Author: Paula Noonan

Paula Noonan Voters in Jefferson County recalled conservative school board president Ken Witt in 2015, two years after he was elected in 2013. That could have been the end of his career in education, but no. He moved from Jefferson County to Monument and now he’s the executive director of Education reEnvisioned BOCES and interim,…

Paula Noonan A number of public education bills are going to hit the legislature’s docket soon. At some point, there should be legislation with a re-do of the CMAS testing program and how schools are measured in the accountability performance framework. A review of so-called “top-10 schools” in Colorado, as defined mostly by achievement tests,…

Paula Noonan Some issues never go away. We lack the will to fix them, the issues are too big and complicated and/or legislators and the governor will only nibble at the edges rather than take the big bite. Health care in its various forms and impacts falls into each no-fix category. Let’s start with health…

Paula Noonan Conservative education advocates Ready Colorado used Cygnal polling to determine the state of affairs in Colorado. The poll is of mixed quality. It provides examples of how questions asked certain ways, and with skew in the polling sample, will produce induced results. The poll’s initial questions are straightforward and innocuous. The poll shows…

Paula Noonan The legislature may make significant decisions about K-12 public education this year. Two bills predict a bad trend. Democrat Dafna Michaelson Jenet, representative from Adams County representing Commerce City, and Republican Senator Janice Rich from Delta, are pitching bills to extend timelines for charter applications and to expand charter schools for individualized learning.…

020923-cp-web-oped-noonan-1 Colorado law places the state in a labor/right-to-work purgatory, depending on point of view. Metro Denver asserts the state has “the most progressive labor law in the country.” “Progressive” in the metro Denver world means a business environment with only 8.2% of Colorado’s workforce in unions. Colorado’s labor relations basis is in the 1943…

Paula Noonan Jeff Robbins, chair of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, made a brave statement to the House Energy and Environment committee during his recent presentation on SB19-181, which protects people and the environment rather than promoting oil and gas drilling. “Through your legislative action in 2019, Colorado now has the most protective…

Paula Noonan Colorado passed landmark environmental legislation in 2019, SB19-181, concerning “additional public welfare protections regarding the conduct of oil and gas operations.” The object of the law is to place public health and safety as the most important consideration influencing oil and gas drilling and production permits. This mission replaced previous priorities that emphasized…

Paula Noonan Democrats are singing as a chorus in the first week of the General Assembly. It’s a happy birthday tune for Colorado in its 150th year. No one is off the beat or on a flat note. Crime and safety, housing, land use, tax relief, reduced cost of health care, energy development and climate…

Paula Noonan The Colorado State Board of Education says Commerce City’s Adams 14 school board members would “develop trust” with the University Prep (UPrep) charter network of Denver if they focused on the district’s students rather than on “adult” issues. That view presumes the Adams 14 Board members’ “adult” back and forth with the UPrep…