Heard in the committee room
Thursday, January 17, 2008Written by: Todd Engdahl
Regulars at legislative hearings yearn for witty remarks or slips of the tongue to break the tedium, and Thursday’s joint meeting of the House and Senate education committees had at least fleeting moments of relief.
Education Commissioner Dwight Jones dropped an unexpected corporate cliche into the usual government jargon when he said the department is working to “manage our brand.”
Senate Education Committee Chair Sue Windels, trying to decide if lawmakers should interrupt witnesses with questions, noted, “Once they start questioning, it’s hard to rein them in again.”
And fast-talking rancher Pamela Jo Suckla, chair of the State Board Education, dropped a syllable when she said, “In the service department we are really vamping up what we do.”
January 24th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
In reading of the actions of the legislature and the state board of education I see nothing about funding the special education programs in the public schools. The program is drastically underfunded even though some schools find it difficult to provide full service programs, which are mandated by both the state and the feds. If this deficiency is not corrected before the TABOR holiday ends, special education will continue to be underfunded forever.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I failed to add to my previous comment that if you wish to know more about special education funding please read: http://fundcoloradospeced.blogspot.com
January 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
According to the Joint Budget Committee’s 2007-08 Appropriates Report, about $122 million is budgeted for special education in the current fiscal year. Whether that’s enough is another question.