Last year two Republicans, Reps. Tom Massey of Poncha Springs and Robert Ramirez of Westminster, joined Democrats to kill House Bill 11-1270. That plan would have allowed a bare majority of families at a low-performing school to petition their local school board to close the school or convert it to a charter or innovation school. A school board would have had limited grounds for rejecting an appeal, and a rejection could have been appealed to the State Board of Education.

This year’s bill, also sponsored by Rep. Don Beezley, R-Broomfield, is milder. It would authorize the parents of students enrolled in a school with a priority improvement or turnaround plan for two consecutive years to submit a petition to the SBE requesting the school be reconfigured. The state accountability system is set up for the SBE to take action on such schools after five years on either accreditation status. Schools are rated annually and required to file improvement plans.

The parent petition would have to be signed by more than 50 percent of the families of the students at the school. The state board could deny the petition, direct an action to take effect in the next school year or reconsider the petition in the next school year.

Beezley pitched the bill to the committee as a plan that fits within the accountability system.

“Help me offer a little bit of hope … to parents with children in some of our lowest performing schools,” Beezley said.

Committee Democrats quizzed Beezley about why local school boards weren’t part of the process and about details of the parent petition process, such as who would verify signatures.

Rep. Don Beezley, R-Broomfield / File photo

Michelle Murphy, a staff lawyer for the Colorado Association of School Boards, testified against the bill, saying, “We do feel strongly about this bill; we oppose this bill.”

She added, “This bill allows a parent group to sidestep and potentially derail” a school improvement plan. Existing law “provides for parent input on numerous occasions and strong state oversight.”

Julie Whitacre, a lobbyist for the Colorado Education Association, also opposed the bill, saying the idea is good but her group has concerns with the details.

Vinny Badolato, lobbyist the Colorado League of Charter Schools, and Denver parent Nola Miguel, representing Metropolitan Organizations for People, testified in support.

“It injects some parent rights into the process,” said Badolato, adding that such a process could be helpful to improving the quality of charter schools.

Miguel said the current five-year turnaround process is “way too long.”

Whitacre said, “A lot of studies have shown that turnarounds need more than three years.”

The bill goes next to the House Appropriations Committee, because a legislative staff analysis has estimated it could cost the Department of Education about $23,000 a year to handle the parent appeals (see fiscal note). Some 105 schools currently are on priority improvement or turnaround status. The state accreditation system has gone through two years of school ratings.

If the bill passes the House, its prospects in the Senate are uncertain, given that chamber’s Democratic majority and expected lobbying efforts by CASB and other mainline education groups.

New bills

Three new education-related bills were introduced Monday.

House Bill 12-1235 would schools built in 2013 or later to meet certain energy efficiency standards. House prime sponsor Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, has unsuccessfully tried variations of this bill before.

House Bill 12-1225 would establish a model charter school authorizer program under which schools districts could apply to be model authorizers. If designated as such by the Department of Education, decisions by such districts on charter applications would carry an additional presumption of validity in appeals to the State Board of Education.

The bill is sponsored by the unlikely due of Rep. Robert Ramirez, R-Westminster, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.

House Bill 12-1227 would authorize the state community college system to design a certificate program through which students who are identified as needing basic skills remedial course work or who are eligible for adult literacy education may obtain a career and technical education certificate within 12 months.

Use the Education Bill Tracker for links to bill texts and status information.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has appointed Theresa Peña, a former member of the Denver school board, to the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education. Peña is the current head of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s Denver Education Compact.

The governor also reappointed Bernadette Marquez, wife of Denver Scholarship Foundation funder Tim Marquez, to a seat on the community colleges board.

In other education-related appointments, Hickenlooper has appointed Donahue Quashe of Colorado Springs to the Charter School Institute Board and Tracey Lovett of Denver, Richard Maestas of Aurora and Cliff Richardson of Lakewood to the Current Enrollment Advisory Board, which establishes guidelines for the ASCENT concurrent enrollment program.

The appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.

What’s on tap:

The Colorado State University Board of Governors opens a three-day retreat and regular meeting in Pueblo. Agenda not yet posted.

Aurora school board members meet at 5 p.m. for a closed session on employee negotiations and convene in public at 6 p.m. The agenda includes an update on the 2012-13 budget. The meeting is at the district’s educational services center, 1085 Peoria St.

Precious little is pending at the Capitol, where members are expected to bug out after brief floor sessions so they can get back to their districts in time for precinct caucuses.

The EdNews’ Churn is a daily roundup of briefs, notes and meetings in the world of Colorado education. To submit an item for consideration in this listing, please email us at EdNews@EdNewsColorado.org.

A group of Denver East High School students on a lunch break Jan. 19 display a package of wrappers used to roll marijuana. Photo by Joe Mahoney / I-News

But in 2009-10, something changed. The number of drug violations reported on K-12 campuses began to climb. It climbed again in 2010-11.

While nearly every other category of violations reported to state officials has dropped in the past decade, drug offenses veered in the opposite direction.

To find out why, reporters from Education News Colorado, Solutions and the I-News Network interviewed scores of school and district officials, health care workers and students across the state.

They repeatedly cited the proximity of medical marijuana dispensaries to their schools and the saturation of medical marijuana in their communities. Students, in particular, talked about their belief that medical marijuana is healthy.

While Colorado voters approved marijuana for limited medicinal purposes in 2000, it wasn’t until 2009 that medical marijuana dispensaries began spreading across the state. More than 700 now dot the landscape.

In January, U.S. Attorney John Walsh announced the first federal crackdown on medical marijuana since its approval more than a decade ago. In doing so, he pointed to a dramatic rise in student abuse of marijuana as he targeted dispensaries located within 1,000 feet of schools.

This special report on medical marijuana focuses on Colorado’s K-12 public schools:

• School officials, others cite prevalence of medical marijuana as drug violations spike on K-12 campuses includes a timeline of medical marijuana in Colorado and a video of students discussing marijuana use
• In Carbondale teen: Marijuana “something to do,” a student talks about dealing medical marijuana – and getting caught
• In Denver dad: “Nobody thought about the kids,” a parent whose son was busted with marijuana says students are bombarded with mixed messages
• Search an interactive database to see your school’s history of drug violations over the past four years
• Use an interactive map to find your school and see any medical marijuana facilities located nearby
• Read A closer look at the data to see the statistics behind the findings, with links to original reports

You can also read our coverage of the federal crackdown, including a spreadsheet showing K-12 public schools within 1,200 feet of dispensaries.

Signs like this adorn many U.S. schools.

Colorado schools reported a 45 percent spike in drug violations over the past four years, a trend that occurred even as the total number of other violations reported to state officials declined.

Interviews with school and district officials, health care workers and students statewide depict the proximity of medical marijuana dispensaries and the saturation of medical marijuana in communities as key factors behind the increase.

Read the related story: School officials, others cite medical marijuana as drug violations spike on K-12 campuses.

What’s happening at your school? Click in the boxes below to see a four-year history of drug offenses and their disposition, from suspension to expulsion to referral to law enforcement.

Hutchinson Elementary teacher Corey Lynn at the front of the line of Hutchinson teachers supporting their instructional coach at Thursday's school board meeting in Lakewood.

“If this position is taken away, then our team dissolves,” pleaded a dozen or so staff members from Parmalee Elementary in Indian Hills, echoing numerous others. “Remember our voices. We are Jeffco.”

With 90 people signed up to speak and predictions of a pending blizzard, school board president Lesley Dahlkemper resorted to negotiations to keep an efficient flow to the microphones.

“Can you do five, five and five?” she said, encouraging three groups representing instructional coaches to keep their comments to five minutes each.

Instructional coaches are among the groups threatened by the $50 million to $60 million in cuts facing the state’s largest school district over the next two years.

