Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: After her loss to Republican U.S. Rep. Hank Brown the previous year in the race for the 4th Congressional District, state. Sen Polly Baca-Barragan, D-Thortnon, was elected as one of the three vice-chairs of the Democratic National Committee.

“It was exciting but a lot of hard work,” Baca-Barragan said. “I sent everyone a letter who was a member of the Democratic National Committee, along with my resume, but because the Senate was in session I didn’t have a chance to follow-up with phone calls.”

So Baca-Barragan said that she lobbied DNC members personally for three days in Washington, D.C. to nail down the votes.

DNC committeeman Mike Muftic said he expected Baca-Barragan to do an admirable job but warned her that she ought to give suitable attention to her duties to her constituents in House District 34.

“If she’s going to be just a Chicano woman in the position of vice-chairwoman, then it’s not going to be enough. She’s a woman, and I’m a man, but we must have a common goal in the Democratic Party,” Muftic said. 

Muftic had been elected to the chair of the DNC’s Ethnic Caucus, which was comprised of Polish, Jewish, Yugoslavian, Italian, and Greek Americans.

In other news, state Sen. Sam Zakhem, D-Denver, told The Colorado Statesman that he believes Colorado public schools should either start teaching the biblical story of creation or quit teaching about the origin of man.

“Genesis should have equal time with the theory of evolution,” Zakhem said. “Secular humanism is being taught in schools, which is atheism and a form of religion, and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Zakhem was the senate sponsor of Senate Bill 81-394, which would require schools to teach the biblical story of creation. 

“I think it has a good chance of getting out of Al Meiklejohn’s Education Committee,” Zakhem said, “but its constitutionality will most certainly be challenged by the ACLU.”

Jim Joy, director of the Colorado ACLU, said that he hadn’t read Zakhem’s bill, but any bill that would require schools to teach the biblical story of creation would be unconstitutional because public schools can’t teach religion.

“The theory of evolution,” Joy said, “is the best known scientific version of creation. It’s based on scientific theory, that makes it ok.”

Twenty-Five Years Ago: “This is a good day for public education, for the principle of local control and for teamwork,” said Senate President Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland, about the Senate’s passage of Senate Bill 01-82, legislation that would send millions directly to school districts.

But Gov. Bill Owens had advocated that the monies generated by Amendment 23 be directed to specific programs, such as reducing class size in the first three grades to 17 pupils. 

Matsunaka, on the other hand, contended that public schools had been underfunded for years and that local school boards knew best where to spend the money. 

“Local control and accountability go together,” Matsunaka said. “Our constitution recognizes that local districts have primary responsibility over their schools. Of course, voters also have the expectation that public schools will spend their public dollars wisely.”

To that end, Matsunaka said he would require all school districts to develop a master plan for spending the Amendment 23 funds. The bill would also establish a panel to recommend the amount of money that could be safely drawn from the state education fund annually for various programs and uses like class size reduction, all-day kindergarten and teacher recruitment. 

Matsunaka said he had not spoken to Owens directly, but had been in contact with the governor’s aides, and was optimistic they’d be able to work together.

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.