Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's talk to Michael Fields.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Michael Fields is president of Advanced Colorado. He is sponsor
of Amendment eighty, which would create a constitutional right in the.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
State of Colorado for school choice.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am in favor of Amendment eighty, and I have
written so in my voter guide which is up at
Rossciminski dot com. But I do have some questions and
Michael joins us to talk about it. He is the sponsor,
as I said, of Amendment Dy Michael, welcome back. Good
to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Thanks for having me on Ross.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's start with some basics. Why does Colorado need a
constitutional amendment about school choice?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Sure, so, all of the current school choice laws are statutory.
The politicians can change them anytime. We saw this last
session where legislators went after charter schools. Thankfully that failed.
Thankfully we have a governor who would shoot down any
you know of these bad bills on charter schools. But
he's not going to be governor forever, and you're going
(01:02):
to see more and more attacks on not only charter schools,
but private schools, home schools. So if you move it
to the constitution, that leaves it up to the people
that decide instead of politicians, and so we think this
is the time to put it in the constitution. We've
had really good school choice laws for a while. I
wish they're even better, but let's at least cement what
we have in our constitution.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I shared this with listeners yesterday, but I'm going to
read this to you quickly because I can do almost
the entirety of Amendment eighty in less than a minute.
The people of the State of Colorado hereby find and
declare that all children have the right to equal opportunity
to access equality education, that parents have the right to
direct the education of their children, and that school choice
(01:44):
includes neighborhood charter, private and home schools, open enrollment options,
and future innovations in education.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And then Section two.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Says each K through twelve child has the right to
school choice.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So that's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I note, Michael that earlier on in this process and
still now, although less there's there have been some questions
from people who are normally very strong proponents of school
choice about the wording of the measure, and in particular,
I think some people wonder whether that very last thing,
each K through twelve child has the right to school
(02:21):
choice somehow gives kids a right to make the decision
and could lead to legal issues. What if a kid
wants a different thing from what the parents want. So
how should we think about this?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, and you know, we ran this by and worked
with some really good lawyers on it, and you know
Chris Murray, former US attorney Troy Eyed and when they
looked at this, they said, look, you know, these rights,
the right that we're giving the child here is exercise
through the parents. And I know you've had Christy Burton
brickn on before talking about this, but you know, these
(02:58):
rights are exercised through the parents. Even in the measure
it talks about parents directing the child's education. But you
just have to think about it practically too. Right if
my six year old says, well, I want to be
homeschooled in Aspen, nobody's forcing me to quit my job,
move to Aspen and homeschool her. That's just not a
practical thing. So there was a little bit of issue.
(03:22):
You know, some people brought up with that. I think
you know, all these conservative groups in Colorado have supported it. Now,
I don't think that that's an issue, And I think
if you talk to any legal expert who knows this topic.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It is.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It's just it's a non issue.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Also what is what we've seen is that the teachers'
union is dumping in millions of dollars for a reason,
and it's because they're against school choice. They're running the
bills to go after charter schools. That is the real
issue here. Putting it in the constitution will give parents
and students the rights to school choice.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And again, just for listeners, I am a strong yes
on Amendment eighty, but I'd just like to you know,
some things with the other folks who are in favor
of it. There's a group out there that and I
don't know anything about this group, but some Christian homeschooling
group that sent out an email saying that they're against it.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And I realized that, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
For this to pass, you probably need a lot of conservatives,
because a lot of liberals are just even if they
don't know it, they're owned by teachers unions. So you're
gonna need really a lot of support from conservatives. So
what do you want to say to you know, people
who who aggressively that's not the right word, but who
identify as Christian as a key part of their identity
(04:40):
and maybe get an email from a Christian group saying
they're not in favor of this.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, I think that's just a misunderstanding of what is
currently possible, right that you think in the late eighties
they passed the homeschool build that allowed homeschooling in Colorado.
That can get repealed at any time. They can go
after homeschoolers. They can make the regulation hire nothing is
stopping them right now from doing that. And so I
understand the concern of you know, more regulation coming from
(05:06):
the government that they're worried about. This actually protects It
puts homeschooling in the constitution. Therefore they can't repeal it.
They're gonna have a hard time going after homeschooling. So
I think it's a misunderstanding of it. I mean, thankfully
we're able to have the conversations with homeschoolers. Christy Burton
Brown what you know as a homeschool mom went through
as a homeschool student, and you know had you know,
(05:28):
wrote an opt about this, and so I would encourage
people to look at the information on it. There is
a little bit of pushback, but really ross we pull
this all the time. And Republicans are strongly supporting this.
