Colorado Education

Independent Citizens Action Network

CO Education

[JPG 566KB] The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is the administrative arm of the Colorado State Board of Education (SBE). As indicated on its official website, the SBE is charged by the Colorado Constitution with the general supervision of the public schools. The SBE has numerous powers and duties specified in state law. CDE, in turn, has many tasks and responsibilities, which are assigned as illustrated by the one-page CDE organizational chart [PDF 128KB].

The Colorado Model Content Standards represent the fundamental knowledge and skills Coloradoans expect that students should possess at various intervals as they move through their educational careers. CDE is the best source for information about these requirements.

CDE released on August 7, 2009 the results of the 2009 Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). CDE released on December 9, 2008 the School Accountability Reports (SARs) for each Colorado school. ICAN has provided comments and other information on the Colorado SAR Ratings page and on the Colorado CSAP page and its lower-level pages for tabulations of the 1997-2009 results for Reading, Writing, Math, and Science.

CDE has extensive information necessary to understand the processes used to allot funds to Colorado school districts. The CDE Public School Finance page also provides links to a statewide summary of public education funding, district-by-district data, and a downloadable worksheet that can be used to calculate individual district funding.

Colorado's statewide management strategies for school improvement have been evolving during the past few years (as reported by CDE):

CDE September 12, 2007 35-page "Forward Thinking" report and July 30, 2008 12-page progress report
CDE "Education Reform in Colorado" website page
CDE "Accreditation Process Improvements" website page
CDE "Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K)" website page
CDE "Colorado Growth Model" website page
CDE "P-20 Council" website page
CDE "Standards Revision" website page

Education accountability:

The SB09-163 bill replaces the current accreditation process with new systems performance indicators, performance plans, governance, and web-based reporting to improve alignment with the Colorado growth model and its longitudinal data.
The 104-page introduced SB09-163 [PDF 331KB] (education accountability system) was introduced in the Senate on February 3 and assigned to the Education (SEC) and Appropriations (SAC) committees.
According to the February 17 SB09-163 Fiscal Impact [PDF 39KB], CDE requires a reduction in General Fund appropriations of $26,414 and a 2.7 FTE increase for FY 2009-10.
On February 19 SEC referred SB09-163, as amended, to SAC by a 7-0-1 vote as noted in the Bill Summary.
According to the March 31 SB09-163 Fiscal Impact [PDF 31KB], CDE requires a reduction in General Fund appropriations of $1,779 and a 2.7 FTE increase for FY 2009-10.
On April 3 SAC referred SB09-163, as amended, to the Senate Committee of the Whole (SCW) by a 10-0 vote as noted in the Bill Summary.
On April 16 SCW passed SB09-163, as amended [PDF 486KB], on Third Reading by a 28-7 vote (Senate Journal pages 1120-21 [PDF 36KB]); refer to April 16 Education News Colorado article ("Charter bonds bill a done deal").
That 153-page bill then was introduced in the House on April 16 and assigned to the Education (HEC) and Appropriations (HAC) committees.
On April 27 HEC referred SB09-163, as amended, to HAC by a 13-0 vote as noted in the Bill Summary.
On April 29 HAC referred SB09-163, as amended, to the House Committee of the Whole (HCW) by a 13-0 vote as noted in the Bill Summary.
On April 29 HCW passed SB09-163, as amended [PDF 527KB], on Second Reading (House Journal pages 1616-17 [PDF 14KB]).
On April 30 HCW passed SB09-163, as amended [PDF 529KB], on Third Reading by a 65-0 vote (House Journal pages 1627-28 [PDF 15KB])
On May 1 SCW passed SB09-163, as amended, on Third Reading by a 28-5-2 vote (Senate Journal page 1476 [PDF 8KB]); refer to May 1 Education News Colorado article ("Accountability bill heads to governor").
On May 15 the 125-page SB09-163 [PDF 431KB] was sent to Governor Ritter, who signed this bill on May 21 as noted in his press release ("Sweeping Education Reforms").

Public school financial transparency:

