State Board of Ed Announces 2009 Legislative Priorities

The Colorado State Board of Education today announced its priorities for the 2009 session of the General Assembly, focusing on ways to stabilize and increase funding and improve data gathering and analysis.

The priorities are:

1. Efforts to improve the "long-term financial stability" of education funding and develop a "comprehensive school finance solution";

2. Additional funding to improve the state Department of Education's data and information systems and personnel, with a goal of fostering "efficient data sharing";

3. Revisions of the required format for the annual School Accountability Report and changes to the state's school accreditation provisions to reconcile public reporting and actions required by these state accountability provisions and those mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act;

4. Continued funding for implementation of "proven, evidence-based programs and strategies for closing the achievement gap";

5. Expansion of "effective dropout prevention and recovery strategies";

6. Completion of a thorough review of model content standards prior to the adoption of any new statewide assessment tools;

7. Continued development and oversight of high-quality online programs, schools of choice, and other educational innovations to ensure strong student results;

8. Increased access to early childhood education and family literacy programs; and

9. Increases in the state's Permanent Fund, maximization of trust income, exemption of school trust land revenues from the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.