Last night I was honored to host Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio by myself. I was blessed to have three great conversations – including an update on the Fort Collins city council elections with Randy Ketner, a discussion on a range of fiscal issues with prospective state treasurer candidate J.J. Ament, and 12 minutes with my wife and Independence Institute colleague, the lovely Mrs. Virtus, to talk about parental rights and homeschooling freedoms.

A rank amateur flying solo by the seat of my pants, I filled in the rest of the time with a monologue referencing several stories. Here are the links for anyone who is interested:

• Vince Carroll’s excellent “Blowing the lid off TABOR” column in yesterday’s Denver Post — which Ament also commented on
• My Education News Colorado blog post on the D.C. voucher program and questions for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan
• Are Colorado Democrats governing themselves out of the majority?
• Oops #1: BYU student newspaper accidentally replaces “apostles” with “apostates” on photo caption
• Oops #2: “PETA Killed 95 Percent of Adoptable Pets in its Care During 2008″

Other great sources referenced:

• Complete Colorado
• Parental Rights.org

Please stay tuned to RMA Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday evening (and by recorded podcast thereafter). For the sakes of everyone, my stint as a solo host was merely temporary.

It’s not often I get to sing the praises of the lovely Mrs. Virtus here on my blog. But hopefully this atones a bit for previous shortcomings.

Tune in to Backbone America with John Andrews this Sunday, April 5, during the 5:00 PM (local Mountain Time) hour — around 5:20, to be precise — to hear an interview with the lovely Mrs. Virtus on homeschooling and parental rights. You can hear it live streaming on the 710 KNUS website.

The lovely Mrs. Virtus (better known to many as Marya) will discuss her new in-depth report Colorado’s Homeschool Law Turns Twenty (PDF) – a true call to vigilance for homeschoolers and other supporters of educational freedom – as well as her experiences at Homeschool Day at the Capitol.

If you can’t wait until Sunday, you also can listen to Marya interview Treon Goossen, home education veteran and volunteer parental rights lobbyist, on this brand new iVoices podcast:

You are now without excuse.

Are the Democrats at the State Capitol trying to govern themselves out of the majority? They sure are making it easier for the GOP – with a string of shenanigans and assorted bad ideas just from the past several days:

• From slamming the door on school spending transparency
• To ignoring critical scholarly arguments in order to push through a nakedly partisan ploy to weaken Colorado’s political influence and undermine the Electoral College
• To cravenly moving a vote while a Republican lawmaker was out of town (aiding a relative with Alzheimer’s) – all to pass a constitutionally dubious bill that grants in-state tuition to illegal aliens
• To talking out loud about exploiting a partisan, anti-taxpayer state supreme court ruling to repeal some tax credits and exemptions Coloradans enjoy – during a severe recessionary strain

Swallowing the poor policy outcomes is painful, but Colorado Democrats sure are paving the way to oust themselves from power in 2010.

One of my favorite aphorisms about Colorado politics is that the House Education Committee is where good education reform goes to die.

Case in point is Senate Bill 57, the school spending transparency legislation that committee Democrats shot down after hearing more than 30 citizens and activists who volunteered to come down and testify for the bill.

Thanks to a Face The State mini-investigation, we learn today it was even worse than that:

Also known as Senate Bill 57, the bill was postponed indefinitely after four hours of committee debate that lasted late into the evening. [Democrat] Speaker Terrance Carroll and [Republican] House Minority Leader Mike May arrived to work the next morning ready to revive it. But they were too late.

When legislation is postponed indefinitely it is technically not dead until the committee report is officially filed with the House clerk. This process usually takes about a day, or at least 24 hours. If the bill is intercepted before it reaches the clerk, then a motion can be made to reintroduce it.

“I think Merrifield made a dash for the clerk’s desk,” May said, referring to Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, who chairs the House Education Committee.

Some might call this an example of irony: using an obscure legislative tactic to kill a bipartisan proposal that would more easily show citizens how their school tax funds are being spent.

Wow – just wow. Yes, as the Face The State piece points out, this is the same Mike Merrifield who said that we charter school supporters have a “special” extra crispy baking compartment reserved for us in the afterlife.

Simply put, these shenanigans occur as the result of having Democrats in charge down at the State Capitol.

Everybody’s talking about “transparency” as the buzzword at the Colorado state legislature this year: even the Sterling Journal-Advocate has taken notice.

I’ve spent plenty of time talking about what happened to Senate Bill 57 and school district transparency. But there’s also the promise of greater transparency in House Bill 1288′s proposal for a state government spending database, and the threat to transparency in House Bill 1293′s sick person tax.

