Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Little bit of time on the show over the past
several weeks talking about ballot measures, some more important than others.
One of the more interesting and important ones is called
Amendment to eighty and it would create a state constitutional
right of school choice. And we've had a couple of
folks on the show to talk about it, and in fact,
(00:23):
let me just do this very very quickly in case
you're new to this conversation, because the entirety of Amendment
eighty is so short that I can share it with
you quickly.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It says, purpose and Findings.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
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
includes neighborhood, charter, private and homeschools, open enrollment options, and
future innovations in education. And then section two says each
K through twelve child has the right to school choice.
(00:56):
And that's the end of it. So joining us to
talk about some aspects of this that have not come
up on the show before is Brenda da Kohonor. She
is president and CEO of Ready Colorado Conservative Education outfit
that's been doing great work for a long time. Readycolo
dot org is the website, Brenda.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Good to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Great to talk to you too, Ross, Thanks for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So let me just jump in with a couple of
a couple of questions, all half play Devil's Advocate. Some
are arguments from the usual suspects, like teachers unions. They
claim that Amendment eighty, if it passed, would divert money
away from public schools.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What say you, I don't think that's true.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I think they're using it as a fearmongering, scare tactic.
I think they've been effective with that type of line
of communication in other states, and so they're trying it
out here even though that's not what this constitution moments about.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I've actually had several listeners ask me whether Amendment eighty
passing would lead to mandatory taxpayer funding of private schools.
And it's a complicated question because if you really get
into school choice, where the money follows the student rather
than just staying in the system, it is possible, like
(02:14):
some places that have vouchers, which is not what we're
doing here. But you could see that, and for the record,
it doesn't bother me. But what's your take?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Sure, Well, yeah, I mean it doesn't bother me either.
And in fact, we considered running a very explicitly voucher
ballot initiative and decided not to do that. And I
think this is specifically about the right to choose, which
is simply a parent's decision to choose what school they
want to attend, and that may be outside of their
(02:45):
zoned public school. And I think what folks don't know
is that these rights were given to us by our
government over the last thirty years. So your former governor
Bill Owens, when he was a state senator, he ran
a bill to give parents the right to homeschooling. There
was another bill that created the right to open enrollment,
which is selecting a different public school. And then there
was a bill that established harder schools. Right, So these
(03:07):
are actually rights that we have under our statute, which
means they can be taken away at any time. And
so that was the intent of this constitutional amendment, was
to put it in a constitution and say, hey, we're
going to cement these rights to choose the best school.
There's nothing in the wording or there wasn't any intention
to be putting in the wording around funding. That's simply
(03:27):
the right to choose.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, and you know you touched on this implicitly, but
some folks have asked, well, why do we need this?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We have school choice already.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And you mentioned something to me in an email that
I still don't know the details. My friend Bob Schaffer,
former congressman, is the headmaster at Liberty Commons School in
Fort Collins, one of the best, if not the best
public schools in the state of Colorado in terms of
test scores and results for students and so on, told
(04:00):
me there was some kind of conflict here between the
State Board of.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Education and Liberty common.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Ross, this was really a baffling situation, and it actually
start at a local level. They every five years get
to renew their charter. Their local school board was they
voted to renew their charter on a four to three vote,
so the squeaked bide actually to get their charter renewed.
It then goes to the State Board of Education, where
the state board has to approve the specific waivers, which
(04:27):
are flexibilities that allows the school to do things differently
to innovate. They actually took some of those waivers or
those flexibilities away from the school. And the school's been
established for thirty years, almost nearly thirty years, abou twenty
five years, and to your point, extremely successful. Right. They
have a track record of success. They have the highest
SAT average in the state of Colorado. And yet the
(04:48):
state board said, no, we don't think you should continue
to innovate and do things differently. We want you to
do things like all the other high schools do.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
This is a slightly tangential question, but I read I
think it was an Colorado Sun that there's a particular
state Board of Education race, I think for the eighth
Congressional District, and the reporter for the Sun basically posited
that that election specifically because it's a swing seat, I guess,
could be the one that determines whether there's a majority
(05:16):
on the state Board of Education that supports school choice
in charter schools or a majority that doesn't. Do you
have any comment on the state Board of Education race
in CD eight.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that up. It is
a pivotal race we have if we don't win that seat,
and by we, I mean the Republican candidate Yasmin Navarro,
who's pro charter, pro school choice. If she doesn't win,
we'll have an anti charter school majority on the state
Board of Education, so the first time in our history.
