DENVER—Schools are resorting to buying used textbooks at Amazon.com because the state has failed to provide enough funding for learning materials, the superintendent of an impoverished southern Colorado district said Monday.
The testimony from George Welsh, superintendent of the Center School District, started a trial in a lawsuit filed by dozens of school districts and parents who claim the Colorado Legislature’s method of school funding violates the state constitution’s promise to provide a “thorough and uniform” education.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican John Suthers have warned that if the state loses, it could be forced to pour billions more dollars into education, potentially using up most of the state’s general fund.
But attorneys challenging the state say they’re not asking for more money. Instead, they say they want a Denver district judge to rule the state has violated its constitution with a system the attorneys say disadvantages students in some of Colorado’s poorest minority communities.
Welsh, whose district in San Luis Valley is mostly Hispanic, testified that his students work with old books and an outdated curriculum, are learning high school French through a Rosetta Stone program purchased with $5,000, and use computers that function “on occasion.”
Schools in the district don’t have enough books for students to take home to study and have to share the used textbooks bought on Amazon.com for about $8, he said.
“Though our lockers don’t lock very well, you won’t find a whole lot of textbooks in them,” Welsh said with a chuckle. As Welsh discussed a photo presentation of his schools, one picture showed the old globe some students use. “You’ll note the Soviet Union still exists,” he quipped.
The lawsuit filed in 2005 tackles a question that has puzzled educators and lawmakers for years: What’s the best funding strategy that will deliver high academic marks for everyone?
State officials say Colorado has more than doubled spending on public education since 1994 and more than 40 percent of the budget now goes to education, a sharp contrast to 1939, when local property taxes made up about 95 percent of school funding.
“The state has stepped in to address this historically local issue,” said Nic Heinke, an assistant attorney general representing Colorado in the lawsuit.
Heinke said the government will present witnesses, including current and former lawmakers, who will testify that Colorado officials have made education a priority.
The state provides education funding based on a variety of factors that assess the needs of different school districts, Heinke said, but it’s ultimately up to them to decide how to use the money.
“Different local decisions yield to different local results,” he said.
Heinke said, however, that the case centers on a constitutional question, not whether the state’s education system is perfect.
Parents and 21 school districts—most of them from southern Colorado—filed the lawsuit and initially lost in district court. The appeals court also ruled against them, but the state Supreme Court reversed the rulings in October 2009, sending the case back to district court. The trial is expected to last up to five weeks.
Hickenlooper said the state budget would be crippled if the Legislature is forced to find as much as $4 billion in additional funding for education, a figure the plaintiffs says is an estimate of how underfunded Colorado schools are.
State officials argue that just putting more money into education won’t necessarily lead to a better system. Government officials have cited Wyoming and Missouri as other cases where states have been sued by groups dissatisfied with education funding. Results there have not improved, they say.
The attorneys suing the state agree that money isn’t the only answer, but they say the funds are not being used where they’re needed the most.
“You cannot just take money and throw it at the school. Money must be wisely spent,” said Kenzo Kawanabe, one of the lawyers.
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