Friday, January 23, 2009 3:11 PM

Stimulus seen as life preserver for budget

As the state waits for Gov. Bill Ritter's proposed 2009-10 budget cuts, talk this week increasingly turned to the possibility that federal stimulus funds could help ease the state's budget problems.

As reported in detail by EdNews earlier this week, more than $415 billion in federal aid for Colorado schools could be available under a House stimulus plan. Ritter mentioned stimulus funding as a possible safety net in a speech to the Colorado Association of School Executives on Friday, and, later in the day lawmakers got an informal briefing from four Colorado members of Congress (story).

Ritter will unveil his 2009-10 plans Tuesday afternoon. In Washington, final decisions on the stimulus likely won’t be made until next month.

CAP4K road show hits Denver

While state lawmakers are wringing their hands over the budget, education bureaucrats quietly have been working hard to implement 2008’s landmark education legislation, the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids.

The major CAP4K tasks for 2009 are producing new state content standards and writing a description of postsecondary and workforce readiness.

The Colorado Department of Education has subcommittees of specialists drafting content standards, but CDE and the Department of Higher Education still are gathering public comments on readiness and related issues.

Community meetings were held late last year in Gunnison and Colorado Springs, and metro-area citizens will get their chance to sound off from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday during a meeting at the Auraria Higher Education Center.

Education Commissioner Dwight Jones and higher ed chief David Skaggs will moderate the session, to be held in the Turnhalle Ballroom in the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus, 900 Auraria Parkway in Denver. 

See this CDE release for more information and details on future meetings elsewhere in the state. And, this page has details about the standards review process.

Under the Golden Dome and elsewhere this week

• Parental leave, safety bills on hold
• “Easy” education bills move ahead
• Denver charter closing amid recriminations
• Boasberg era begins at DPS

Around the state

• Cesar Chavez, Pueblo City feuding over Title I cash
• New Aurora dropout program has first graduates
• Boulder Valley launches pilot online program
• Election bill a nasty surprise for Gunnison district
• Aurora looks ahead to 2009-10 school year
• Nature School charter withdraws appeal
• Alamosa union raises conflict-of-interest questions about board member
• Boulder Valley speeds up bond work
• Inauguration a civics lesson for students
• Windsor band has moment in inaugural spotlight

Halls of ivy

• Ritter makes Fort Lewis board appointments (release)
• Regents want review of UCD consolidation
• Embattled CSU police chief faces CBI probe
• DU chancellor says no plans to extend buyout to faculty

Around the nation

• Study: A certificate may be worth more than an associate degree
• Column: Preschool helpful but not essential (WSJ/subscription)
• Colleges scramble to meet student financial needs
• Time for colleges to give up letter grades?
• Connecticut lawmakers looking at school centralization
• N.C. mulling goal of 90 percent high school graduation

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