The Denver Post reports today that Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, has filed a piece of legislation that already has started to cause shockwaves among the education establishment:A bill that would give traditional Colorado schools the flexibility to operate more like charter schools and allow them to be removed from union agreements was introduced into the legislature Thursday. Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, submitted the "Innovation Schools Act of 2008," which would give schools control over their budgets, hiring decisions and length of the school day and calendar. The bill would relieve schools from, among other things, having to follow state statutes regarding teacher pay and hiring. "There is a laundry list of … [Read more...]
Dems’ “No-Strike” Bait-and-Switch a Boon to Ritter
The Democrats at the State Capitol are trying to pull one over on Colorado voters in an attempt to give cover to Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order that provides for the unionization of state employees. Startled by the Attorney General's revelation that his order could not prevent strikes, Ritter quickly and publicly agreed to support the concept of a no-strike law in the state legislature brought forward by Republicans. Well, today we receive word of a bait-and-switch. After killing a bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, that would provide real enforceable penalties that deter public employee strikes, the Democrats went ahead and gave mere lip service to public order and accountability:[The House Business and Labor … [Read more...]
Radio Show Review
Thanks for those who tuned in to News Talk 1310 KFKA this morning to hear my inaugural guest host appearance on the Amy Oliver Show. For those who want more information on the guests and some of the topics discussed: Alan Gottlieb of the Public Education and Business Coalition edits the HeadFirst Colorado blog, which covers a range of education reform issues. Today we talked about the latest on the Bruce Randolph autonomy proposal, including union officials' latest delaying tactic, which Alan also posted on today. There's also a great story from yesterday on the topic at Face the State. I posted on the news of the rapidly growing estimates of revenue from the Governor's property tax hike at the Colorado Taxpayers blog. Other stories … [Read more...]
“So What” Report Confirms Ritter’s Solution in Search of Problem
Doing its duty in support of the Left-liberal Colorado coalition, the Bell Policy Center released a report today that expends a lot of megabytes (and ink?) to say almost nothing relevant. The Rocky Mountain News first picked up on the story:Labor-management partnerships such as the one Gov. Bill Ritter ordered for state government are positive on balance, according to a report by the Bell Policy Center — a group that consulted with Ritter's staff as he launched his partnership plan. However, such agreements mostly have been used to turn around adversarial labor-management relations in already unionized workplaces with collective bargaining, the report points out. [emphasis added]The report presents zero evidence of so-called … [Read more...]
Ouch! More Pain in Ritter’s Behind-the-Scenes Union Revelations
The Rocky Mountain News today published an article which may qualify as one of the richest, most revealing local political stories of the year. It begins: On the day he issued his executive order making unions a bigger player in state government, Gov. Bill Ritter and union representatives assured Coloradans they weren't going to rock the boat. But behind the scenes, the waters were anything but calm, e-mails and other documents provided by Ritter's office in response to a Rocky Mountain News open records request show. Ritter's senior staff scrambled in the hours leading up to his announcement to deal with what they accurately predicted would be "a good deal of backlash." And a group representing seven Colorado unions rushed … [Read more...]