Amendment 39 - Colorado

Most of you know that I am very passionate about education. I feel that Amendment 39 will have severe repercussions that will damage our educational system well into the future.

Great Education is a coalition organization that is trying to raise education in Colorado to the forefront of the political debate. I recently attended one of their community meetings they held where they asked people to come and discuss what they felt was needed in schools in Colorado. The meeting was enlightening and I believe it gathered input from the people who matter most...local parents, teachers, board members and principals. I trust this organization because they are working with local communities to find out what the real issues are. That is why I chose to forward their email below.

When a bill is opposed by Superintendants, Teachers, Unions and School Boards, that should send a strong message to everyone. As a former teacher, I can tell you that education is a very complex, complicated issue and unless you have worked or been intimitely involved with a school in the last 10 years, it is hard to comprehend all of the challenges. It is so important that we listen to the people who understand those challenges the best...the teachers, principals and school boards that are in the trenches of education.

Amendment 39 not only hurts education by forcing many schools to pull money away from critical support positions like counselors, parapros (teacher's aides), janitors, security, etc. but I think it also sets a very dangerous precedent of allowing people outside of education to dictate what to spend educational dollars on. If this amendment passes, I'm sure that in coming years we will see new assaults on classroom funding from people who, I believe, really have no concept of the challenges faced in schools. If we let this one pass, it will become open season on education and everyone will suffer. Take it from someone who has been there, done that...this amendment is bad news.

If the supporters of this bill really wanted to help classroom funding, a more sensible bill would be to raise school funding AND guarantee that more/all money from the new funding went into the classroom. This would get more money to the classroom (a goal that everyone in education believes is good and necessary) without eliminating critical support that would ultimately hurt what happens in the classroom.

I would be happy to discuss my position further with any of you, but felt strongly enough about this issue to forward the information below.

Thanks and I hope you all are doing well!
Nathan

Great Education wrote: From: "Great Education"
To: "nrkaret@yahoo.com"
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:04:14 -0700
Subject: Important Election Information: Amendment 39

Great Education Colorado urges you to vote NO on Amendment 39.

Protect our schools by spreading the word.

Dear Nathan:

You might expect that, as an organization that advocates for better public school funding, Great Education Colorado would support a ballot initiative that is supposed to increase classroom funding. You might expect that the PTA and teachers would support it, too.

But not if that initiative is Amendment 39. Great Education Colorado, the Colorado PTA and just about every education and teacher group in Colorado opposes Amendment 39.

Why? Because Amendment 39 pretends to help schools, but in reality it would mandate cuts in such critical support services as school safety, transportation, counseling, school nurses, and nutrition.

And it won't add a dime to overall K-12 funding in Colorado. [To learn more, link here.]

Right now, Amendment 39 is doing well in the polls, because it sounds good. That's why we need you to take just 30 seconds to help defeat this deceptive initiative by forwarding this message to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues.

You probably won't see a lot of commercials opposing Amendment 39 on TV. It's word of mouth that is going to defeat this "65% deception," a ballot initiative that cynicallly preys on the public's desire to see more spending in the classroom. You can help by forwarding this message right now.

Need to hear more? Think about this: if Amendment 39 were currently the law, most school districts would not be able to spend additional money on school safety and security, even if their local communities believed that to be a high priority. Amendment 39 requires that 65% of all operating dollars be spent "in the classroom." That excludes all the services that keep kids safe, warm, fed, healthy and supported in the classroom. It even excludes what it takes to get them to the classroom.

Great Education Colorado exists to bring about better funding in the classroom -- but not at the cost of the health, safety and well-being of our kids. For the sake of Colorado's kids, please vote NO on Amendment 39 -- and please tell others to do the same. Forward this message to other public schools supporters right away to help expose the 65% deception.

Together, we can protect our children from this very bad idea.

Sincerely,


The Great Education Team