offering children additional educational opportunities. Yet, ERBOCES faced a legal challenge […]
Municipal-Level Tax Credit Scholarships: A Way to Build on Existing Success
Municipal-Level Tax Credit Scholarships: A Way to Build on Existing Success, authored by Senior Education Fellow Ross Izard, examines the potential of a municipal-level tax credit scholarship program to mitigate the disruption families experience when transitioning their children from private or faith-based preschool to higher grades. Such a program would build upon existing Colorado programs, such […]
Ways Forward on Five Key School District Policies
The Education Policy Center has educated Colorado school board members about policy issues since 2005. Ways Forward on Five Key School District Policies is a publication designed to give school board members a starting point when considering five impactful policy changes. Each school district is unique and requires a tailored approach; therefore, numerous policy variations […]
Colorado Foster and Kinship Children
Foster and kinship children too often miss out on supplemental services and activities. A new breed of program called a Supplemental Educational Support Account (SESA) would provide a set amount of annual funding for each student that can be used for services such as tutoring, therapies, music lessons, specialized programs, transportation, and a wide variety […]
2023 Handbook on K-12 Policy Issues for Colorado School Board Members
One of the Education Policy Center’s primary goals is to educate local education leaders about important education policy issues, thereby equipping them to make intelligent, well-informed decisions in their school districts. Biennially, we update our K-12 policy issues school board member handbook to provide leaders with historical and current information from a common-sense perspective on […]
Merit Academy: A Story of Perseverance
Merit Academy: A Story of Perseverance tells the eventful story of how citizens in the small community of Woodland Park realized a gap in educational options. Determined to meet the needs of families, they worked against all odds so that families wouldn’t have to drive their children long distances to other communities. Read about Merit […]
American Birthright Social Studies Standards: A Discussion
The Civics Alliance, a coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to improving America’s civics education, has created American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards. The Civics Alliance is a project of the National Association of Scholars. Pam Benigno, director of Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center, interviewed Dr. David Randall, the Executive Director […]
Public School Choice and Authorization in Colorado
Colorado public school choice, while widespread, is limited by authorization processes and requirements that can be burdensome for new schools of choice, particularly when those processes involve hostile authorizing entities.
An Examination of Colorado and Federal Laws Regarding Transgender/Gender Noncomforming Students and Employees
School districts have been adopting polices regarding the rights of LGBTQ students and employees. On September 1, 2022, Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center hosted a webinar titled: An Examination of Colorado and Federal Laws Regarding Transgender/Gender Noncomforming Students and Employees. Eric Hall, a Colorado Springs attorney with Sparks Wilson, P.C., explained what the law requires […]
Curriculum Transparency: A Must for Effective Parent-Teacher Partnerships
Due to extended periods of virtual learning, heightened social tensions, and extensive media coverage of a variety of hot-button issues, parents have taken a keener interest in the business of their children’s education than at any other time in recent memory. Parents have demanded more access to information regarding which curricula schools adopt, which educational […]
2021 Handbook on K-12 Issues for Colorado School Board Members
One of the Education Policy Center’s primary goals is to educate local education leaders about important education policy issues, thereby equipping them to make smart, well-informed decisions in their school districts. As part of that effort, the Education Policy Center staff provide biennial education policy briefings to all interested school board candidates, regardless of political […]
