Colorado Newspapers Oppose '65%' Plan -- Unanimously

In a rare development, Colorado newspaper editorial boards unanimously opposed proposed Amendment 39, Colorado's version of the "65% Deception" scheme to force by constitutional amendment every school district to spend 65% of their total budgets on specified "classroom instruction" costs.

Coloradans for Excellent Schools, a coalition formed to oppose the measure, reported that not a single newspaper editorial board in the state has endorsed the school funding plan, called a "gimmick" by its opponents.

Editorial boards of newspapers ranging from the Steamboat Pilot & Today and The Pueblo Chieftain to The Fort Morgan Times, The Durango Herald, and the Denver Post urged readers to reject the ill-considered scheme.

The Daily Sentinel concluded, "We can see no good reason to place such broad requirements on every school district in the state."

"Wouldn't it be a shame if the school in Bailey weren't able to hire counselors to help students deal with last month's shootings because doing so would violate this amendment to the state constitution?" asked The Aspen Times editorial board.

According to The Denver Post, "The measure erodes local control and portends, or should we say pretends, that all districts - big and small, rural, suburban or urban - are the same."

See the Coloradans for Excellent Schools flyer illustrating the full range of newspaper opposition (PDF, 836KB, 1 page) to Amendment 39  and read the editorials at their Web site http://www.coexcellentschools.org/join.html.

Coloradans for Excellent Schools is a coalition of the Colorado Education Association and 112 other education, parent, social services, political, and other groups.