And I think that's really frightening because you'll start to
see more and more of these flavors and flexibilities be
(05:48):
stripped away from our schools of choice across the states. So,
if you have any listeners in the eighth Congressional district,
that's a really key race to tune in and learn
more about Yasmin Navarro. She's an excellent candidate.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
All right, I have literally just under one minute here.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
One of the things that some folks worry about from
the language and Amendment eighty that I read before, the
second part of the language talks about it says each
K through twelve child has the right to school choice.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And some folks are concerned.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That that wording, which seems a little clumsy to me
as well, could set up potential legal conflicts between either
parents or children.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Parents and children, that's one thing.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And then a separate question is could parents try to
be involved in micromanaging the what's taught in a classroom?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
No, I don't think so, and I think you have
to remember about constitutional amendments is that this is a
These are protectingal rights against the governments. With saying the
government cannot take away the parents' right to choose which
school's rest for their child, it doesn't mean that a
kid can go through their parent right. That's not something
that can happen in any type of constitutional amendment. So
I think that's kind of a little silly, and I
don't think this says that a parent can infringe on
(06:58):
how the point of fool choice is if you don't
like the curriculum, you go to a different school, or
if you don't like the learning model, you can go
to a different school. And so that's what it's cementing,
is that that right for a parent to choose the
learning environment for their child.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I just want to say to listeners, do not take
the fact that we have pretty decent support for school
choice in Colorado right now. For granted, the most important
force in Democratic Party politics are the teachers' unions, and
they hate school choice and they will keep doing everything
they can to try to eliminate it. And that's why
(07:36):
I think it makes sense to pass Amendmon eighty and
make this a constitutional right.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
In our state. I'll give you the last seventeen seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I kind of agree more Ross, you can't take this
for granted. Let's put in the constitution. No whether state's
done this, this is an extremely exciting opportunity for Colorado
to be a leader in school choice, so I encourage
your votes.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Brenda da Kohonor is president and CEO of Ready Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Ready col o dot org to learn more. Thanks for
your time, Brenda, pease US
Little bit of time on the show over the past
several weeks talking about ballot measures, some more important than others.
One of the more interesting and important ones is called
Amendment to eighty and it would create a state constitutional
right of school choice. And we've had a couple of
folks on the show to talk about it, and in fact,
(00:23):
let me just do this very very quickly in case
you're new to this conversation, because the entirety of Amendment
eighty is so short that I can share it with
you quickly.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It says, purpose and Findings.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
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
includes neighborhood, charter, private and homeschools, open enrollment options, and
future innovations in education. And then section two says each
K through twelve child has the right to school choice.
(00:56):
And that's the end of it. So joining us to
talk about some aspects of this that have not come
up on the show before is Brenda da Kohonor. She
is president and CEO of Ready Colorado Conservative Education outfit
that's been doing great work for a long time. Readycolo
dot org is the website, Brenda.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Good to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Great to talk to you too, Ross, Thanks for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So let me just jump in with a couple of
a couple of questions, all half play Devil's Advocate. Some
are arguments from the usual suspects, like teachers unions. They
claim that Amendment eighty, if it passed, would divert money
away from public schools.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What say you, I don't think that's true.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I think they're using it as a fearmongering, scare tactic.
I think they've been effective with that type of line
of communication in other states, and so they're trying it
out here even though that's not what this constitution moments about.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I've actually had several listeners ask me whether Amendment eighty
passing would lead to mandatory taxpayer funding of private schools.
And it's a complicated question because if you really get
into school choice, where the money follows the student rather
than just staying in the system, it is possible, like
(02:14):
some places that have vouchers, which is not what we're
doing here. But you could see that, and for the record,
it doesn't bother me. But what's your take?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Sure, Well, yeah, I mean it doesn't bother me either.
And in fact, we considered running a very explicitly voucher
ballot initiative and decided not to do that. And I
think this is specifically about the right to choose, which
is simply a parent's decision to choose what school they
want to attend, and that may be outside of their
(02:45):
zoned public school. And I think what folks don't know
is that these rights were given to us by our
government over the last thirty years. So your former governor
Bill Owens, when he was a state senator, he ran
a bill to give parents the right to homeschooling. There
was another bill that created the right to open enrollment,
which is selecting a different public school. And then there
was a bill that established harder schools. Right, So these
(03:07):
are actually rights that we have under our statute, which
means they can be taken away at any time. And
so that was the intent of this constitutional amendment, was
to put it in a constitution and say, hey, we're
going to cement these rights to choose the best school.
