EAGLE — Brian Trommater’s bedroom window opens up to a view of mountain slopes peeking out from behind clusters of trees, giving him a vantage point that often leaves him dazed by the thought that he’s living a dream. It’s an expansive backdrop for an otherwise tiny place to call home: His apartment covers about […]
Colorado education
Posted inEducation, News
Colorado teachers earn 36% less than other college-educated workers, the worst gap in the country
Teacher pay has long trailed behind other professions requiring a college degree, and in Colorado that pay gap is widest of any state, according to a report published last week by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank that identifies itself as nonpartisan. Colorado teachers earn 35.9% less than other college-educated workers, […]
Posted inEducation, News
Colorado students have recovered some academic ground since COVID arrived but deficits remain, test results show
Colorado students made significant headway in overcoming academic setbacks due to pandemic-related hiccups in learning, but their progress still hasn’t set them fully back on track, according to state standardized test data published by the Colorado Department of Education on Wednesday. Colorado Measures of Academic Success assessments are typically conducted each spring as a way […]
Posted inEducation, News
How a Colorado Springs school co-op saves hundreds of thousands of dollars in health insurance costs
Pat Bershinsky has gifted his nearly 220 staff members $1,000 every Christmas for four years and once again gave bonuses this summer. The leader of one of Colorado’s school cooperatives has the extra cash because of a decision he made four years ago on employee health care. Bershinsky, executive director of the Pikes Peak Board […]
Posted inEducation, News
“At a crisis point”: Homes are out of reach for many Colorado teachers. What does that mean for schools?
Fewer than one-fifth of homes across Colorado are affordable to teachers who make an average salary in their district, even as average teacher salaries have increased by about 25% in the past seven years, according to a report published Tuesday by the nonpartisan Keystone Policy Center. The report puts numbers to a problem that prices […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Zornio: It’s not a teacher shortage, it’s a respect and salary shortage
Last year, a survey by the Colorado Education Association found that 40% of licensed teachers statewide were considering leaving the profession. Among the chief complaints were safety concerns, heavy workloads and low pay. It should come as no surprise, then, that the 2022-23 school year would bring a myriad of headaches for administrators attempting to […]
Posted inNews
Nonprofit offers $750,000 in grants to support nontraditional schools in 4 states including Colorado
For some kids, every school day can be monotonous. That’s why Kyle Gamba, who has worked in public education for 15 years, started the micro-school La Luz in Denver to ensure education was more than just “kids sitting at desks.” At La Luz, kids learn while being immersed in the community, and on the go. […]
Posted inNews
Denver, Jefferson County school districts raise hourly wages for support staff struggling to afford food and housing
Amid mounting public pressure, two of Colorado’s largest school districts have approved 20% pay raises for school support staff, with Denver Public Schools pledging to boost pay by more than $4 per hour for many workers this year and Jeffco Public Schools agreeing to increase compensation by $3 per hour by September 2023. The pay […]
Posted inEducation, News
Bus assistants, language interpreters and other support staff — in short supply at Colorado schools — are seeking unions and better pay
Carolina Galvan nears the outer edge of her dream each time she steps into her classroom at Valdez Elementary School in Denver. She wants to be a teacher with her own classroom of students, but since she was unable to finish the schooling required to earn a teacher’s license, her role as a paraprofessional sets […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Public money can be used for religious-school tuition in Maine. What does that mean for voucher programs in Colorado?
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for public dollars in a Maine tuition assistance program to flow to private religious schools could embolden conservative Colorado lawmakers to more aggressively pursue a statewide program that would feed taxpayer money to private schools, including religious ones. Previous legislative attempts in Colorado to create a […]