So are school librarians, guidance counselors and elementary music teachers, along with the district’s gifted and talented program and its outdoor lab. Those and numerous others are contained in a prioritized list of suggestions for cuts created in December by a citizens’ advisory group.

Thursday was the school board’s second public comment session since the list was released and the second to draw hundreds of people to a meeting to urge board members not to follow its contents.

After an audience packed the board’s meeting in January, where the possible elimination of elementary instrumental music teachers was the focus, district leaders decided to move Thursday’s meeting to the more spacious auditorium.

Another sign of public interest in the process came Saturday, when about 600 people participated in five community budget forums at high schools across the county, said district spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.

Board members, who will make the final budget decision in May or June, have emphasized that the prioritized list is not binding. So they’ve become the targets of emotional appeals.

School librarians appeared to be the biggest group at Thursday’s meeting, with many audience members wearing stickers on their shirts that read “Support School Libraries.” The prioritized list calls for reducing all 92 elementary librarians to half-time and eliminating middle school librarians altogether.

But guidance counselors and instructional coaches, along with their supporters, also were out in large numbers.

Sandy Austin, a counselor at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, said district counselors have handled 88 suicide risk assessments this year.

“It’s a matter of life and death,” she said. “Please save our counselors’ jobs so we can save our kids.”

The list of suggested reductions includes cutting up to 17 middle and high school counselors and as many as 20 instructional coaches.

Several schools, such as Parmalee, Powderhorn and Hutchinson elementaries and Carmody Middle School, turned out in force to give moving testimony to the power of their coaches.

Corey Lynn, a sixth-grade teacher at Hutchinson, said the school’s instructional coach, Christina Larson, helps him with a class of 34 students.

“With the class sizes so huge, these kids are like flowers competing for the sun and many of them get lost,” Lynn said. “I can’t reach every single kid without someone there to look at the data and to pinpoint the needs of the kids and to reach those kids who are overshadowed.

“I can’t do it alone. I am overwhelmed.”

Audience members quickly dwindled throughout the evening as speakers made their comments and left, eager to avoid the coming snowstorm.

Tomorrow, two school board members and two district officials will meet with representatives of employee groups for Jeffco’s second annual employee summit, where they’re expected to talk about pay and benefits for next year.

Jeffco employees, along with many others in Colorado school districts, are in year three without cost-of-living raises. This year, all employees also took a 3 percent pay cut and two furlough days.

Shortly before public comment began Thursday, board members voted 4-1 to close employee negotiations to the public. Board member Laura Boggs was the only “no” vote.

A principal explains why his school needs an instructional coach

In outlining highlights and challenges for the coming year’s roughly $750 million operating budget, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg emphasized that the district will not be seeing teacher layoffs, furlough days or increased class sizes.

And he underscored that the district’s economic balancing act, particularly with cuts at the state level, is not an easy one.

“Over the last four years, we have lost $1,000 per kid” in state funding, Boasberg told board members. “It’s an extraordinary challenge that districts are facing.”

Board member Nate Easley said he appreciated Boasberg’s use of the word “investment” in presenting his overview of where district dollars should go in the coming year.

“We’ve really got to start using in the state of Colorado the word ‘investment,’ which implies that there’s going to be a payout,” said Easley.

District staff is forecasting state K-12 funding cuts of about $48 million will reduce the district’s per-pupil funding by 2 percent, or $140 per pupil, to $6,733.

The expected drop in state per-pupil funding will be offset for DPS by the fact enrollment is expected to jump by 2.1 percent, or by 1,500 students, in the coming school year.

However, still to be factored into the budget mix is the March state revenue forecast, as well as legislative debate over retaining or eliminating the senior homestead exemption, a $100 million property tax break for senior citizens.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s budget proposal calls for the continued suspension of that exemption while House Republican leaders have said they want to restore it. Restoring it could force K-12 cuts in exchange.

The budget that was outlined for board members Thursday night highlighted these major operating budget changes on the horizon in the next fiscal year, totaling about $25.6 million.