And the other group that is is Hispanic and African
Americans in Colorado. They're the ones who are looking at
their one option in their neighborhood and saying we want
(05:48):
more options. And so that is the the most interesting
thing is this coalition across the board. But you know,
our biggest support is coming from Hispanic families across the state.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I have to say, just as a man growth thing
on this issue, I have long been somewhere between frustrated
and infuriated by the fact that so much opposition to
school choice comes from upper middle class white liberals who
happen to live in neighborhoods where the government school is good. Right,
(06:19):
And if your kid goes to Cherry Creek High School,
then you maybe you think all government schools are like
Cherry Creek High School.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And the people who most need the opportunity to break
out of a cycle of poverty that can be that
can be reinforced rather than broken by a bad government school. Right,
the upper middle class, white, comfortable white liberals are telling
the Hispanics and blacks and poor white people, no, you're
(06:47):
stuck where you are, and that has always pissed me off.
So it's part of the reason I'm such a huge
supporter of choice.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You want to add.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Anything to that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, And I taught fourth grade at a charter school.
And if you have you know, thirty seconds on a story.
I had a student, African American girl who was at
the district school and her mom comes in the first
parent teacher conference and says, she was doing horrible at
her last school, wasn't learning anything, didn't want to go
to school. She came to this new charter school.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Now she loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
She's learning, she's doing so well. And I found out
just last year she got a scholarship in college for
basketball and is doing so well in life. And I'm
thinking about the trajectory can change based on education. Right,
it happened in my family. My dad African American, first
person to go to college in his family. Education can
change to the directory of people's families, and so I
(07:37):
am very passionate about giving people options. If this school
doesn't work, maybe a different one does.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I have five kids, they all have different learning needs.
So I am a big supporter of school choice, and
I'm super worried about the fact that these legislators are
going to go after it, that the union is taking
money out of teacher's pockets and putting up these TV
ads a lie about school choice in Colorado. So I'm
very passionate. I think that we have a lot of
momentum here, but I want to keep it going and
(08:04):
I want to spread the word about it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Folks.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I encourage you on your ballot, if you haven't mailed
it in yet, make sure to mark yes on Amendment
eighty and let's get school choice into the state constitution.
Michael Fields is sponsor of Amendment eighty, president of Advanced Colorado.
The website is advance Colorado dot org to learn more.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Thank you Michael.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Thanks Ros
Let's talk to Michael Fields.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Michael Fields is president of Advanced Colorado. He is sponsor
of Amendment eighty, which would create a constitutional right in the.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
State of Colorado for school choice.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am in favor of Amendment eighty, and I have
written so in my voter guide which is up at
Rossciminski dot com. But I do have some questions and
Michael joins us to talk about it. He is the sponsor,
as I said, of Amendment Dy Michael, welcome back. Good
to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Thanks for having me on Ross.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's start with some basics. Why does Colorado need a
constitutional amendment about school choice?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Sure, so, all of the current school choice laws are statutory.
The politicians can change them anytime. We saw this last
session where legislators went after charter schools. Thankfully that failed.
Thankfully we have a governor who would shoot down any
you know of these bad bills on charter schools. But
he's not going to be governor forever, and you're going
(01:02):
to see more and more attacks on not only charter schools,
but private schools, home schools. So if you move it
to the constitution, that leaves it up to the people
that decide instead of politicians, and so we think this
is the time to put it in the constitution. We've
had really good school choice laws for a while. I
wish they're even better, but let's at least cement what
we have in our constitution.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I shared this with listeners yesterday, but I'm going to
read this to you quickly because I can do almost
the entirety of Amendment eighty in less than a minute.
The people of the State of Colorado hereby find and
declare that all children have the right to equal opportunity
to access equality education, that parents have the right to
direct the education of their children, and that school choice
(01:44):
includes neighborhood charter, private and home schools, open enrollment options,
and future innovations in education.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And then Section two.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Says each K through twelve child has the right to
school choice.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So that's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I note, Michael that earlier on in this process and
still now, although less there's there have been some questions
from people who are normally very strong proponents of school
choice about the wording of the measure, and in particular,
I think some people wonder whether that very last thing,
each K through twelve child has the right to school
(02:21):
choice somehow gives kids a right to make the decision
and could lead to legal issues. What if a kid
wants a different thing from what the parents want. So
how should we think about this?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, and you know, we ran this by and worked
with some really good lawyers on it, and you know
Chris Murray, former US attorney Troy Eyed and when they
looked at this, they said, look, you know, these rights,
the right that we're giving the child here is exercise
through the parents. And I know you've had Christy Burton
brickn on before talking about this, but you know, these
(02:58):
rights are exercised through the parents. Even in the measure
it talks about parents directing the child's education. But you
just have to think about it practically too. Right if
my six year old says, well, I want to be
homeschooled in Aspen, nobody's forcing me to quit my job,
move to Aspen and homeschool her. That's just not a
practical thing. So there was a little bit of issue.
