Southern Colorado educators hope for ‘basic’ funding from the Colorado State Legislature this year

Teachers in Los Angeles were back out on the picket lines Tuesday, braving the elements to make their voices heard.

The scene, similar to ones that played out last year across Colorado. Six months later we haven’t heard much about what teachers here are wanting from the new crop of state lawmakers.

“We understand that we are to the point where our students are not being served well,” Suzanne Ethredge, President of Pueblo Education Association said.

Ethredge said for this year’s state legislative session, they simply want schools to be better funded.

“For what we’re being asked to do, and the resources we’re asked to provide for our students, and bottom line, it’s always our students, we just don’t have the funding in many cases to do that,” Ethredge said.

Ethredge asking for the money cut during the recession to now be restored with more dollars going towards capital construction.

Both Ethredge and Phyllis Robinette, President of the Pikes Peak Education Association, agree Governor Jaren Polis’ push for free full-day kindergarten and preschool is good, but more can be done.

“It’s also for our students. We need counselors in every school. We need social workers, we need those things we need class size to come down,” Robinette said.

Robinette is also asking lawmakers to look at the evaluation system for teachers.

“And say, ‘how can we make it better?’ Because there are parts of it that are great, the collaboration and partnership is great, but the tying to test scores has just been proven it doesn’t work,” Robinette said.

There have been several bills introduced this session that talk about funding education or helping teachers out in some way, some do relate to other points Polis mentioned during his State of the State.