Owens signs school petition

65% of budget would go to the classrooms

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 21, 2006 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Owens on Monday added his name to the list of mostly Republican leaders backing a proposed state constitutional amendment requiring school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their budgets in the classroom.

Owens became the 100,000th citizen to sign the petition to put the measure on the November election ballot. Backers have until Friday to deliver at least 67,829 valid voter signatures to the Colorado secretary of state for the measure to make the ballot.

Colorado schools spend a little more than 57 percent of their budgets on instruction, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Boosting that to 65 percent would shift about $485 million into the classroom from other parts of the budget, such as transportation or administration, Owens said.

"In some districts, there are too many administrators. In some districts, salaries are bloated," Owens said.

The ballot proposal comes from the group First Class Education for Colorado. Similar groups have been formed in other states.

Under the proposal, classroom instruction includes the salaries and benefits of traditional teachers, special-education teachers, tutors, aides, coaches and librarians. Also covered would be books, computers and field trips, and programs such as athletics, arts, music and multidisciplinary learning.

Psychologists and guidance counselors would not be included, said House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, chairman of the ballot effort.

"I think you can say, if it doesn't occur in the classroom, it doesn't count," Stengel said.

It's still unclear where some school workers would fit, Stengel said.

Stengel said teachers like the proposal because it puts more resources into education.

But Deborah Fallin, spokeswoman for the Colorado Education Association, said, "I have no idea what teachers he's been talking to."

The CEA is the state's largest teachers union.

Fallin said administration does not eat up large parts of school budgets.

"The idea that there are bloated administrative budgets is just not true," she said.

Owens said psychologists and counselors could still be funded from the other 35 percent of the budget.

He said proponents must appeal to voters because the 65 percent requirement stands no chance in the legislature.

"We have a Democratic majority, and we'll see if any of them support it. . . . The fact is, it would be easier to get it approved by the people," he said.

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