Colorado’s bid to get an additional $500 million in federal funding to improve education has unearthed a lot of people who want a piece of the action — and the money.
More than 200 education advocates, lobbyists, business groups and community leaders packed a church Monday to hear Gov. Bill Ritter and Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien talk about the state’s quest for a competitive grant that could bring hundreds of millions of additional dollars to Colorado’s school districts.
The diverse group — museum presidents, college presidents, lobbyists, school principals, business leaders and people with something to sell — is an early symbol of the power and influence already on tap as economic-stimulus money begins arriving.
And the pressure is on Ritter and his staff to spend it cleanly: Colorado is one of 16 states the U.S. General Accounting Office has chosen to follow as it spends stimulus dollars. The state has almost 150 funding streams coming in amounting to $7 billion.
If competitive grants, like this extra education money called “Race to the Top,” go well, the state could receive $8 billion.
On the education front, Colorado has a lot of work to do. In most areas, the state is just average or below-average in student achievement, graduation rates and college-completion rates. Superintendents across the state say they struggle to find high- quality teachers in math and science.
“It’s not like we can rest on any laurels that what we’ve done is sufficient,” O’Brien told those assembled.
Already, Colorado will get more than $900 million in education-stimulus money to compensate for state budget holes and boost money to poor schools, special education and vocational education.
Should Colorado win the “Race to the Top” grant, it would put the state on the national map for dramatically overhauling schools and tracking teacher performance.
“We should have rich discussion,” said Alex Medler, a vice president at the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which hopes to guide districts on how to spend the money. The campaign doesn’t expect to get any stimulus money directly. “But it’s not like everyone who shows up gets to put an ornament on the Christmas tree and that Christmas tree gets sent off to the feds.”
George Sparks, president of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, agreed. He attended Monday’s meeting and is pushing strengthening science and technology education.
“If there are grants around science education, . . . we’d obviously like to participate,” he said. “But we all need to try to focus so it’s not so broad and vanilla that we don’t differentiate ourselves from any other state.”
Four groups with 30 to 40 people each will weigh in on teacher quality, using student achievement data in the classroom, creating standards on what to teach, and strategies for improving bad schools.
The “Race to the Top” proposal, which isn’t due until October, must show the state’s commitment to improve graduation rates and scores in reading, writing and math. Advocates say longer school days, extra help in middle schools and expanding preschool programs would help accomplish those goals.
Hollie Stevenson, vice president of education for Junior Achievement, came to the meeting Monday to see whether there were any partnership opportunities available for the organization, which has never taken a federal dollar in the past.
“It doesn’t mean we wouldn’t take money,” she said.
O’Brien said she welcomes all the input and people, but she is committed to making sure “one special interest doesn’t dominate.”
“We’re the place now where all the ideas can come forward,” she said.
Allison Sherry: 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com