• $10 million – Backfill the loss of state per-pupil funding
• $9.9 million – Pay for $400-per-pupil funding for beginning and intermediate English language learners, plus $3.2 million for increases in ELL support
• $2.5 million – To “provide extended learning opportunities,” primarily through adding an hour to the school day on a pilot basis at up to 15 elementary, middle, innovation and 6-12 schools
• $1.7 million – Instructional support service priorities
• $1.5 million – Increased pension costs

The bulk of the money to pay for this new spending, about $20 million, is proposed to be drawn from district reserves. Another $4 million will come in a decrease to student-based budgeting (from $3,931 to $3,872 per student), with another $1.5 million paid for by a reduction in operating costs.

Boasberg has said that drawing $20 million from DPS reserves for 2012-13 will leave $52 million in unallocated reserves heading into 2013-14.

‘Cuts are disproportionately hurting our higher poverty kids’

The district is contending with a decrease in both federal and state contributions to the DPS budget. Federal Title I funds, which are directed toward low-income students, are decreasing by $2.7 million.

Accordingly, schools with poverty rates of 66 to 89 percent will see the Title I contribution drop from $433 per pupil to $400 per student. Schools with poverty rates of 90 percent or more will see the contribution drop from $525 to $450.

The budget preview also highlighted that DPS faces a $7.2 million annual funding shortfall to maintain early childhood education and full-day kindergarten programs at their current levels.

“Cuts are hurting everyone badly,” said Boasberg. “But the cuts are disproportionately hurting our higher poverty kids.”

Board members responded favorably to the proposal that nearly $10 million is proposed to be devoted to students who are not native English speakers – $6.7 million would fund the extra $400-per-pupil “weighted” funding for English language learners, with another $3.2 million in increased support for English language acquisition programs.

“You’re doing a lot of good work around both sides,” said board member Arturo Jimenez, speaking to DPS chief academic officer Susana Cordova. “This really does make sense, and this is a weight that we’ve been needing … I’m very happy and glad to hear that kids are going to get these services, which will bring up expectations and achievements for all of these kids.”

Board member Jeannie Kaplan said, “I just want to make sure that we’re going in the right direction in teaching these kids. They deserve better. I hope that it’s not just about the money, but about running a good program.”

Some board members unhappy with extended day plan for some schools

The potential extended school year for roughly a dozen more schools next year carries not only a $2.5 million price tag, a figure Boasberg conceded is not etched in stone. It has also stirred controversy, on the part of some parents who feel their opinions on the proposal have not been adequately heeded.

Also, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association has filed a class-action grievance, claiming a “mishandling of a process.” DCTA president Henry Roman contends the extra time is being considered without properly applying the “due process of collective bargaining” called for under the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the district.

Kaplan was critical of the proposal in its current form.

“This to me is not such a pleasant conversation,” said Kaplan, who said she’d heard nothing of the plan until two days ago. “It seems very top-down, not collaborative and an issue that really should be a negotiated issue.”

As for the schools that may be included in the extended-day program, Kaplan added, “I’ve heard that ‘invited’ is a very nice way of saying, they were told to do this … I have a whole list of parents I need to call, who have contacted me about, why weren’t they involved?”

Jimenez, although terming the extended school day as “good-intentioned,” was troubled at the prospect of committing to a possible $2.5 million expenditure when it isn’t known yet how many schools will be adopting the longer school day. Boasberg is expecting proposals from 12 to 15 schools; the DCTA, in filing its grievance on the issue, cited 14.

“You’re asking us to allocate a significant amount of money for proposals we haven’t seen yet, and maybe just a handful of those schools will come forward with appropriate proposals,” said Jimenez.

“I’ll let you deal with the DCTA over whether this is a contract issue or not,” he added. “The real issue is about the budget, and details like transportation and the parents, in this process. For me, it’s kind of a blank check to do our own little Race to the Top and I can’t support that allocation.”

