colorado capitol watch
-
Noonan: Will DPS-style charter system work in Jeffco?
—
by
Former state Sen. John Andrews asked Jeffco school board members and candidates at a forum if they would welcome Denver Public Schools’ charter school system in Jeffco. I said I would not, while Ken Witt, John Newkirk, and Julie Williams, the three board members facing recall, all said they would. (I’m running for the seat…
-
Noonan: Nature’s law of prepositions should be first law of economics
—
by
Nature’s laws trump economic principles — a rule of thumb often ignored by policy makers. Mining provides many rueful examples. It’s a dirty business to extract minerals from Colorado’s mountains, yet the state often underestimates long-term risk for short-term gain. Sometimes the long-term risk is very long term, even geologic in length. An example is…
-
Noonan: Who says money doesn’t count in public education?
—
by
Colorado’s public K-12 education system went broke in 2008-2009. The brokenness was so bad the Legislature created the “negative factor,” the difference between the state dollars per student schools receive and the dollars they should receive. The negative factor reached a $1,278 per student deficit in 2012-13. It’s now down to $1,000 per student. Children…
-
Noonan: No hobby in the lobby, it’s all business at the Capitol
—
by
Citizens wonder whether lobbyists run the show down at the Capitol. Actually, the lobbying world operates like a rugby scrum, with players changing teams all the time, often just as they’re huddling up for the game. Lobbying, in short, is not for the faint of heart. The lobbyists’ job can be straightforward. Take HB15-1300, the…
-
Noonan: Educators shake, rattle and retire as tremblers shudder state’s elites
—
by
Colorado is experiencing a 7.0 San Andreas earthquake with a 1906-style San Francisco fire burning through the education world. Everywhere, education leaders are retiring, quitting, or facing recalls, as education policy pushes and pulls in opposite directions. State Education Commissioner Robert Hammond retired July 1. Other key executives and mid-level staffers quit. The Colorado Department…
-
Noonan: One lawmaker obeyed 5-bill rule, everyone else ran red lights
—
by
State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg was a busy legislator in the 2015 General Assembly. He sponsored 42 bills. As a new guy in the Senate after years in the House, he enjoyed the power of the majority, though 15 of those bills didn’t get through. He was able to round up support despite a passed-bill voting…
