On school mornings, 19 kids who live in Mesa County foster homes are driven across the valley — to Fruita or Grand Junction or Palisade or beyond — so they can attend school with the same teachers and friends they had before they switched homes. They catch a ride on new school bus routes, with […]
education
Posted inAnnotated, News, Politics and Government
Leroy Garcia’s opening remarks are notable for what he didn’t mention. Here’s the Colorado Senate president’s speech, annotated.
The 72nd General Assembly, with Democrats at the helm of the House and Senate, convened Friday for the 120-day lawmaking term. The new Democratic leaders in each chamber — House Speaker KC Becker and Senate President Leroy Garcia — gave opening-day remarks that outlined their visions for the 2019 session and the party’s legislative agenda. […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Education, Energy, Environment, Growth, Health, News, Politics and Government, Transportation
The top 10 issues to watch in Colorado’s 2019 legislative session
The new Democratic majority at the state Capitol is poised to make significant policy shifts in Colorado after four years of stalemate in a divided General Assembly. The party’s complete grip on the levers of power will move different issues to the forefront and put Republicans — who had held the state Senate since 2015 […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Education, News
Guild Education’s twist on college is working for cashiers, sales clerks and others who abandoned the idea of a college degree
Scrambling to get term sheets filled out, calculations corrected and contracts signed isn’t always a pleasant experience, especially when you’re nine months pregnant. With twins. But Rachel Carlson had done this before. Not the twins thing. But convincing investors to plunk down millions of dollars towards her young Denver startup, Guild Education. The company she […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, News
A DU student withdrew from school to change the charity world, quarter by quarter
Making money was never a mystery for Reyn Aubrey. The son of an entrepreneur and a freelance writer, he spent his high school years in Hawaii dabbling in several business ventures that brought in a nice income, at least for a 17-year-old, but also delivered a personal epiphany: Profit alone seemed like a boring pursuit. […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
The takeaway from Amendment 73’s defeat: Voters won’t throw money into a broken school finance system
Voters rejected a 10-digit ask for new money for education this week, the third failed attempt at raising taxes for schools in the past eight years. Amendment 73 — which would have raised $1.6 billion for schools on top of the $11.7 billion they get now — went down 45 percent to 55 percent in […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Hurricane Michael’s first lesson? We need more STEM.
It will likely be many months before the full damage caused by Hurricane Michael is known, but this recent Axios article caught our attention: “Hurricane Michael underwent a period of explosive intensification that was not explicitly forecast by any computer models or human forecasters.” In other words, because what we’re seeing is unprecedented, we need […]
Posted in2018 Voter Guide, News, Politics and Government
Jared Polis vs. Walker Stapleton: Where Colorado’s governor candidates stand on the issues
The Colorado governor’s race is often cast as a competition of opposites, and it’s most evident when you break it down by the issues. Democrat Jared Polis and Republican Walker Stapleton are offering different visions for the state’s future, in particular on issues related to the environment, energy, health care and marijuana. Polis, a five-term […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Politics and Government
The final governor’s race debate set the stakes for the election. Here’s three things we learned.
If elected, Democrat candidate for governor Jared Polis promised to address climate change in his first year — but he made clear his agenda is contingent on one factor. “If we Democrats win the legislature, I think we have a good chance of getting our agenda … done,” the five-term Boulder congressman declared in the […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Top Democrats absent as teachers push ballot measure to boost school funding
The largest teacher organization in the state endorsed Jared Polis in the governor’s race. But the Democratic candidate won’t endorse the teacher-backed ballot measure to boost school funding. The juxtaposition frustrates teachers, a key Democratic voting bloc, and characterizes the political struggle education advocates face in the campaign to pass Amendment 73 in Colorado. The […]