Kudos to the Rocky Mountain News editorial board for calling out Senator Sue Windels' attempt to overregulate online schools. The Rocky also highlights yesterday's sensational discovery of the email from Representative Mike "Give 'Em Hell" Merrifield. In the article, Merrifield was rebuked by a prominent member of his own party: "It shows there's absolutely no good faith on the Rep. Merrifield's part, who is clearly more concerned with defending a crippled and ineffective status-quo public education system then [sic] creating opportunities for all kids," said Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver. Finally, Governor Ritter's plan to raise property taxes received a bit of good news, as the legislature's legal team said the plan could be enacted … [Read more...]

Update: Representative Merrifield delivered an apology from the floor of the House and distributed an official memo that reads: "I don't want my remarks or my health [Ed. Note: It has been reported that Merrifield is suffering from neck and throat cancer] to sidetrack the important work of the House Education Committee. Accordingly, I am asking Rep. [Judy] Solano [D-Brighton] to assume my duties as chair for the remainder of the session." According to a fresh report from the Associated Press, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) has called for House Speaker Andrew Romanoff to remove Rep. Mike Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) from the chairmanship of the House Education Committee in the wake of the revelation of a controversial email saying that … [Read more...]

Overlooked in a lot of the brouhaha over now-former House Education Committee chair Mike Merrifield's incendiary comments was the outright duplicity he and Senator Sue Windels (D-Arvada), fellow sponsor of Senate Bill 61, publicly shared to hide their true anti-charter school motives for the legislation. Michael at Best Destiny was one who caught the important point, which is also explained more fully in a new story from Colorado Senate News. The highlight of the CSN story is that pro-school choice legislators are redoubling their efforts to ensure that SB 61 gets amended into a pro-charter school bill: Now, [Republican Senator Nancy] Spence said she and [Democrat Senator Peter] Groff will push for that key provision – which lets the … [Read more...]

In an opinion piece today for the Denver Post, two Republican state lawmakers - Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Golden - recap the recent direction of education reform in the Colorado legislature. Among other things, they criticize the Democratic majority for enacting new detailed sex education standards (signed by Governor Ritter this week) while being unable to set even modest standards for math, science, and English proficiency (as I also wrote about many weeks ago): It is not as though meaningful reforms weren't proposed. Senate Bill 73, by Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Michael Garcia, D- Aurora, would have required students to be proficient in English to receive a Colorado diploma. And Senate Bill 131, which we … [Read more...]