Charter school bill draws rally at Colorado Capitol
DENVER (KDVR) — Lawmakers and community members advocating for fairness and transparency rallied at the Colorado Capitol Thursday, honing in on charter schools.
They called for lawmakers to pass a bill that would change the structure of a charter school board and how charter schools are funded. Supporters said they want this bill to pass to increase transparency around charter schools, while opponents feel sponsors have ulterior motives.
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Community members and advocates said they want Colorado charter schools to follow tougher transparency and accountability protocols that follow the schools’ progress and funding.
“Last year, we passed a law that requires a mill levy equalization, which means that charter schools are now receiving 100% per pupil funding,” said state Rep. Lorena Garcia, a prime sponsor of the measure.
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Garcia said now that charter schools are getting some dollars shared with public school districts, they should have to meet some of the same accountability standards.
“Now that we have mill levy equalization, we can’t wait anymore. Our public dollars, our taxpaying members here in Colorado deserve to know that every dollar they put into our system is accounted for. And that’s what this is doing,” Garcia said.
The bill would also remove the part of state law that allows charter schools not to pay rent to school districts when they use their facilities.
“We see this as the first step in going after them further, so I think ultimately, that we should be supporting charter schools,” said Michael Fields of Advance Colorado, who used to run a charter school. “The governor has already come out and said he is not going to support this.”
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Fields said he does not see the bill getting far this session and believes it’s an effort to discourage more charter schools from opening.
“I think (the bill) fails, and I think what it does is it rallies the people who support school choice, who support charter schools, but I don’t think this isn’t the end of the discussion,” Fields said. “These people are going to come back, these legislators are going to come back every year and try to make it harder and get rid of charter schools. That’s why I think school choice needs to be in our Colorado Constitution.”
Support for the bill is unclear, and sponsors were mum about any potential amendments.
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