Colorado is looking “10, 20, 50 years” out to find solutions to today’s education problems, Gov. Bill Ritter said Tuesday as he introduced the co-chairs of a new panel charged with overseeing education reform.
Ritter selected Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, businessman Bruce Benson and Colorado State University at Pueblo president Joe Garcia to lead the P-20 (preschool to “grade 20”) Education Coordinating Council.
The advisory panel was established by executive order in April to help Ritter achieve his goal of cutting the drop-out rate and achievement gap in half within 10 years and to double the amount of post-secondary degrees and certificates earned by Colorado college students by 2017.
The panel will examine problems facing Colorado’s education system from preschool through graduate school.
Panel members will begin work immediately, and their work will be ongoing. Legislation recommendations for the 2008 General Assembly will be submitted by the end of November, Ritter said.
Ritter said there is no time limit for the council because it deals with substantive changes and reforms that will take years to get into place.
O’Brien served as president of the Colorado Children’s campaign for 15 years and helped create the Colorado Small School’s Initiative and the Colorado Preschool Program.
Prior to being named president of CSU-Pueblo, Garcia was president of Pikes Peak Community college in Colorado Springs.
Benson, the president and owner of a domestic gas- and oil-production company, has served as chairman of the Metropolitan State College of Denver board and on former Gov. Bill Owens’ Blue Ribbon Panel on Higher Education for the 21st Century. He said that although he has the least amount of experience in early childhood education, he understands its importance in creating a strong workforce.
“It is a lot easier and a lot less expensive to fix the problems earlier than to go back and fix them later,” he said.
Staff writer Simona Gallegos can be reached at 303-954-1555 or at sgallegos@denverpost.com.
