Touting cash for parents tutoring their kids at home during the pandemic, Republican lawmakers Tuesday called on Gov. Jared Polis to bring the General Assembly back for a special session to address K-12 education in the era of COVID-19.
In a move Democrats are calling a political stunt, GOP lawmakers propose diverting public education dollars directly to parents whose children cannot attend public schools full time due to the virus, either because the children are at risk or the local school district won’t hold in-person classes.
Under this proposal, which the GOP letter called “Safe Learning Choices,” families “would be entitled to all or a portion of their child’s per pupil revenue to access the educational resources they need to thrive during the pandemic. The funding would allow parents to remain at home, engage an educator, purchase quality curriculum and materials, and if necessary, the computers and broadband service to ensure access.”
A news release claims parents have made an “overwhelming outcry” over “the future of their children’s education during the COVID-19 pandemic” and called on Polis to bring lawmakers back to deal with the issue.
The GOP move accompanies a Trump administration push to reopen schools amid the pandemic, which has killed more than 1,600 in Colorado.
The White House has threatened to cut funding for schools that don’t reopen classrooms despite rising concerns from health officials.
The money handed to parents would come from a shrunken school budget. Colorado’s public education funding was slashed in the 2020-21 budget by $621.4 million, as income tax revenue plunged and unemployment spiked during the pandemic.
According to a statement from Republican state Sen. Bob Gardner of Colorado Springs, “Colorado’s parents are concerned both for their children’s health and their education. If we act quickly, we can provide parents with the resources to educate their children in home or in small groups arranged by them to ensure that their children don’t fall behind.”
GOP state Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument added that “the instinctive drive of parents to find the best learning opportunities for their school-age children transcends politics. We need to give them safe learning choices during our battle against COVID-19.”
Senate President Leroy Garcia of Pueblo called the move a political stunt. Garcia said he first heard about it via Twitter and had not seen the letter demanding a special session, and that Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, a Parker Republican, hadn’t contacted him about the proposal or the letter.
“What I see in their proposal is a very narrow-minded approach that doesn’t include perspectives from teachers, elected school board members or students,” Garcia said.
Garcia said that it takes either the governor’s consent or a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the General Assembly to call for a special session, and that the executive committee is slated to meet next week to discuss further actions required in the pandemic.
These are discussions that need to take place within local school districts, he said.
And the amount of money that would have to be diverted would be significant, Garcia said. “Is their proposal to close schools?”
Senate Minority Leader Steve Fenberg of Boulder tweeted that Republicans are exploiting the pandemic “to accomplish something that has been on their ideological wish list for a generation: Defund public schools and implement a voucher system.”
House Speaker KC Becker of Boulder told Colorado Politics that “there is real concern among teachers and parents on what will happen this fall with schools reopening. But I don’t want to rush to a special session and I don’t believe in vouchers. They’re using the pandemic as a way to promote vouchers, and it would defund public education.”
“There’s a legislative concern on what’s happening with schools but this is the wrong solution. We need to drive down the infection rate so that our schools and economy can get on the right track,” Becker said.
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