An improving economy and a willingness to listen may have been the key factors behind passage of significant education bills by the 2012 legislature.
Rep. Tom Massey said, “There’s no question” that improving state revenues made the early childhood literacy bill and a no-cuts school finance act possible. Massey, a Poncha Springs Republican and chair of the House Education Committee, was at the center of most education debates this year. His name was on 38 measures, most of them related to schools or higher education.
Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins and chair of Senate Education, also cited a cooperative spirit among lawmakers, interest groups and others as key to the session: “Time after time, we came together.” Bacon was a key figure in Senate debates on the literacy bill.
As a legislative session unfolds, it’s often hard to translate the legalistic language of bills into impacts on real people. And, as with most legislation, the effects of many 2012 bills won’t be felt until after state bureaucrats, school administrators and college leaders have worked out the details of implementing the new laws.
You can find out exactly what the session means to you and other education stakeholders in the full article at Education News Colorado. [source: Todd Engdahl, EdNews: Legislative Review 2012]
