Two members of Colorado’s Board of Education explain why Amendment 80 is a bad idea.
As members of the Colorado Board of Education, our mission is in line with most Colorado parents from across the state — to ensure all kids have equal access to a high-quality education and the same opportunities to thrive. As part of achieving this goal we have sought to structure an education system founded on excellent schools transparent and accountable to taxpayers. These are schools with the best and brightest educators committed to meeting every child and family’s individual needs.
This is why public school choice has been a pillar of Colorado’s public education system for 30 years, and no one is seeking to roll that back.
There is a threat to our students and schools, however, looming on our November ballot. Amendment 80, brought by wealthy, in and out-of-state organizations is part of a nationally coordinated master plan to go around voters in states where voucher proponents have been unsuccessful in passing state voucher laws. In Colorado, the voters turned down three education voucher ballot initiatives in the 1990s. Voucher and private school proponents then tried the legislative route. The Colorado legislature has turned down any type of voucher or education savings account 18 times just since 2016.
Proponents of Amendment 80 are disguising this measure as a referendum on parental choice. As written, Amendment 80 appears to simply enshrine school choice in the state constitution. The fact is Colorado parents already have public school choice, so there must be more to the story. Amendment 80 explicitly names private schools and “other future innovations in education.” Though the word “voucher” isn’t used, it’s not hard to imagine where this is heading. If parents have a right to send their children to private schools, then shouldn’t the state pay for it?
What this purposely misleading ballot measure is really about is dismantling public schools and taking a first step toward a voucher program to funnel already limited state dollars away from public schools to private schools. These private schools have no requirements to meet widely accepted education standards, teach scientifically sound curriculum, or be transparent and accountable to the taxpayers footing the bill. They can openly discriminate against children with special needs or a disability or families that don’t fit their economic, religious, racial or ethnic standards.
Public schools are serving 95% of students in Colorado, and any money diverted to pay private school tuition would come from the schools the majority of our kids attend. This will hit our rural communities the hardest, places already struggling to hire teachers and keep doors open. Many rural communities don’t have private schools, meaning funding will be diverted from towns across the Western Slope and eastern plains and sent to metro areas. Many schools have already been forced to go to four-day school weeks and cut back on programming while unable to make critical infrastructure improvements.
Where will the funding come from for the private school tuition in the voucher program this measure is seeking to open the door for? Perhaps we can ask residents in the state of Arizona where a voucher program is currently costing taxpayers $1 billion per year. New Hampshire residents pay more than $8 million per year for their voucher program, and North Carolina taxpayers spend up to $144 million per year. Where would this money come from in Colorado? It’s safe to assume that significant budget cuts to critical services would be on the horizon.
