Colorado teachers rally at the Colorado State Capitol amid proposed funding cuts
Hundreds of teachers from several school districts across the state gathered at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Thursday for a Day of Action rally ahead of proposed funding cuts to education. Teachers, students and families who supported the teachers wore red as they formed a crowd in downtown Denver.
The rally aims to push for more education funding as state lawmakers seek to cut more than $1 billion from the state budget. Some legislators believe they need to make changes to education funding in order to balance state finances.
CBS News Colorado's helicopter flew over the crowd of thousands that had gathered on the lawn of the Colorado State Capitol around noon. Teachers have traditionally gathered in previous years for similar demonstrations.
Connie Williams is a teacher in the Boulder Valley School District and took a personal day to attend the rally. She is one of more than 600 other BVSD teachers that called out Thursday and prompted the district to cancel classes for the day.
"I want to send a message that this is not acceptable to reduce public education. This is literally like our future of our country," Williams said, "Do they want their art and music classes? Do they want ... 45 kids in their math class where they can't get their questions answered?"
This year, many parents and students joined teachers at the rally as more than 100 schools canceled classes due to teacher absences.
Ninth grader James Pacheck told CBS Colorado he traveled in from Pueblo to join the rally.
"I was planning to go to school today, but my parents are teachers, and they were coming up here, and I asked them if I could come up and be a part of it, because I think it affects me. This is, like, why we're here is for the students," Pacheck said.
Those at the rally carried signs that read "Fund Our Future," "If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher," and "Our Students are the Reason."
One teacher from Summit County attended the rally and said, "Education is not the place to cut dollars. We need every dollar we can get ... teachers, the kids deserve it, the schools deserve it, our communities deserve it because after all, our greatest asset is our kids, our youth... we have amazing youth in this state and they deserve every last penny."
State assessments of Colorado's funding position have determined the state remains about $4 billion short in education funding, with a low per-pupil funding rate that trails most other states.
Colorado lawmakers are looking at a funding crisis with big increases in funding programs like Medicaid this year. Democrats point to expansions in education like Universal Pre-K and full-day kindergarten in recent years as successes, but districts have complained about having to pick up much of the cost.
Colorado Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie responded to a question posed by CBS Colorado earlier this week about what the message should be for teachers trying teach a class of nearly 40 students.
"Given our constraints, I would encourage that teacher to hang in there with us, right? We are working to be sure we deliver at least as much funding as schools have this year if not more, which is the proposal that we're looking at now," McCluskie said.
The governor's office also released a statement this week, emphasizing the proposed plan increases per pupil funding this year by $138 million. Still the statement acknowledged that some districts with declining enrollment will face funding shortfalls from a new funding formula. That formula could decrease the time period that enrollment averages are determined from and therefore could impact funding.
"The districts, because of our budget pressures, would not be getting as much money as we had originally planned to give out after last year's passage of the new formula," McCluskie.
Meanwhile, educators claim public education has been taking a hit for 15 years and believe it's time for other funding to take a hit.
In addition to BVSD, several other school districts in the Denver metro area canceled classes Thursday because of the teacher demonstration. Those schools include Aurora Public Schools, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Summit County and half of Denver Public Schools.
"Today's incredible turnout proves that educators, families, and community members are united in saying loud and clear: No more cuts," said Kevin Vick, educator of 20-plus years and president of Colorado Education Association in a statement. "Colorado's students deserve fully funded schools, not budget cuts that undercut their future. It's time for our state to prioritize public education and invest in the resources our students need to succeed."
Lawmakers are making decisions right now about the budget and will determine how much funding will go to education in the state.
