Gov. Bill Ritter’s final State of the State address on Thursday was almost a microcosm of his three years in office.
He reminded Coloradans, often, of the gains the state has made in renewable energy and pledged to do even more. Yet his optimism otherwise was girded by his sober assessment of the state budget.
“… While an economic recovery is indeed underway, a revenue recovery is a year away,” Ritter said. “That means more tough, unpopular, but necessary, decisions.
“We’re going to have to do things we don’t want to do.”
Rather than offering up new, bold initiatives, he instead marked his administration’s accomplishments and was eager to build upon what’s already been started. In this unsteady economy, that makes sense.
However, we think the governor can still make a monumental impact on K-12 education without further taxing the budget.
He spoke Thursday of modernizing teacher and student assessments, including replacing the CSAP exams with a new test. But that’s also what he told us in his State of the State speech two years ago, when he first outlined those plans.
Education reform has moved forward quickly since then, and as Colorado prepares to submit its bid for federal Race to the Top money, much more needs to be done.
Ritter should have signalled loud and clear that he wants a teacher-tenure bill on his desk this spring. Reshaping teacher tenure laws and tying evaluations to professional development would significantly upgrade K-12 education.
The Senate has fast-tracked a bill that would allow institutions that teach teachers and principals to track how effective their training programs are by how well their graduates perform in the classroom. That’s a good step, but then what? What if we find one school is producing more effective teachers than another? The state should provide some way to reward those schools, while getting others up to speed.
As Ritter noted Thursday, “the stakes are high, because if there is one single key that unlocks the doors of opportunity, it’s education.”
In his three years as governor, Ritter has helped push education reform, but his voice is more important than ever as the state vies for federal money. He needs to continue to champion changes that are bold and meaningful.
Renewable energy may be his legacy as governor, but reforming K-12 education may be his most important effort.