Others call the longer day a “win” for families and schools

Easley was one of several board members who were more supportive, calling it a “win” for parents, students, teachers and principals.

“It’s saying to students, at a time when a lot of the country is cutting back, and districts are going to four-day school weeks, this district is saying we’ve got bad times but you know what, we don’t want to cut our commitment to students,” Easley said.

The discussion about an extended day on a pilot basis overlapped with the district’s announcement that all DPS offices and schools will be closed today due to predictions of heavy snow. Boasberg said many questions raised by board members will be answered by the schools’ proposals, which are due today.

“We’ll be getting those by snowshoe and sled dog tomorrow,” Boasberg said Thursday night. “This is a learning experience, much as we have seen with innovation schools and other innovations. It’s a learning curve.

“I’m extremely excited about where we are, and as those proposals get mushed in, we will get them sent out, by electronic sled dog, to you.”

Board member Andrea Merida was absent from the session. According to board president Mary Seawell, Merida was attending a meeting at a school in her southwest Denver district.

The finalized budget is due to be presented to the board on April 19, and to be formally adopted at its meeting the following month.

Auraria Higher Education Center, home of Metro State

The proposal now goes to the legislature, which must approve changes in college and university names, because those names are sprinkled throughout state law. Denver Democrats Sen. Lucia Guzman and Rep. Crisanta Duran are expected to sponsor the bill.

“What was most important to me was to increase the value of degrees for students today and all alumni and students into the future,” said Metro President Stephen Jordan. “It reinforces our heritage; it makes a clear stake in the ground who we are. We are Metro State. We are the Roadrunners.”

Metro has been working for a couple of years on a name change, which trustees felt was important to clarify the college’s image as a full-service academic institution. (Metro now offers some master’s degrees.)

There was wide agreement about changing “college” to “university.” But there was vigorous campus debate about keeping “Metropolitan” in the name, where the word “Denver” should appear and how long the name should be.

Last year the trustees proposed the name Denver State University, but that plan never surfaced in the legislature because of opposition from the private University of Denver.

It was back to the drawing board, and back to negotiations with DU, partially brokered by Democratic Sens. Mike Johnston of Denver and Rollie Heath of Boulder.

The proposed new name is accompanied by a “coexistence agreement” with DU that will govern how the two institutions brand and present their names. Under the agreement, hammered out over five negotiating sessions, Metro agrees not to infringe on DU’s established trademarks or use terms in future marketing and branding efforts.

DU agrees to Metro’s use of the new name and that it won’t oppose Metro’s efforts to win legislative approval or seek trademark protection for the new name.

Two trustees, Melody Harris and Michelle Lucero, said they voted no because they felt the coexistence agreement wasn’t in Metro’s best interests and was too limiting. Board chair Rob Cohen also voted no, expressing concerns that the board had backed down on its full set of goals for the new name.

But, after the vote, Cohen urged the trustees to unite behind the new name and promised to work for its approval by the legislature.

Other names that had been considered earlier were Denver Metropolitan State University, Denver State Metropolitan University and Metropolitan Denver State University. (Get more information on the name change effort.)

Last year the legislature turned Mesa State College into Colorado Mesa University, and legislation is already pending this year to covert Adams State College to Adams State University. Western State College also is studying a possible new name (more information). The issue is listed as a discussion item for the trustees’ Feb. 10 meeting.

If Metro, Adams and Western win name change approval, the only four-year “college” left in the state system will be Fort Lewis in Durango.

Meanwhile at the Capitol

Thursday in the legislature was most notable for what didn’t happen with education legislation.

Senate Bill 12-068, the proposal to ban use of trans fats in any foods served at schools, was pulled off the calendar of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

The Senate Education Committee approved a couple of minor bills, including Senate Bill 12-051, which would encourage school districts to consider new kinds of guidelines for outside contracts. The always-talkative members of Senate Ed managed to chew on that bill for an hour.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 4-3 (Democrats opposing, Republicans supporting) to kill Senate Bill 12-061, which would have diverted some state severance tax revenues to create a fund for rural colleges.