My Independence Institute colleague Amy Oliver joined me to discuss these different proposals at the State Capitol on a 9-minute iVoices podcast:

The last month of the current legislative session will be a crucial time to see whether Colorado – with the Democrats in charge – will take a step forward, or a step back, on transparency.

It’s been a full week since the establishment education lobby and Democrats on the House Education Committee teamed up to kill the spending transparency in Colorado’s Senate Bill 57.

Amazingly, this little bill that (almost) could in our Colorado state legislature is still making national waves. From an essay written by Paul Miller and published today by American Thinker:

This past week in Colorado, Senate Bill 57, also called the Public School Financial Transparency Act, which simply require public school districts to put their spending online, died in committee. How could any responsible public official forbid parents from seeing how their tax-dollars are spent educating their children?

The answer to that question is simple: Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations and National Education Association.

Thank you, Paul, for keeping the spirit of this important fight alive. And same to Colorado’s own Ben Hummel — who came out today with another one of his brilliant cartoons, lampooning the politicians who told the taxpayers to take a hike on school spending transparency.

Transparency lives on….

For the record, it is worth noting that the National Education Association’s state affiliate, the Colorado Education Association (CEA), took an officially neutral position on SB 57. Its lobbyists did not provide testimony in favor or in opposition to the bill. However, the Colorado Spending Transparency blog has pointed out the link between the House Education Committee members who voted No on transparency and thousands of dollars in CEA campaign contributions received.

Tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon is the moment of truth at the Colorado state legislature for Senate Bill 57, a measure that would require school districts to open up their financial books online so citizens can search them. It goes before the House Education Committee.

Here are things you can do:

• Starting at sometime shortly after 1:30 PM local Mountain time, listen to the hearing online (House Committee Room 0112)
• Follow me on Twitter during the proceedings, or join the Tweeting yourself
• Show up at HCR 0112 and testify yourself, or just pack the room and provide moral support – nothing like an extra concerned citizen or two to remind lawmakers whom they serve
• Call or email members of the House Education Committee to make your voice heard: It’s time for our taxpayer-funded schools to put their revenues and expenses online in a searchable format

Certain lobbying groups are seeking to kill this bill quietly. Among their main concerns is that citizens will more easily be able to see the salaries of school administrators. Other arguments and tactics are being used to try to terminate transparency and stop it from happening.

By doing your small part, you can help send a message: Show Me The Money and If You Can’t Defend It, Don’t Spend It. SB 57 is endorsed by the Denver Post and the late, great Rocky Mountain News.

More information on ways you can get involved and help the cause of transparency and accountability is available at the People’s Press Collective.

Senate Bill 57, the school financial transparency bill, has defied anyone’s expectation and made it through one-half of the legislature. From the senate, it’s now on to the house.

Apparently, but not too surprisingly, the lobbyists for the education establishment are looking for a way to kill the bill without looking like they oppose transparency. The COST blog exposes the details.

School districts can use low-cost technology to place expenditures and revenues online in a searchable format; that excuse has been worn thin. So I guess it’s time to resort to other ineffective arguments, along with procedural tactics and other technicalities.

What about the people’s lobby? Will they turn out again to speak out for their right to see how their tax dollars are being spent? House Education Committee on Thursday, March 19 at 1:30 p.m.

An interesting tidbit from Cherry Creek Schools:

Jana Frieler, principal of Overland High School in the Cherry Creek School District since 2005, was voted president-elect of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) at the organization’s national conference in San Diego February 27, 2009.

Frieler will lead the 30,000- member organization in 2010-2011. Frieler has been active in principal leadership through national-level committee work and service on the NASSP Board of Directors.

Congrats to Jana Frieler on her new position. What’s the big deal with this announcement, you say? You may remember Frieler as the principal who during her first year was thrown into the fire of national controversy over teacher Jay Bennish’s outrageous and fact-challenged tirade against then-President George Bush and capitalism that was recorded by a student in his geography class.

At a press conference in March 2006, Frieler welcomed back Bennish as “a member of our Blazer family”. Well, it was precisely about this time three years ago that the controversy was brewing, and even though he still is listed as a faculty member, we haven’t heard a lick from Jay Bennish since. That very well may be due in part to Frieler’s effective leadership.

Reading the news on the Cherry Creek website was like a blast from the media frenzy past. Any connection of significance or relevance? Probably not – it just seemed like an opportunity for a quaint, provincial version of “Where Are They Now?” And to dredge up a link to one of my past writings: Because, after all, I still think the Bennish controversy makes the case for school choice.

