Amendment 80, Constitutional Right to School Choice, has the singular benefit of asking Coloradans to settle our public education arguments. Every voting citizen is, in essence, a legislator determining a future for public education in our democracy.

Amendment 80 adds new premises to the state’s promises for K-12 education. The state constitution currently declares Colorado will provide a “thorough and uniform” public education for children. Amendment 80 adds “all children have a right to equal opportunity to access a quality education.”  “Equal opportunity” and “quality education” are like beauty — subject to interpretation.

The state’s taxpayers will produce the money for “equal opportunity” if not for “quality education.” The school choices offered are “neighborhood, charter, private, and home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education.” 

The state already funds neighborhood and charter schools. Neighborhood schools are in school districts regulated and accountable to taxpayers through the state’s standardized CMAS tests, financial transparency and oversight by publicly-elected boards.

Charters are also supported with tax dollars, but they receive regulation waivers and do not have to post their financials in the same detail as traditional public schools. Charters are not subject to ongoing oversight by publicly elected school boards.

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Between traditional public schools and charters, we can discern a trend away from education oversight by elected officials representing the people providing the money for schools. Charters use taxpayer funds to pay corporate management groups to operate their schools. Charters go their own way on curricula, hiring and evaluating teachers, disciplining pupils and selecting their students. Despite claims to the contrary, not all students are welcome.

Amendment 80 will cement the trend away from the principle we as a public will use our taxpayer dollars to ensure all children have a seat in our publicly-supported schools. Conservatives supporting Amendment 80 have turned away from their usual appeal for financial transparency and fiscal accountability. Their ideal education depends on allowing parents to use public dollars to pay for private schools and homeschooling, whether secular or religious, unencumbered by guardrails to protect the quality of curriculum or teaching or financial integrity.

Cockamamie education can be our new value. As an example, the elected Colorado Board of Education voted on social studies standards. Some charter schools have decided the standards aren’t right. They have adopted curriculum from Hillsdale College based on ostensible Christian principles that diverge from Colorado history standards related to teaching about slavery, the civil war, Jim Crow, etc. Science standards are next. We can imagine how Hillsdale’s curricula will present evolution theory, climate change and the origins of the universe.

Amendment 80 goes further than current policy in dismantling our public education commitment. It literally takes the public out of education, except for the money part, when it pushes public funds into private schools as vouchers. Many charters will no doubt convert to private schools if this amendment passes to take advantage of public funding with no oversight of programs or processes.

One argument for Amendment 80 is vouchers will allow low-income children to attend private schools. That is a false promise. The tuition of private schools will exceed any voucher the state’s budget offers. The result will give well-off parents who can manage the difference between a voucher and total tuition costs a huge break. Those voucher funds for private schools will blow a gaping hole in the state’s public education coffers. Arizona faces a $1.4 billion budget blowout due to its voucher program. Meanwhile, Colorado is ranked among the low 40s of states for public education spending. Vouchers could put us even lower.

Most important, this amendment will pick apart our communities by dismantling our traditional neighborhood schools. Already, school districts are closing neighborhood schools with low enrollment due to the effects of declining birthrates. Charter schools with low enrollments are mostly exempted from this disruption while public schools face tough choices. As long as public money fills charter school bank accounts without public accountability, these schools can hang on by turning away children too expensive for their budgets.

Amendment 80 will prevent investments to improve public community schools. Many children today need mental, behavioral and physical health services, housing supports and nutrition programs. In our budgeting processes, these needs should take priority for public school spending.

Finally, the emotions of the heart make strong public schools critical. Our public schools have created personal histories and passions based on loyalties to our local high school football and other sports teams, affection for high school plays, musicals and concerts, and remembrances of dances, proms and homecomings. These events make our lives rich and cause people to come together despite differences. Without these experiences enlivening our memories, we are less and lost.

Our public schools are under maximum stress. School shootings unsettle students and educators. School closings compromise opportunity. And low funding reduces important programs and services. Our commitment to “thorough and uniform” public education has held us together for 150 years but is now severely tested. A NO vote on Amendment 80 is the right choice to answer this test question correctly.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.