Colorado tax payers could be asked that question on a ballot in November if Senator Rollie Heath gets his way. This week he launched a petition drive to ask Coloradans to agree to increase their sales and income taxes briefly—from January 2012 until December 2014. The increase in taxes would be earmarked for K-12 and higher education.

Governor Ritter appointed a commission to come up with a strategic plan for Colorado’s education. The bi-partisan commission came up with several recommendations, in a report released in f2010. The theme running throughout their report (linked below) is that the system is broken and it needs to be fixed. Colorado has one of the highest achievement gaps in the nation. Increasingly the burden of funding higher education is falling on the shoulders of kids and their families. Our in-state tuition at state schools now rivals tuition at private schools. By 2035 70% of the jobs in Colorado will require a higher education.

Call me a tax and spend liberal, if you must, but it is time to get serious about school funding. If this ballot initiative does nothing other than getting the conversation started, it is a major achievement.

Homework:

Strategic Plan for Higher Education in Colorado

Senator Rollie Heath--Our Kids Can't Wait

While you were watching the fireworks surrounding Obama’s speech on the federal budget, the Colorado state legislature was busy passing its budget for the year. Colorado is ahead of the game, they are actually working on the fiscal budget for the year to come, not the year that is halfway finished.

This budget wasn’t without drama. There were reputed shouting matches, including a dinner that the Senate President decided to leave before the meal was served. He even threatened to submit his own budget because he was having so much trouble getting to an agreement with the House leadership.

Both the House and the Senate have passed a budget, and it is good news for WalMart, but bad news for poor kids who might fall out of a tree and break an arm or leg this summer. They won’t have any health insurance, so the rest of us will be paying for that childhood accident with higher health insurance premiums when the kid visits the emergency room. WalMart will get a break on collecting sales taxes.

According to a Sentinel story written by Charles Ashby, Judy Solano, a Democrat from Brighton said, “When we give $9 million to the wealthiest corporation in the world … and we’re cutting our schools $250 million, it’s unconscionable for me to vote for this budget,” referring to Wal-Mart’s vendor fee. “To give away 98.8 percent of the vendor fee to large corporations when they speak out of one side of their mouth and say, ‘Education is important,’ and they speak out of the other side and say, ‘Yeah, but we need this extra money,’ we cannot be 50th in the nation for school funding.”

I never thought I’d see the day that Colorado is last in the nation when it comes to education. I agree with Judy Solano, it is unconscionable. If you keep electing Republicans who are only guided by ALEC, as Steve King admitted in an E-mail to me, you are going to have kids who don’t learn, can’t get a good job, possibly end up as criminals, and in any event will not be productive members of society. In fact, I remember in debates that Steve King was convinced that there is nothing wrong with Colorado’s education system. He kept pointing to his own kids whenever I brought up the idea that we are killing both public K-12 and higher education with continued budget cuts. If you are poor you can forget about getting a good education in Colorado. Thank a Republican, but be warned, he isn’t listening to you, he is listening to ALEC.

P.S. Kevin King, I mailed a check to the state of Colorado yesterday for my Colorado taxes. I just wish more of them went to schools and kids who need a break.

Homework

Charles Ashby Story (Subscription Required)

Under the Gold Dome Fighting Words

Denver Business Journal Story about Budget

For the past several years lawmakers in Denver have grappled with how to balance Colorado’s budget. We’ve comforted ourselves thinking that this was a short term problem caused by the trickle-down effect of high unemployment. Unemployed workers don’t pay income taxes (actually, that’s a myth, but is a subject for another day) and they don’t buy anything they don’t need to buy, so sales tax revenues decrease. State revenues decrease in any economic downturn. At the same time, applications for things like unemployment benefits and food stamps and children’s health insurance go up, causing the state’s expenses to go up. Since the budget has to be balanced, spending must be cut. When employment goes up sunny days are here again.

Except, the University of Denver blew a hole in that scenario with a report released last week. They called it a “budget tsunami.” Several foundations came up with the money to fund a study of the state’s financial system, which was mandated by the legislature in 2010. The University’s Center for Colorado’s Economic Future reported that there is a problem with how Colorado’s government is organized that will cause budget short-falls long after any economic recovery.

The modeling done by DU predicted that by 2025 Medicaid expenditures will triple and K-12 education expenses will almost double. But General Fund revenues will only increase 86%. Let’s see, a 300% increase in one of the three largest state programs, a 200% increase in another, and only an 86% increase in revenues. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the numbers don’t add up.

Yesterday one Democratic legislator decided to do something about the structural problems that would cripple education in Colorado. He knows that without a fix Colorado could easily become the only state in the nation with no public university system. Education is an economic driver, so without a strong university system, Colorado’s economy would be trickled upon. In fact, that was the subject of another study released in late 2010 by a commission appointed by Ritter. In a report titled Colorado Must Decide, an increase in taxes to fund higher education was recommended. Yesterday Rollie Heath, a Democrat representing the district housing the University of Colorado, introduced a bill that would allow voters to decide if they want to fund a university system. As a former corporate executive, my guess is that Rollie Heath understands what business needs and will support. The bill may die, because neither party sent cheerleaders to the announcement of the bill, and Governor Hickenlooper was cool to the idea, but it is what is needed if Colorado’s higher education system is going to survive and thrive. I hope legislators let Colorado’s voters decide.

Homework

Story at University of Denver's Website

Economic Reports at DU's website

Study on Colorado's Higher Education Funding

Rollie Heath Taking Tax Hike to Voters