Colorado group to file school 'transparency' ballot measure linked to national anti-equity campaigns
Proponents of a recently defeated bill to require Colorado school districts to publish detailed lists of educational materials online plan to launch a similar effort through a 2022 ballot measure, a conservative group said Friday.
State Rep. Tim Geitner, a Republican from El Paso County and the legislation’s only sponsor, will file the ballot initiative with backing from the Independence Institute. The statutory measure seeks to amend Colorado law to explicitly include “educational materials” in the list of records that are subject to disclosure under the Colorado Open Records Act, according to draft text.
“Coloradans, as the investors that pay for every government expenditure, have a right to know what their government is doing — taxpayer funded schools are no exception,” Geitner said in a statement. “Transparency is necessary to inform parents and taxpayers on not just age-appropriate material, but on the rigor and focus of the next generation‘s leaders of our great state.”
Geitner’s legislation, House Bill 22-1066, was defeated by Democrats in a 6-3 party-line vote of the House Education Committee on Thursday. It would have required all public school districts and charter schools to maintain detailed, “easily accessible” lists of educational materials on their websites, including “a summary of the content of the material,” and to provide copies of any material to a parent at their request.
Read more: https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/colorado-school-transparency-ballot-measure-anti-equity/