Tag: mike johnston

As the state Democratic party gathers itself for next year’s mid-term elections, party faithful representing both the progressive and establishment camps rallied behind former...

Originally posted on Chalkbeat by Eric Gorski on April 29, 2016 At Boulder Valley School District high schools this spring, it was business as...

Originally posted on Chalkbeat by Todd Engdahl on April 27, 2016 A bill designed to strengthen the privacy and security of student educational data...

Gov. Hickenlooper seemed to have no more clarifying intelligence on the bill's likely materialization than do speculating members of the media.

DENVER -- Lawmakers here Monday affably wrestled with open-records riddles on the way to killing a bill all the Senate Judiciary Committee members nevertheless thought raised important questions.

When Janice Anderson, a fourth-grade teacher at Pennock Elementary school in Brighton, Colorado, stands before the 30 students in her class, she’s teaching a collection of radically different 9 years olds with little to no extra help.

DENVER -- Colorado Senator Mike Johnston, a former high school teacher and principal, spearheaded the effort. It took 2 years, 250 public meetings and it involved 2,000 individual stakeholders. The result is a bill that would rewrite the formula for funding state K-12 public education in a way that boosts the education budget and makes spending more accountable and more effective.

Colorado legislative debate this year on education, gay rights and women's health policies reflected larger well-worn national political back-and-forths, where showy speeches on immigration "illegals," "traditional marriage" and religious freedom often sidetrack efforts to serve the public good.

DENVER-- In a highly anticipated Senate debate here Friday, Republicans launched early-round attacks against a bill that aims to create a mid-level state-university tuition rate for undocumented students who have graduated from Colorado high schools. Although the bill easily weathered the GOP barbs in the Democrat-controlled chamber, passing on a 20-13 voice vote, the two-hour back-and-forth showcased the lines of argument opponents of the bill will seek to sharpen before it arrives a few weeks from now in the Republican-controlled House.

Colorado's ASSET bill died in committee Monday as every Republican, including Robert Ramirez, voted no. Ramirez said he will work with Democrats to bring a bill next year that is more acceptable to conservatives.