There's nothing in the wording or there wasn't any intention
to be putting in the wording around funding. That's simply
(03:27):
the right to choose.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, and you know you touched on this implicitly, but
some folks have asked, well, why do we need this?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We have school choice already.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And you mentioned something to me in an email that
I still don't know the details. My friend Bob Schaffer,
former congressman, is the headmaster at Liberty Commons School in
Fort Collins, one of the best, if not the best
public schools in the state of Colorado in terms of
test scores and results for students and so on, told
(04:00):
me there was some kind of conflict here between the
State Board of.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Education and Liberty common.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Ross, this was really a baffling situation, and it actually
start at a local level. They every five years get
to renew their charter. Their local school board was they
voted to renew their charter on a four to three vote,
so the squeaked bide actually to get their charter renewed.
It then goes to the State Board of Education, where
the state board has to approve the specific waivers, which
(04:27):
are flexibilities that allows the school to do things differently
to innovate. They actually took some of those waivers or
those flexibilities away from the school. And the school's been
established for thirty years, almost nearly thirty years, abou twenty
five years, and to your point, extremely successful. Right. They
have a track record of success. They have the highest
SAT average in the state of Colorado. And yet the
(04:48):
state board said, no, we don't think you should continue
to innovate and do things differently. We want you to
do things like all the other high schools do.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
This is a slightly tangential question, but I read I
think it was an Colorado Sun that there's a particular
state Board of Education race, I think for the eighth
Congressional District, and the reporter for the Sun basically posited
that that election specifically because it's a swing seat, I guess,
could be the one that determines whether there's a majority
(05:16):
on the state Board of Education that supports school choice
in charter schools or a majority that doesn't. Do you
have any comment on the state Board of Education race
in CD eight.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that up. It is
a pivotal race we have if we don't win that seat,
and by we, I mean the Republican candidate Yasmin Navarro,
who's pro charter, pro school choice. If she doesn't win,
we'll have an anti charter school majority on the state
Board of Education, so the first time in our history.
And I think that's really frightening because you'll start to
see more and more of these flavors and flexibilities be
(05:48):
stripped away from our schools of choice across the states. So,
if you have any listeners in the eighth Congressional district,
that's a really key race to tune in and learn
more about Yasmin Navarro. She's an excellent candidate.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
All right, I have literally just under one minute here.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
One of the things that some folks worry about from
the language and Amendment eighty that I read before, the
second part of the language talks about it says each
K through twelve child has the right to school choice.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And some folks are concerned.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That that wording, which seems a little clumsy to me
as well, could set up potential legal conflicts between either
parents or children.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Parents and children, that's one thing.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And then a separate question is could parents try to
be involved in micromanaging the what's taught in a classroom?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
No, I don't think so, and I think you have
to remember about constitutional amendments is that this is a
These are protectingal rights against the governments. With saying the
government cannot take away the parents' right to choose which
school's rest for their child, it doesn't mean that a
kid can go through their parent right. That's not something
that can happen in any type of constitutional amendment. So
I think that's kind of a little silly, and I
don't think this says that a parent can infringe on
(06:58):
how the point of fool choice is if you don't
like the curriculum, you go to a different school, or
if you don't like the learning model, you can go
to a different school. And so that's what it's cementing,
is that that right for a parent to choose the
learning environment for their child.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I just want to say to listeners, do not take
the fact that we have pretty decent support for school
choice in Colorado right now. For granted, the most important
force in Democratic Party politics are the teachers' unions, and
they hate school choice and they will keep doing everything
they can to try to eliminate it. And that's why
(07:36):
I think it makes sense to pass Amendmon eighty and
make this a constitutional right.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
In our state. I'll give you the last seventeen seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I kind of agree more Ross, you can't take this
for granted. Let's put in the constitution. No whether state's
done this, this is an extremely exciting opportunity for Colorado
to be a leader in school choice, so I encourage
your votes.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Brenda da Kohonor is president and CEO of Ready Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Ready col o dot org to learn more. Thanks for
your time, Brenda, pease US
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