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DENVER-- In a highly anticipated Senate debate here Friday, Republicans launched early-round attacks against a bill that aims to create a mid-level state-university tuition rate for undocumented students who have graduated from Colorado high schools. Although the bill easily weathered the GOP barbs in the Democrat-controlled chamber, passing on a 20-13 voice vote, the two-hour back-and-forth showcased the lines of argument opponents of the bill will seek to sharpen before it arrives a few weeks from now in the Republican-controlled House.
Thursday, the Senate Education Committee passed the bipartisan Opportunities for Higher Ed Success Act, sponsored by Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminister, and Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs.
On the heels of news that the Obama administration has granted Colorado and 10 other states a waiver from the controversial requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law, Colorado Democratic Congressman Jared Polis introduced a House version of the Growth to Excellence Act (H.R. 3845) written by Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. The bill would rework No Child Left Behind by granting greater authority to the states to develop student achievement and school accountability policies.
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today applauded the Obama administration decision to grant Colorado schools a waiver from the regulatory requirements of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law. A former superintendent of the Denver Public School system, Bennet has long railed against the law as well-intended but comically flawed, the "biggest federal overreach ever in domestic policy," he said in a Senate floor speech last year.
With Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all in Colorado Monday to campaign in advance of Tuesday's caucuses, Democrats brought in a big gun of their own. National Democratic Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, R-Florida, participated in conference calls with reporters on Friday and again on Monday.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer famously wagged her finger at President Obama when he visited the state a week ago. Today, though, it is Brewer who is on the receiving end of a scolding as the Latino community rises up in protest against a law banning ethnic studies in the state’s schools.
There once was a time--you know it's true--when school board candidates in Colorado hoped to raise enough money for yard signs and a flyer to hand out or leave at doors. Times have changed.
Ask any Colorado legislator what they hope to accomplish in the upcoming session and they will tell you they want to create jobs, or help businesses create jobs, or remove regulatory impediments to job creation, or improve access to capital.
Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate who edged out an eight-vote victory over Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses, has a long track record on education that includes standardized testing and accountability, charter schools and school vouchers.