DENVER—A panel looking for ways to streamline Colorado education from preschool to graduate school on Tuesday endorsed higher pay for teachers, changing statewide achievement tests and tracking troubled students to reduce dropout rates.
Gov. Bill Ritter, who convened the task force, praised the recommendations but warned some will take time and money.
“This is not just about today, this is not just about tomorrow, this is about future generations,” he said.
Ritter said it will be up to state lawmakers to decide which recommendations to pursue when they convene in January, but the commission will continue to study ways to improve education.
The panel approved 15 recommendations, including proposals to expand full-day kindergarten for at-risk children, begin tracking children’s progress when they are 3 or 4 years old and set up a $10 million fund to reward good teachers.
Only three of the proposals attracted any “no” votes, though some panel members abstained on the other 12.
The recommendation that generated the most opposition would modify statewide achievement tests to track individual students’ progress throughout their public school years, as well as to evaluate schools. Currently, the tests are used primarily to evaluate schools but do not track a student’s development from one grade to the next.
It was approved on an 18-10 vote with three abstentions.
The other proposals that were approved over opposition would set up a system to hold educators accountable for ensuring that funding is used efficiently and establish separate paths for career training and college preparation.
When the task force began meeting, Ritter told members not to concern themselves with how their recommendations would be funded. On Tuesday he told them lawmakers would have to consider costs, and that it may take several sessions of the Legislature to deal with some of the more costly recommendations.
“We have to think about priorities. It begins to be a lot to do for state government,” Ritter said.
