Polis and Pre-K
Complete Colorado published my column, “A rocky rollout for Colorado’s universal pre-K.” Here are some excerpts:
The rollout of Colorado’s pre-K program has been rocky. The people footing the bill, taxpayers, deserve answers regarding the implementation of the program and, eventually, its long-term impacts. . . .
An additional 9,150 families with some stressing condition were notified in late July that they would not be getting full-day funding. . . .
Polis didn’t actually say that “some parents who want universal pre-K are just looking for child care.” But, let’s be honest here, that is precisely the case. . . .
Last year, NPR published an insightful piece by Anya Kamenetz reviewing the results of a high-quality study out of Tennessee. . . .
Here are the results: “After third grade, they [the students who got into the program] were doing worse than the control group. And at the end of sixth grade, they were doing even worse. They had lower test scores, were more likely to be in special education, and were more likely to get into trouble in school, including serious trouble like suspensions.” . . .
Why not subsidize only disadvantaged students? And why not give the money directly to the families in question to spend however they want?
Bear in mind that Colorado’s public schools are failing to educate many students in math and reading.
Read the entire piece.
Divisive Public Schools
Polis told Marshall Zelinger, “Public education is something that that unites us.” Really? Following are a smattering of headlines:
Woodland Park school board has ‘chilled’ free speech and violated open meetings law, according to Colorado teachers union lawsuit
Lawsuit alleges Douglas County School District failed to protect students from racial harassment
Massive data breach could impact many who attended or worked for public schools in Colorado
Colorado lawmaker wants to ban seclusion rooms in schools as Denver investigation continues
Latino students in Denver Public Schools are segregated by race, class and language, according to new study
Denver school board to vote on whether to release recording of closed-door meeting about police
The schools that take Colorado’s ‘most vulnerable’ children are disappearing
ACLU sues Colorado school district after former employee was forced to leave
Colorado district equity docs reveal methodical system to deceive parents on in-school social transitions
How conservatives transformed a Colorado school district
As I often repeat, it’s so weird how government-run schools become so political.
Quick Takes
Libertarians: Colorado Libertarians have laid out the terms by which they will refrain from running candidates against Republicans: First up, Republicans must pledge, “I will immediately work to pull funding for Ukrainian aid and push aggressively for peace negotiations with Russia.” This is insane. Russia under Putin has waged a genocidal war against Ukraine. Russia is the obvious aggressor. Negotiating “peace” with Russia means welcoming Russia’s mass murder in Ukraine.
HOAs: Jesse Paul: Quite a story: “Last year, the HOA filed for foreclosure [for unpaid HOA dues]. The house sold at auction for just $76,000. A few months later, the investor who bought the home sold it again for $520,000. . . . [That] property is one of more than 250 in Colorado that have been sold at a sheriff’s auction since 2018 for a fraction of their market value.” That seems extraordinarily wrong.
Boebert: Lauren Boebert used tax dollars to run what is effectively (although indirectly and unofficially) an ad responding to an attack ad against her, 9News reports.
Vaccinations: They’re down among school kids.
Fielder: John Fielder has died. You can see his extraordinary nature photos at History Colorado.
Child Custody: Incompetent parental evaluators harm children.
Approval Voting: As the Aurora mayoral race illustrates, our system of voting is horrible for handling multiple candidates. Approval voting, where voters can vote for as many candidates as they want, would solve.
Polis: NBC has a profile that’s long on admiration and short on details. Polis is pushing more migrant work permits.