Colorado parents who want accurate information about the safety of their child’s school might as well steer clear of the state’s School Accountability Reports – even though that should be their most obvious source.
It turns out that hundreds of schools are misreporting safety data, such as the number of weapons violations and drug offenses. That skews the data found on these reports that are supposed to be user-friendly guides for parents on everything from test scores to safety.
The inaccurate data gives the impression that some schools with real problems are safe-havens, while hundreds of others appear to have a more serious problem than actually exists, according to a Denver Post investigation.
The investigation comes on the heels of The Post’s story in April that showed some school districts aren’t properly reporting the number of assaults occurring on school grounds.
If districts keep putting forward fictional numbers, whether it’s because they want to look better or just don’t understand the state’s reporting guidelines, it renders the the safety portion of the accountability reports completely useless.
Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a bill Thursday that would have set up a state committee to look into why schools aren’t reporting more accurate data.
Sen. Ed Jones, R-Colorado Springs, was so concerned by The Post’s account in April that he wanted to create a committee of legislators to meet this summer on the topic. But the Senate Education Committee voted not to fund it, thinking it would repeat S.B. 214. With that vetoed, Jones said Friday he’ll use the bipartisan education caucus, created last year, as a vehicle to discuss the safety reporting problems.
Jones wants to raise community awareness with meetings in Colorado Springs and Denver, while also hearing from the school districts.
But for now, the onus for developing accurate information should be on the education department. Clearly, districts need better guidance or training to recognize what qualifies as a reportable incident.
The department also should consider auditing a handful of districts or schools each year to ensure the numbers are accurate. It makes no sense to give parents statistics that don’t match reality.