Grant Beacon Middle School teacher Kevin Croghan and DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg at today's press conference.

The extra time would add spending of about $2.5 million in 2012-13. Boasberg said the district also would spend roughly $8.5 million on additional per-pupil funding for English language learners – a boost of about $400 per student.

Despite generally tough economic times, Boasberg said the DPS community needs to think about what more can be done instead of talk about “less, and less, and less, and less” investment in students’ futures.

“In this next budget year, the 12-13 school year, we will be increasing money for our schools and our classrooms,” Boasberg said during a morning press conference at Grant Beacon Middle School in southeast Denver.

“That is the most important thing we can do, to maximize our dollars in schools and in the classroom, to allow us to hire more teachers, to offer more opportunity for more kids, more enrichment, more activities, more elective courses, more tutoring, more intervention, all of the kinds of things that we can do by putting more money in our schools, and in our classrooms.”

He added, “Money in our classrooms. That is the name of the game.”

Boasberg said he expects proposals within the next two weeks from 12 to 15 schools, demonstrating how they would make use of an added hour to the school day.

At the middle school level – from which a majority of the proposals are expected – the day currently runs from 7:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Grant is one of the schools seeking to add the hour. Social studies teacher Kevin Croghan said staff members have been developing plans for a longer day since last year.

“Within our school, I’d say we have a lot of support for this idea, and of course we have been looking at this for nine months, well before it became a bit of a hotter topic for the district,” said Croghan, who is particularly excited about the potential for adding electives.

“Everyone in our school has already been committed to staying added time. This will just be adding a structure to make it more effective.”

Some parents at other DPS middle schools have said an extended school day is being thrust upon them against their wishes. But Nick Bottinelli, whose daughter is a seventh-grader at Grant, insisted he has not heard that sentiment from parents there.

“We’ve been working with (Principal) Alex Magaña and his staff there, and we are very comfortable with the initiatives that they think are best for our students,” said Bottinelli, a member of the steering committee for the Grant Parents Group.

The press conference was attended by DPS school board president Mary Seawell and board member Anne Rowe, who represents the area. Neither participated in the presentation and, afterward, Seawell was measured in her response to what she heard.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk about this as a board,” she said. “There are some potentially complicated issues. We need more from the superintendent, whether it’s related to the labor contract, are there issues with the cost and what that is, realistically, and how is a school going to be eligible for this?”

DPS board members will get their first detailed 2012-13 budget presentation Thursday. They’re expected to approve the budget in May or June.

“Generally, I am very much in favor of extending the school day and the school year,” Seawell added, “if it can be shown how it’s going to have a positive effect on students.”

State K-12 funding cuts have cost DPS about $80 million in recent years, Boasberg said, and the anticipated loss of another $140 in per-pupil funding in the next fiscal year would mean DPS has lost nearly $1,000 per student over a three-year period.

But he said tapping the district’s reserves and cuts in administration leave DPS able to spend $40 million over the next two years on initiatives such as the extended school day and increased funding for English language learners.

State K-12 funding cuts have cost DPS about $80 million over the past three years, or roughly $1,000 per student, Boasberg said. But he said tapping the district’s reserves and cuts in administration leave DPS able to spend $40 million over the next two years on initiatives such as the extended school day and increased funding for English language learners.

As other districts have done in recent years, DPS has pulled money from its reserves – $20 million this year and an expected $20 million in 2012-13. That would leave about $52 million remaining in reserves, Boasberg said.

He said the district will be launching a “community conversation” in coming months about a proposed tax increase for operating dollars on the November ballot. District leaders already have said they may propose a tax increase for building dollars.

“There are still unacceptable achievement gaps in our city,” Boasberg said, “and we need to invest more resources in the programs that will eliminate those gaps – early childhood education, extended time, enrichment opportunities, new technology, and more teachers to lower class sizes.

“We look forward to discussing with the community how we can end this cycle of cuts and make these vital investments in our kids.”