And what about the academic record? Interestingly, Overland High’s School Accountability Report (SARs) for the past few years have earned an “Average” rating, while the new academic growth model shows Overland making above-average progress in reading, below-average progress in writing, and mixed results in math.

Update: Face The State has more, including Colorado WINS’ rude treatment of state representative Amy Stephens.

As teased last night to our handful of Blog Talk Radio listeners…

If I try to come up with something witty, you can leave it to Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency to come up with something even wittier.

A few days ago I brought your attention to the most recent exploits of Dave Ohmart and his Colorado Loses, a vocal minority of state employees opposed to Governor Bill Ritter’s gold-plated invitation to unionize their workplaces. Apparently, Dave wasn’t greeted so kindly by union organizer Ryan when he decided to tag along for last week’s Colorado WINS union event at the State Capitol featuring Ritter as keynote speaker.

Antonucci really hit it on the head with this concise “compare and contrast” quip:

The union in theory: “We prefer to approach challenges from a team standpoint and focus on what we have in common – an approach that leads to more constructive problem solving with an ‘everybody wins’ outcome.”

The union in practice: “You’re not going to say anything, are you Dave? I’ll have to toss you out of here if you do.”

A yawning gulf between theory and practice: That about sums it up. As Antonucci explains, “Colorado is giving a little glimpse of what life will be like when card check passes.” It ain’t pretty, but your Democrats in Congress don’t care.

After spending nearly $200,000 in taxpayer funds to sue the state to stop students from attending state-authorized charter schools, and being ruled against twice, the Boulder Valley School Board meets tonight to decide whether to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court and spend even more.

Aren’t there any more effective ways they could be using this money to … (I don’t know) … educate children? Read more at the Independence Institute’s new GoBash website.

Gloomy about the Obama administration’s intervention halting economic recovery and pushing the markets down so we can party like it’s 1997?

Then I have just the cure. Tune in starting at 8:30 PM local Mountain Time this evening for the 15th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio, with two very interesting guests. First is Evan Coyne-Maloney, creator of the film Indoctrinate U, which exposes and challenges political correctness run amok on our nation’s college campuses. His on-air discuss with the RMA crew comes two days before the movie’s showing at Liberty on Film Thursday evening in Denver’s LoDo.

With proposals to further socialize health care looming at the State Capitol, the second guest is the Fraser Institute’s Nadeem Esmail to talk about the dangers of single-payer health care. Esmail is a Canadian who has seen the shortcomings of that country’s system up close and personal, with warnings for us, his neighbors to the south. For more valuable reading on the topic, check out Dr. Paul Hsieh’s new D.C. Examiner column on sensible free-market health care reform alternatives, or the Independence Institute‘s Patient Power blog.

Don’t forget. If you miss the live broadcast of tonight’s show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus.

Over at Slapstick Politics, El Presidente has more detail on past episodes and a video preview of Indoctrinate U.

For anyone interested, my latest op-ed contribution ran yesterday in the Colorado Daily, which starts as follows:

Given the significant debt future generations are now obligated to repay, President Barack Obama’s new “stimulus” package could be far better used to promote meaningful education reform in Colorado.

Rather than helping, the large amount of free-flowing federal funds may end up undermining efforts to improve educational opportunity in Colorado.

It too heavily subsidizes the status quo, while needlessly placing promising innovations at risk.

Hopefully it comes off as a little bit irritable and provocative, but ultimately one idea for helping to make the best out of a bad situation.

Last week I brought to your attention an organized labor power play at the State Capitol that shot down a simple effort to make school plumbing inspections more efficient. Today in the Colorado Springs Gazette, guest columnist Daniel Cole tells the story at greater length and offers a forceful conclusion:

The unpleasant reality is that Democratic campaigns in Colorado are often financed by unions, so only the strongest Democrats dare defy a union’s wishes. Union camaraderie means that a Democrat who votes against a single union can earn a reputation for disloyalty and untrustworthiness. Considering that unions gave [state senators Bob] Bacon and [Evie] Hudak $90,000 for their most recent campaign – [Senator Keith] King’s entire war chest was, by contrast, half that – it’s no shock that Democrats would vote against their own bill before risking the wrath of organized plumbing.

(more…)

Update: Senate Bill 57 passed the state senate on 2nd reading – which means it’s almost certainly on its way over to the House for debate.

Today (very likely) is a big day for Colorado and the movement toward school financial transparency: Two major editorial endorsements, one news story, and an important debate on the floor of the state senate. Check it all out at the Colorado Spending Transparency blog.

Update: You also can follow me (bendegrow) on Twitter.