Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A bill that would allow Colorado school board members to get paid is headed to the governor’s desk after lawmakers agreed to amendments that would limit board member compensation and require a public meeting before board members decide on compensation.
School board members in Colorado currently cannot receive any compensation. Proponents of the measure said that paying school board members would make service more feasible for working-class community members who might not be able to afford a babysitter or to miss a few hours of work to attend meetings.
“There are significant barriers to serving,” said co-sponsor state Sen. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat, in a committee hearing last week. “There are systemic issues, and this is just a little step forward to make sure public service is accessible to those who cannot afford that financial hit.”
The lawmaker who last year helped state employees earn the ability to form unions for purpose of collective bargaining is now looking to expand that right to every public employee in the state.
That would include anyone employed by cities, counties, school, library or fire districts, public colleges or universities, or the office of the state public defender, according to an April 6 working draft obtained by Colorado Politics. Â
House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, who sponsored the 2020 state employee union bill, is sponsoring the legislation to give public employees a say in workplace conditions. They should be allowed to have that conversation, and this bill gives them an avenue to have those conversations, she said.Â
Oppose the firing of Mitchell High School educators in Colorado!
The Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee demands that the Colorado Department of Education and the District 11 Board of Education immediately rescind the layoff of all teachers and schools staff at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs.
Over 100 educators and staff members were notified in January that school administrators were laying them all off at the end of the school year and forcing any staff who wish to remain to re-apply for their own jobs. This is not just an attack on Mitchell High School educators, but a clear threat to all the state’s educators, as it creates a precedent for mass layoffs.
Apr 27, 2021
Colorado is dealing with a severe shortage of teachers, and more could be leaving the profession. The Colorado Education Association says 40 percent of teachers who responded to a survey said they are considering leaving, citing several factors including low pay, long hours and pandemic hardship.
We discuss the survey results with Colorado Education Association President Amie Baca-Oehlert.
By Melanie Asmar and Jason Gonzales
Chalkbeat Colorado
Thousands of Colorado students are referred to law enforcement each year by principals, teachers and other school staff, and even more students are ticketed or arrested by police.
A bill introduced in the state legislature last month would have dramatically decreased those types of interactions between students and police, springing a leak in what’s known as the school-to-prison pipeline. But educators, school district officials, and law enforcement agencies all raised concerns, with the strongest opponents even saying the bill would legalize crime.
On Tuesday, the day before the bill was scheduled for a first hearing in the legislature, the bill’s sponsors announced they were killing the legislation.