Denver teachers’ union leaders on Tuesday filed a grievance over the proposed extra time and released a list of 14 schools they say may have a longer school day starting this fall.

The schools on that list are Barrett Elementary, Cole Arts & Science Academy, Bruce Randolph Middle, Denver Center for International Studies Middle, Grant Beacon Middle, Hamilton Middle, Henry World School, Hill Middle School of Arts & Sciences, Johnson Elementary, Manual High School, Merrill Middle, Morey Middle, Skinner Middle and Smiley Middle.

Boasberg today said the total number of schools with longer days this fall could be as high as 15. But he said the number will ultimately depend on how many submit applications and are approved.

Members of the Joint Budget Committee were at the center of the discussion on testing costs. Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, is third from left.

Members of the House and Senate education committees sat down with the Joint Budget Committee Wednesday morning to talk about testing costs. The session was held under the new SMART Government Act and legislative rules that encourage other committees to give the JBC formal advice on departmental budgets.

“There are some significant decision items pending here,” said JBC member Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver. “I would feel better if you would help us on the policy decisions,” he added a few minutes later.

Education policymakers have been wrestling with testing costs since November, when CDE formally filed a request for $25.9 million in 2012-13 to pay for development of new statewide tests to replace the CSAPs, to launch social studies tests and to help create interim and formative tests to be given to students throughout the school year.

But Gov. John Hickelooper didn’t include the $25.9 million in his overall budget request, leading to legislative questions about just what the executive branch wants. Administration officials – and some key legislators like Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver – have said Colorado should wait for multistate reading and math tests expected to be ready in 2014-15.

The consortia “really are building the Ferrari version of this assessment,” Johnston said Wednesday. “Our own version is probably not going to have all the bells and whistles.”

“I understand you had some interesting discussions among yourselves,” Steadman said, referring to recent separate meetings of the education committees at which members vented and expressed confusion about testing costs and some other CDE budget items.

Wednesday’s joint session was more orderly than the two recent meetings, and members seemed to have a better grasp of the issues.

Rep. Robert Ramirez, R-Westminster, led the criticism of both testing costs and educator evaluation costs during a House Education session on Monday. “I went a little rabid on CDE a little earlier in the week,” Ramirez said Wednesday. Saying he was “eating a little crow,” Ramirez said, “I feel they [CDE] have given a lot of valid information” about cost issues.

As the discussion wound down, Steadman said, “We don’t have consensus and we have a lot of choices,” but he added, “This has been a very helpful discussion.”

Several members did seem to be in general agreement that Colorado should participate in the multistate tests but that some money should be set aside to start development on new social studies and science tests, which aren’t part of the systems being developed by the multistate consortia.

Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen and chair of the JBC, said the committee is hoping to find $7 million for that.

Some lawmakers sounded cautionary notes. Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton and the legislature’s foremost critic of standardized testing, said, “We are going down a very expensive road here.” Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, wondered if the state could save some money by taking a one-year test moratorium on all exams except reading and math.

Count date bill advances

House Education did a little real business later in the morning, voting 13-0 to pass House Bill 12-1090, which would move the Oct. 1 student count date in years that it falls on a religious holiday.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, was prompted by a problem last year when Oct. 1 fell on a Saturday, pushing the count date back to Sept. 30. That was the Jewish observance of Rosh Hashanah.

“There are concerns when we’re doing count day on a major religious holiday,” Pace told the committee. The bill would move count day to the next regular school day after Oct. 1 if a religious holiday coincides with that date.

The state allows a window of five school days on either side of Oct. 1 to count children who are absent on count day. Some committee members asked if that provided a way to avoid the problem without changing the law, but by the end of the hearing everyone agreed the bill was needed.

For the record

The House gave unanimous final approval Wednesday to House Bill 12-1013, which encourages school districts to provide help for middle school students who show risk factors for dropping out, and to House Bill 12-1018, which gives the Auraria Higher Education Center exemption from some state financial and administrative procedures.