The SB09-057 bill requires most school districts to have searchable budget database websites that include data concerning actual revenues and expenditures.
The five-page introduced SB09-057 [PDF 20KB] (public school financial transparency) was introduced in the Senate on January 8 and assigned to the Education committee (SEC).
According to the January 26 SB09-057 Fiscal Impact [PDF 31KB], there is no state appropriation required for FY 2009-10. However, "... Some districts will have almost no costs to implement the provisions of this bill.... For other local education providers, ... implementation of each financial data system will cost approximately $11,840."
On January 29 SEC referred SB09-057, as amended [PDF 22KB], to the Senate Committee of the Whole (SCW) by an 8-0 vote.
On February 13 SCW passed SB09-057, as amended [PDF 25KB], on Second Reading (Senate Journal page 306 [PDF 19KB]).
On February 19 SCW passed SB09-057, as amended [PDF 25KB], on Third Reading by a 26-8 vote (Senate Journal page 394 [PDF 19KB]); refer to February 19 Education News Colorado article ("Final Senate OK for 'check stubs' bill").
That bill then was introduced in the House on March 2 and assigned to the Education (HEC) committee.
On March 19 HEC postponed indefinitely (8-5 party-line vote) that bill as noted in the Bill Summary
.
- March 16 Colorado Spending Transparency article ("Exposed: Ed lobby strategy to oppose transparency")
- March 19 Denver Post article ("Panel kills online school district records")
- March 20 Sunshine Review SB09-057 website page
- March 20 Face the State article ("Lobbyists kill school transparency bill")
- March 20 Denver Daily News article ("Transparency cloaked?")

ICAN is aware that there have been many obvious attempts by the "education establishment" to adversely weaken accountability requirements for Colorado school districts, schools, and officials (school boards, superintendents, etc.). Governor Bill Owens (before his term-limited departure in January, 2007) had effectively opposed attempts to weaken those statutory requirements. However, ICAN has noted that some persons aligned with Colorado "education establishment" organizations have continued to implement more tactics to weaken accountability.

In 2008 the most brazen attempt to weaken statutory requirements for accountability for student academic performance was HB08-1357 (alignment of CSAPs with minimum federal requirements):

That bill was an attempt to amend CSAP testing to eliminate all writing CSAPs in grades 3-8 and all CSAPs in grades 9 and 10.
On May 5, 2008 SEC postponed indefinitely (4-3 vote) that bill as noted in the Bill Summary.
On March 6, 2009 the two-page introduced HB09-1304 [PDF 12KB] (two-year suspension of all writing CSAPs in grades 3-8 and all CSAPs in grades 9 and 10) was introduced in the House and assigned to the Education committee (HEC).
- That initial version already has 31 listed sponsors (30 Democrats and one Republican).
- The March 13 fiscal note calculates for FY 2009-10 a decrease in appropriations of $6,846,255 ($6,279,336 is General Fund, and $566,919 is federal funds).
- According to an Education News Colorado March 16 article, "First, the main act of the day was to be House Bill 09-1304, which would suspend CSAP writing tests and all 9th and 10th grade tests. But, Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs and committee chair, pulled it off the agenda hours before the meeting convened. (Sponsor Sen. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, reportedly is still trying to round up votes. The bill has significant Democratic support in the House but less in the Senate, and the Department of Education is lobbying to kill it.)"
- On March 23 HEC amended and then postponed indefinitely (7-6 vote) that bill after considering opposition from CDE, Colorado Children's Campaign, CASB, and CASE, followed by support from CEA, AFT, and PTA as noted in the Bill Summary; refer to March 23 Education News Colorado article ("House Ed kills CSAP bill").

Governor Ritter's "Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K)" calls for development of a comprehensive education reform strategy that would align PK (preschool), K-12, and postsecondary educational systems:

The two-page outline [PDF 27KB] of elements of that proposal was presented at the January 17, 2008 Joint Education Committee meeting, which was attended by all 20 members.
The 40-page introduced SB08-212 [PDF 129KB] (alignment of preschool to postsecondary education) was introduced in the Senate on March 24.
On May 14, 2008 the 48-page SB08-212 was sent to Governor Ritter, who signed this bill on May 14 as noted in his press release.
On June 30, 2009, as reported in an Education News Colorado June 30 article ("A big CAP4K task is finished"), in a formal joint meeting the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) and the State Board of Education (SBE) formally adopted a description of postsecondary and workforce readiness. That CCHE and SBE three-page document [PDF 25KB] details "the knowledge, skills, and behaviors essential for high school graduates to be prepared to enter college and the workforce and to compete in the global economy."

Closing the achievement gap:

The Colorado Closing the Achievement Gap Commission was created in 2003 by the General Assembly under C.R.S. 22-7-612.
The State Board of Education reviewed the 37-page November 1, 2004 interim report [PDF 132KB] of the Commission and responded with a six-page commentary [PDF 28KB].
Commission members presented their report and answered questions at the February 2, 2005 joint meeting [PDF 38KB] of the House Education Committee and the Senate Education Committee.
The Commission's 42-page final report [PDF 405KB] (which included Table of Contents [PDF 9KB], Foreword [PDF 11KB], and Executive Summary [PDF 12KB]) was issued on November 16, 2005.
Other information is available on the CDE "Closing the Achievement Gap" website page.

More information is available on the ICAN Colorado Education Archive2 page.

Last modified: 08/08/2009

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Copyright © 2003-2009 Independent Citizens Action Network (ICAN). All Rights Reserved.