Search Result for: Colorado


colorado Coalition Loses Funding Suit in State Court

...current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Children's Voices, a colorado coalition representing 14 school districts and numerous parents, lost its funding suit at the state court level when Denver District Judge Michael Martinez dismissed their case. The lawsuit claimed that the state was not meeting its constitutional responsibility to provide a "thorough and uniform" public education system because of insufficient funding that is not based on an ac...
Date: 2006-04-01

colorado Coalition Wins Major Victory in School Finance Suit

...on or expire over time. In what has been called “a complete legal victory,” twenty-one colorado school districts have received a decision that the state’s school funding formula is unconstitutional. The District Court also directed the state legislature to revise the funding system. Earlier this month, colorado District Court Judge Sheila Rappaport issued a 189-page ruling that details the failures of the system for rural and poor students across the state. The ruling notes t...
Date: 2011-12-30

colorado Court Says Case Can Move Forward

...tion or expire over time.   In a positive step for rural and poor students in the state, the colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the Lobato school finance adequacy case can be heard in a district court. The case, originally filed in 2005, charged that the current school finance system is unconstitutional under the state’s “thorough and efficient” standard.   The Supreme Court decision overturns two lower court decisions that would have ended the challenge. Those...
Date: 2009-11-29

colorado Defendants Will Appeal Loboto Plaintiff Decision

...ion or expire over time. Despite being urged otherwise by education stakeholders in the state, the colorado State Board of Education has decided to appeal District Court Judge Shelia Rappaport’s ruling that the school funding formula is unconstitutional. (Read coverage of the decision in the December 2011 RSFN here.) Governor John Hickenlooper had already announced he would appeal the decision and the office of the colorado Attorney General confirmed the filing on behalf of both Hickenloo...
Date: 2012-02-23

colorado Lawsuit Opens

...5, survived two lower court decisions that would have ended the case after plaintiffs convinced the colorado Supreme Court that their arguments should be heard. Parents representing a diverse population and 21 school districts are claiming that the state is failing to meet its constitutional duty to provide a “thorough and uniform” system of free public schools in the state. Over 100 other school districts in the state support the lawsuit. Named plaintiff Anthony Lobato and other pa...
Date: 2011-08-25

colorado Makes Demands on Districts Involved in Lawsuit

... time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. State attorneys are asking 150 colorado school districts to produce documents dating back to 2005 as part of the state’s defense in the Lobato school funding suit. The districts are those not involved in the lawsuit, and the state hopes the information will help to build their case against the plaintiff districts who have sued them. Cost estimates for the document production from some districts are as high as $76,000....
Date: 2010-06-25

colorado School Funding Lawsuit Moving Ahead

...me of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Additional plaintiffs have joined colorado’s Lobato school funding lawsuit, which claims that the current school finance system is unconstitutional under the state’s “thorough and efficient” standard. Jefferson County and colorado Springs, two of the state’s larger school districts have joined the suit, as well as a group of parents from Denver. A group of plaintiff intervenors, including English Lang...
Date: 2010-03-26

colorado Students Win State Law Reforms of Student Discipline Code

...int in Schools A primarily youth-led organization in colorado has won a significant victory in the fight to end the school-to-prison pipeline in the Centennial State. The "Fair Discipline in Schools Act" was passed in the final hours of the legislative session as an amendment to the colorado School Finance Act, and was signed into law earlier this month. Padres and Jovenes Unidos (Parents and Youth United) of Denver has been working on sc...
Date: 2012-05-30

colorado TABOR Lawsuit Filed

...udes current and former state legislators, local officials, and school board members is challenging colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights law (TABOR) in district court, saying that it is unconstitutional. Representatives of rural districts Pueblo 70 and Steamboat Springs are among those suing the state. The lawsuit claims that TABOR, which limits state revenue and requires voters to approve tax increases, is a form of direct democracy that violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of ...
Date: 2011-06-25

colorado Voters Reject Tax Increase for Schools

...: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. colorado voters went to the polls this month to vote on a referendum to raise sales and income taxes for the state’s education budget. The proposal was rejected by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. Proposition 103 would have increased individual and corporate tax rates from 4.63% to 5% and colorado's sales and use tax rate from 2.9% to 3% for five years. That change would have generated $3 billion for...
Date: 2011-11-29

Plaintiffs and Allies in colorado School Funding Case Ask High Court to Uphold Ruling

...ct Court Judge Sheila Rappaport found the state in violation of its constitution because of the way colorado funds schools, agreeing with plaintiff claims that the formula leaves many poor and rural students with missing components of their public education, including kindergarten and gifted and talented programs. The trial court said that the formulas have no rational reason for doing so. In July, the state filed an appeal of the decision. See previous RSFN coverage here and here. In the appea...
Date: 2012-10-29

RSFN-Extras: colorado Funding Issues to Go Before High Court

...the time of posting, but may expire over time, and may require free registration for access. The colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on appeal in the Lobato school funding case. The Lobato plaintiffs are a coalition of 14 rural and low income districts known as Children's Voices. The lawsuit claims that the state is not meeting its constitutional responsibility to provide a "thorough and uniform" public education system because of insufficient funding that is not based on a...
Date: 2008-11-06

School Discipline Reform Underway in colorado

...stration or expire over time. A student discipline reform bill has been making its way through the colorado Legislature this month, and supporters are optimistic about its chances of passage. The Smarter School Discipline Bill (Senate Bill 46) requires all school districts to incorporate graduated discipline as part of their policies and promotes alternatives to suspension and expulsion like Restorative Justice. (Editor’s note: A graduated discipline approach restricts exclusionary punish...
Date: 2012-03-30

School Discipline Update: colorado Task Force Recommends End to Zero Tolerance; New Study Details Disparity in Discipline Rates Across Country

...the issues in the national conversation about school discipline. A multidisciplinary task force in colorado has finished drafting legislative reforms of the state’s school discipline laws that would eliminate "zero tolerance" policies and reduce the availability of suspensions and expulsions as punishment for students. The 16-member Legislative Task Force to Study School Discipline was formed in July. Six are legislators who voted to advance the proposed legislation to the L...
Date: 2011-10-27

2008 Federal Election Outcomes

... Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will see two changes. Republican Wayne Allard (colorado) retired, and Democrat Barack Obama is leaving for the White House. On the powerful Appropriations Committee, all Democrats and most Republicans on the subcommittee on Labor, Health Services, Education, and Related Agencies were either not up for re-election or won easily. But Republican Larry Craig (Idaho) did not seek re-election and Senator Ted Stevens (Alaska) narrowly lost in his re-...
Date: 2008-11-06