The focus is on preschool and safer buildings as lawmakers, armed with instructions from Gov. Bill Ritter’s education panel, convene this week.
Among the loftiest proposals is a nearly $1 billion plan to fix dilapidated buildings in the poorest school districts.
The plan was the result of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s school tour from the San Luis Valley to the Eastern Plains, which began after the legislature adjourned in May.
Romanoff and Senate President Peter Groff, both Denver Democrats, want to reach into a fund generated from the 3 million acres the federal government gave Colorado school kids in 1876.
The proposal calls for taking up to $40 million annually from the nearly $100 million the fund generates each year, for two decades.
Major reforms aimed at keeping kids in school and strengthening curriculum “don’t mean anything if the building isn’t safe,” Groff said.
Majority Democrats also plan to follow the lead of the governor’s education council and expand preschool and pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk kids. And they are developing a proposal to increase teacher pay, particularly for educators willing to work in the toughest districts.
Republicans, meanwhile, will try again this year to pass stronger high school graduation requirements — including four years of math, three years of science and two years of foreign language. They also want to require passing an English proficiency test to graduate.
Similar bills passed the Senate last year and were killed by the House Education Committee, which has the reputation of being one of the toughest panels in the Capitol.
Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, is back at the helm after stepping down last session because of throat cancer and after an e-mail he wrote became public saying there was “a special place in hell” for backers of school vouchers.
Republicans are accusing Democrats of focusing too much on preschool and not enough on high school standards.
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said he isn’t ready to abandon parent responsibility and say the state will “raise kids by age 3.”
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