(03:22):
You know, some people brought up with that. I think
you know, all these conservative groups in Colorado have supported it. Now,
I don't think that that's an issue, And I think
if you talk to any legal expert who knows this topic.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It is.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It's just it's a non issue.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Also what is what we've seen is that the teachers'
union is dumping in millions of dollars for a reason,
and it's because they're against school choice. They're running the
bills to go after charter schools. That is the real
issue here. Putting it in the constitution will give parents
and students the rights to school choice.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And again, just for listeners, I am a strong yes
on Amendment eighty, but I'd just like to you know,
some things with the other folks who are in favor
of it. There's a group out there that and I
don't know anything about this group, but some Christian homeschooling
group that sent out an email saying that they're against it.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And I realized that, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
For this to pass, you probably need a lot of conservatives,
because a lot of liberals are just even if they
don't know it, they're owned by teachers unions. So you're
gonna need really a lot of support from conservatives. So
what do you want to say to you know, people
who who aggressively that's not the right word, but who
identify as Christian as a key part of their identity
(04:40):
and maybe get an email from a Christian group saying
they're not in favor of this.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, I think that's just a misunderstanding of what is
currently possible, right that you think in the late eighties
they passed the homeschool build that allowed homeschooling in Colorado.
That can get repealed at any time. They can go
after homeschoolers. They can make the regulation hire nothing is
stopping them right now from doing that. And so I
understand the concern of you know, more regulation coming from
(05:06):
the government that they're worried about. This actually protects It
puts homeschooling in the constitution. Therefore they can't repeal it.
They're gonna have a hard time going after homeschooling. So
I think it's a misunderstanding of it. I mean, thankfully
we're able to have the conversations with homeschoolers. Christy Burton
Brown what you know as a homeschool mom went through
as a homeschool student, and you know had you know,
(05:28):
wrote an opt about this, and so I would encourage
people to look at the information on it. There is
a little bit of pushback, but really ross we pull
this all the time. And Republicans are strongly supporting this.
And the other group that is is Hispanic and African
Americans in Colorado. They're the ones who are looking at
their one option in their neighborhood and saying we want
(05:48):
more options. And so that is the the most interesting
thing is this coalition across the board. But you know,
our biggest support is coming from Hispanic families across the state.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I have to say, just as a man growth thing
on this issue, I have long been somewhere between frustrated
and infuriated by the fact that so much opposition to
school choice comes from upper middle class white liberals who
happen to live in neighborhoods where the government school is good. Right,
(06:19):
And if your kid goes to Cherry Creek High School,
then you maybe you think all government schools are like
Cherry Creek High School.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And the people who most need the opportunity to break
out of a cycle of poverty that can be that
can be reinforced rather than broken by a bad government school. Right,
the upper middle class, white, comfortable white liberals are telling
the Hispanics and blacks and poor white people, no, you're
(06:47):
stuck where you are, and that has always pissed me off.
So it's part of the reason I'm such a huge
supporter of choice.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You want to add.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Anything to that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, And I taught fourth grade at a charter school.
And if you have you know, thirty seconds on a story.
I had a student, African American girl who was at
the district school and her mom comes in the first
parent teacher conference and says, she was doing horrible at
her last school, wasn't learning anything, didn't want to go
to school. She came to this new charter school.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Now she loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
She's learning, she's doing so well. And I found out
just last year she got a scholarship in college for
basketball and is doing so well in life. And I'm
thinking about the trajectory can change based on education. Right,
it happened in my family. My dad African American, first
person to go to college in his family. Education can
change to the directory of people's families, and so I
(07:37):
am very passionate about giving people options. If this school
doesn't work, maybe a different one does.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I have five kids, they all have different learning needs.
So I am a big supporter of school choice, and
I'm super worried about the fact that these legislators are
going to go after it, that the union is taking
money out of teacher's pockets and putting up these TV
ads a lie about school choice in Colorado. So I'm
very passionate. I think that we have a lot of
momentum here, but I want to keep it going and
(08:04):
I want to spread the word about it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Folks.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I encourage you on your ballot, if you haven't mailed
it in yet, make sure to mark yes on Amendment
eighty and let's get school choice into the state constitution.
Michael Fields is sponsor of Amendment eighty, president of Advanced Colorado.
The website is advance Colorado dot org to learn more.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Thank you Michael.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Thanks Ros
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