Rep. Labuda’s Record on Education

I’ve experienced personally the great difference a good school can make in a village.  Over several years, I taught high school and college students in multi-cultural and multilingual societies—in a West African village, in an old South Texas town, and at a major university.  I know first-hand how a community thrives when more of their children graduate! 

Education is still a principal key to a strong community and a major deterrent to crime.  Modern technology-based economies depend on first-rate public schools.  Even in Denver, where schools suffer from chronic high dropout rates, we have some marvelous successes.  With modest pride, I can say my two daughters received an excellent education in Denver Public Schools and went on to graduate from college. 

In Colorado, we have top-flight university and community college programs, but even our flagship institutions are challenged by drops in State support due to sagging tax revenues. 

The 25-50% dropout rate in some front-range school districts is not only terribly unfair to children; it impacts the economy which simply cannot provide enough good-paying jobs to support an under-educated workforce.  Importantly, private schools cannot pick up the slack from sagging public schools. 

Unless Colorado reverses a long downward trend to the bottom in supporting our public schools (see the graph: we rank 3rd from the bottom among the 50 states!) we will face an even more daunting challenge to support low unemployment.

Legislation on education I have sponsored or supported includes: 

• Nationally recognized education reforms aimed at improving high school graduation rates, cutting the achievement gap in half and doubling the number of college degrees and certificates earned by Coloradoans. 

• The Dual Enrollment law, so high school students can earn both a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree in five years, getting into the workforce faster.

• A substantial commitment to rebuild and repair K-12 schools, providing $1 billion to build new schools statewide and repair crumbling roofs and failing electrical, heating and plumbing systems in aging schools.

• Expanded preschool and full-day kindergarten for tens of thousands of children.