Adams 12 families, teachers plan to rally at Colorado's Capitol against education cuts
Teachers in Colorado are fighting back against proposed cuts to education funding. The state is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall and to save money, Gov. Jared Polis is proposing changes to how school districts are funded.
The Colorado Education Association claims schools in the state are underfunded by $4,000 per student and that Colorado ranks 46th in the U.S. for starting teacher salaries. The average in Colorado is $39,000, well below the state's minimum living wage of $65,000.
For Adams 12 Five Star School District parents like Heather Delair, the thought of losing more state funding for her children's schools is terrifying.
"Stop taking money from the schools to fix government mistakes," said Delair.
It is the message she hopes to send state leaders, when her family and others across the district rally at the capitol this Thursday to demand no more cuts to schools across Colorado.
"From our district, we're expecting more than 300 down at the capitol," said Carrie Weaver.
Weaver is a gifted and talented advocate for Adams 12 and the digital literacy partner at STEM Launch. Following hundreds of educators' decisions to call out on Thursday to rally at the capitol, the district announced plans to cancel classes district-wide.
"I'm all for it," said Delair, who already planned to take her children out of classes at Stukey Elementary to rally against the state's proposed budget cuts.
"Moral is down, I'll be honest," said Weaver. "It's really hard to come to school if you don't know next year you're going to have a job if your colleagues will have a job."
Weaver says they want to work with state leaders on a solution that does not take state funding away from K-12 education. Right now, cuts to the Adams 12 school district alone could total over $13 million if the current budget proposal moves forward.
"What we're looking at is a very precarious level where some districts it could be hundreds of teachers cut, it could be schools closing, it could be a number of programs that educators and students rely on just as a part of the day would no longer exist," said Kevin Vick, President of the Colorado Education Association.
Vick says in total, they are expecting over 1,000 people to rally at the capitol in support maintaining funding for public education.
Delair says families are not willing to lose out on vital staffing and resources at their schools from these budget cuts without putting up a fight.
"Especially at this school, our teachers go above and beyond for their students," said Delair. "The least that we can do is stand for them and have their backs."
Adams 12 and the Boulder Valley School District have canceled classes on Thursday.
While Denver Public Schools has not formally announced any cancellation of classes this week, a spokesperson did say that more than 1,000 teachers had requested the day off on Thursday:
Keeping students in school and learning is the best for all scholars. Because of this, DPS has to balance our ability to provide a safe and productive educational environment for our students with providing our families the runway necessary to make arrangements should their school have an operational closure. Denver public schools continues to monitor the number of teachers who are taking the day off and will announce a plan as soon as possible.
Some other districts across the state have not canceled classes as of yet for this rally, as many of them are already off for spring break, including the Douglas County School District.
