CO teachers’ rally leads to school cancellations

MAY 2018

Educators from all around Colorado assembled at Civic Center Park to bring awareness to the lack of funding of public schools on Friday, April 27th.

Anticipating a shortage of teachers, the Cherry Creek School District canceled classes, as teachers gathered in protest for the lack of education funding, low teacher pay, and proposed changes to pension plans.

“I recognize that closing school is an inconvenience and a burden for families and I thank you for your patience regarding this matter.” Superintendent Harry Bull said in an email, “I also think it is worth recognizing that our teachers are taking personal time to advocate for what they believe will provide for a brighter future for all of our students.”

Colorado is ranked 47th in the nation in terms of school funding, leading Arizona and Oklahoma.

“I’m here for my students because they deserve better. As far as funding and they need to be appreciated more. We’re all educated professionals and we deserve funding as well,” math teacher Erin Dwyer stated during the rally.

This year, Colorado school districts each received $6.6 billion in funding from the state. $2.24 billion came from state and local property taxes while $4.2 billion came from the state’s general fund.

While science teacher Kathy Fennell attended the rally, she stated that Cherry Creek Schools planned ahead when budgeting.

“They really do take care of the teachers and they take care of the students, so we are probably in one of the best places in the state of Colorado.” She said.

In 2015, many states had began the process of getting back to where they were pre-recession. Yet there are many states who cut income taxes further and are still providing much less support for education.

Twenty-nine states provided less overall funding than in the 2008 school year, before the recession took hold. The states that increased school funding after they had cut it during the recession still haven’t completely made up for the for those cuts. This means that the funding schools originally had is still not available to them.

According to Colorado Public Radio’s The Taxman, Colorado has one of the five best economies in the United States, yet we have one of the five worst education systems due to lack of funding. Colorado is the 12th richest state yet our public schools are not properly funded. We are ranked between the 39th and 47th when it comes to public school funding.

The National Education Association ranked Colorado 46th in the country for teacher’s pay with an average annual salary of $46,155. This is seven-thousand dollars a year below the national average. There has also been an increase of 9,000 new students over the last two years to public schools in Denver.

Westword reported that more than 10,000 people attended Friday’s rally, and they expect more to attend over the weekend.

Dwyer commented, “I’m excited to see that this many people showed up and I’m really proud of the education community for all showing up for a common goal.”