Colorado Cyberschool Students Tell What It’s Like To Go To School Online
Colorado is a great place to be for families seeking a free online public education. There are 18 different multi-district cyberschools in the state, in addition to single-district and other supplemental online programs.
Over the past several months I’ve introduced you to insights on the transformative power of online education through a podcast interview with […]
Is There a Third Way in the Debate over Teacher Pensions?
Over at Education Next (one of my favorite stops these days), professors Robert Costrell and Michael Podgursky say there may be a way to make a positive move beyond the traditional debate over teacher pensions:
The critics of DB [defined benefit plans] are correct that current plans are seriously underfunded in part because benefits are not […]
What Now For PERA: Déjà Vu All Over Again?
Colorado’s Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA) is experiencing a financial crisis. The current financial crisis has resulted in a significant decrease in the value of PERA’s portfolio. But the financial crisis in PERA is not just the result of the current financial crisis. PERA’s defined benefit pension plan is fundamentally flawed; the problems in the plan have emerged over several decades. While the current financial crisis has exacerbated these problems, PERA is facing a long-run deterioration in its financial condition.
The legislature has enacted several reforms over the past decade to address PERA’s financial problems. These reforms have included changes in benefits, increased contribution rates, and administrative changes. Unfortunately, these reforms have failed to address the fundamental flaw in PERA’s defined benefit plan.
This Issue Paper explores the financial crisis in PERA. Different measures of the magnitude of the crisis are examined, and the flaws in PERA’s defined benefit plan are analyzed. The failed legislative reforms of PERA are critically evaluated. The Issue Paper concludes that the legislature should consider declaring a financial emergency and enacting the fundamental reforms needed to solve PERA’s financial crisis. Other states have successfully reformed their own state employee pension plans by replacing a defined benefit plan with a defined contribution plan.
Colorado’s Homeschool Law Turns Twenty: The Battle Should Never Be Forgotten
As explained by author Marya DeGrow, conflict between some Colorado public school districts and parents led to the adoption of a 1988 legislative bill that established guidelines for home education.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Will President Obama's School Reform Bring the Change Kids Need?
Barack Obama aspires to be an education president, but what kind of education president will he be? As a candidate, Obama has taken conflicting positions. Both the anti-reform National Education Association and the reformist Democrats for Education Reform claim him as their own. An analysis of candidate Obama’s education platform reveals elements of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Douglas County's Home-Grown Teachers: The Learning Center Waiver Program
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.
The Faulty Economics of Colorado's Climate Change Action Plan:A Peer Review by Benjamin Powell
With alarming rhetoric, Governor Bill Ritter unveiled his Climate Change Action Plan, an ambitious 32-page call to action outlining his goals and strategies for reducing “harmful greenhouse gas emissions,” much of which would be enacted via executive order.
Governor Ritter’s plan comes from the collaborative work of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit mostly funded
by left-leaning environmental grant makers like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. They formed the Colorado Climate Project and established the Climate Action Panel (CAP) “to develop recommendations for actions that can be taken in Colorado by the state government, local governments, water providers, the private sector, and individuals to reduce the state’s contribution and vulnerability to a changed climate.” (Appendix A, P.1, www.coloradoclimate.org) Colorado financial contributors include Pat Stryker and Denver Water.
Dark Sky Ordinances: How to Separate the Light from the Darkness
In many areas of the United States it is difficult to view the stars in the sky at night. The International Dark Sky Association2, has successfully lobbied state and local governments to pass restrictive ordinances on the type of lighting private property owners may use. These “Dark Sky laws” aim to reduce “light pollution” so as to make stargazing easier. Many of these laws, such as the City of Aspen’s, impose unfairly short deadlines in forcing property owners to replace their current lighting. Excessively severe Dark Sky laws overlook the role that lighting plays in deterring crime.
Let Colorado Water Markets Work
For 150 years, Colorado Water Law has been devel- oped with a healthy respect for property rights – protecting the prior rights to water use established by the hard work of those who came before. Most attempts to centralize water resources in Colorado have failed, although there have been repetitive attempts to implement “Soviet style” statewide water planning in Colorado. The drought of 2002 created a new wave of demands on the Colorado General Assembly to “do something” about water. But many of those demands appear to be based
on little knowledge about how Colorado water law works. Current attacks on private property water rights include proposed county “tariffs” and other restrictions on water transfers, as well as applica- tions of the “public trust doctrine”, and proposed “anti speculation” restrictions on the use of ground- water not subject to the appropriation doctrine.
Contract Schools Bring Innovative New Choices to Denver Public Schools
In an effort to improve student achievement, Denver Public Schools is expanding its school options by contracting with non-public school providers — including Escuela de Tlatelolco, Connections Academy and the New America School.
Tax and Spending Limits: Theory, Analysis, and Polic
Tax and spending limits (TELs) are budgetary rules that determine how much taxes and/or expenditures can increase from one year to the next. TELs can be statutory or constitutional rules. Statutory TELs can be modified by legislative action, while constitutional TELs can only be modified by a majority vote of citizens. TELs may originate through a legislative statute or referendum, or they may be initiated by citizens in states that provide for this form of direct democracy. TELs are now in place in 26 states.
Should Colorado Go Green?
Some Colorado politicians are attempting to develop policies to promote renewable energies (so-called green energies)* because of the perceived health and environmental risks of coal and natural gas power. Pro-green advocates often claim that renewable energies are more efficient than traditional energy generation technologies.
