Growing up in a working-class family, we never received cash stuck in a birthday or holiday card, which is why I remember the time I got a $25 U.S. Savings Bond from my grandmother. It came in a birthday card, when I was 7 or 8 years old. Twenty-five dollars was a fortune to me. […]
Colorado schools
Posted inEducation, News
Denver charter network banks on intensive summer tutoring to help students catch up post COVID
Elias Nelson stood at the whiteboard, dry erase marker in hand, facing down a five-digit math problem: 93,213 minus 59,758. He glanced at the boy next to him, who was working on a three-digit problem, and then back to his own trickier equation. “You gave me a hard one!” Elias said. His tutor smiled. “I […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado school finance bill would spare districts from impact of enrollment declines
Colorado school districts would avoid the worst budget hits from losing 30,000 students this school year under a bill that received initial support from the Joint Budget Committee Thursday. The bill sends an extra $60 million to school districts — $41 million to make up for lost local tax revenue and another $19 million to […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado teacher salaries rank well below the national average. The recession is likely to keep them there.
When Jan Vigil bought a used truck from his brother-in-law about seven years ago, it had already seen 170,000 miles of road. His odometer now reads 229,000 miles. The Center High School history teacher, 33, purchased the vehicle because it was affordable. He and his wife, who teaches English at Sangre De Cristo High School […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Colorado’s public school enrollment has dropped by 30,000 students. That could spell financial disaster for districts.
Enrollment in Colorado public schools dropped by close to 30,000 students this school year — the first year-to-year decrease the state’s public school system has reported in more than 30 years. Impacts of the pandemic drove enrollment numbers down, according to the Colorado Department of Education, which released preliminary enrollment figures on Tuesday morning after […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
At least six Colorado school districts have reported coronavirus outbreaks among transportation employees
Besides students and teachers, another group of school employees are getting sick with COVID: bus staff. At least six Colorado school districts have reported outbreaks of COVID among transportation employees, and some of the outbreaks are larger than those reported in most schools. While the trend hasn’t prompted a change of safety guidelines, it complicates the challenge […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado teachers want a voice as schools plan for fall classes during coronavirus crisis
It’s the million-dollar question — or likely one worth much more than that — for districts across Colorado and the country: How should school play out this fall at a time the coronavirus may very well still pose a major threat to communities? Some of Colorado’s 178 school districts have nailed down preliminary back-to-school plans, […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Hybrid of in-person and remote learning likely in Denver schools this fall
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here: ckbe.at/newsletters Denver’s public schools “will likely offer a mix of in-person and remote learning” when school resumes in the fall, Superintendent Susana Cordova said Thursday in a newsletter to families. “Until health officials give clearance […]
Posted inEducation, News
School choice: What is it and how does it work in Colorado?
Colorado students have had school choice for more than two decades, and hundreds of thousands of families use it every year. But what exactly is it, and how does it work? We’ve answered some of the most common questions below. What is school choice? At its most basic, school choice means students can request to […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado lawmakers hoped to finally change the school funding formula after 25 years. They may have to keep waiting.
An effort to change Colorado’s longtime school funding formula has hit a wall just days before the start of the 2020 legislative session — for now, at least. Legislators on Thursday decided to change course and take more time to pursue tweaks to the Public School Finance Act of 1994 through legislation. Since the end […]