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Teacher

Apprenticeships Among Solutions Lawmakers Consider For Educator Shortages

By Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado,

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like other states, is facing

teacher shortages. Lawmakers

hope apprenticeship programs and more support for educators help fix the problem.

Nic Antaya for Chalkbeat

A teacher apprenticeship program, stipends and loan forgiveness for student teachers, and the ability for out-of-state teachers to more easily qualify to work in Colorado.

Those are the ideas Colorado lawmakers have proposed this year to address staffing shortages across the state. So far, each proposal has received favorable support from Colorado legislators.

Every year, legislators put forward new programs and tweak old ones in an effort to get more teachers into the classroom and fix a problem that has plagued districts nationwide. Last year Colorado created a new loan forgiveness program and made it easier for retired teachers to get back into the classroom.

On Tuesday, Senate Bill 87 became the latest proposal to move forward in the General Assembly. The bill would create an alternative pathway to help those earning a bachelor’s degree in a subject they plan to teach — such as math, science, or a world language — get the necessary teaching license. It has widespread support from school districts, teachers unions, universities, and other organizations.

The bill cleared the Senate Education Committee on a unanimous vote. It’s sponsored by state Reps. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, and Don Wilson, a Monument Republican, as well as state Sens. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican, and Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat.

The apprenticeship program would add a fourth option for the state to license a teacher and would be overseen by the Colorado Department of Education. The program would cost the state a little more than $100,000 a year, according to a legislative analysis.

Apprentices would learn on the job for up to four years while they earn their bachelor’s with the ability to extend the timeline by two years.

Apprentices would be allowed to work as a student teacher or substitute and need to take regular competency tests. They then would need to prove their knowledge as a teacher either through a test or a body of work.

Marchman said about 40% of Colorado districts are reporting a teacher shortage and schools need to fill more than 7,000 positions annually. The state’s teacher preparation programs, however, produce only about 3,200 teachers a year, she said.

“We are experiencing a massive teacher shortage,” she said.

Meaghan Sullivan, CareerWise Colorado executive director, said the program would create quality teacher candidates rather than lowering the standard to fill positions. It also would give rural districts the flexibility to develop teachers to meet local needs.

Sullivan said the bill helps coaches, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, or classroom aides who want to become teachers work and learn without having to leave their community.

“That’s really where we see the potential,” she said.

The other two bills have been working their way through the House and Senate.

House Bill 1064, which received initial approval in the House on Wednesday, would create an agreement between Colorado and nine other states to make it easier for teachers to transfer from state to state. A teacher could more easily obtain a teacher’s license in Colorado if they hold one from another member state.

The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, as it is called, would also allow states to share disciplinary information and would allow for background checks before teachers could qualify to work in Colorado. The bill is expected to especially help active-duty military and military spouses who need to relocate.

The bill is sponsored by Marchman and Democratic state Reps. Meghan Luken, of Steamboat Springs, and Mary Young, of Greeley.

House Bill 1001 would give student teachers more financial support in the form of stipends and loan forgiveness. The bill has cleared the House and still needs Senate approval.

The bill would raise the income threshold for teachers in training to apply to a $52 million statewide grant program that was started last year. The program provides up to $22,000 in stipends to student teachers and $5,000 in loan forgiveness to those who stick it out. The bill would also allow principals and special service providers to apply and permit student teachers to work in other states in some circumstances.

Along with the three bills, Gov. Jared Polis also has proposed $70 million to provide free training and scholarships to students who want to qualify for in-demand jobs such as teaching, firefighting, and law enforcement. The program aims to ease the way to those jobs, especially those offering lower pay.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Rosen: The Debt Ceiling Charade

by Mike Rosen, Complete Colorado Page 2

When U.S. Treasury securities come due, the principal is repaid to holders. To do that, Treasury sells new securities of equal or greater value, rolling over the debt. As the federal government continues to run deficits, spending far more each year than it collects in tax revenues, Treasury sells ever more securities to cover it, and our national debt soars.

The U.S. Gross National Debt has now hit the statutory debt ceiling of $31.38 trillion. If the ceiling isn’t raised by Congress, Treasury ultimately won’t be able to borrow to cover our habitual budget deficits and may default on interest payments and repayments of principal on maturing securities. “The full faith and credit of the United States” would be a broken promise and unleash a financial earthquake on international financial markets.

Defaulting on our debt is not a realistic option. So, after the usual theatrics have run their course, Congress will raise the debt ceiling as it’s done 80 times since the 1960s. This charade is too little too late. The time to restrain government spending is during the Congressional budgeting process, not after spending commitments have been made.

U.S. GDP is about $25 trillion this year. Our national debt is now 125% of GDP, even greater than its percent of GDP at the peak of World War II when we were literally fighting for our freedom and our survival. Defense spending, then, was 90% of the federal budget and 40% of GDP. Today, the military accounts for a mere 13% of the budget and only 3% of GDP. Our soaring debt will only get worse as we run perpetual budget deficits and are forced to pay higher interest rates on our bonds due to inflation and declining international confidence.

The government is spending too damn much, and it’s not on the military. This is the inevitable price of a welfare state. There are two official categories of federal spending. The first is called “Discretionary Programs” that accounts for only a quarter of total spending. Almost half of discretionary spending is on defense. Slashing defense spending in the current international climate with Russia, China, Iran, and Islamist fanaticism would be suicidal. The balance of discretionary spending is for government departments and agencies, transportation, agriculture, education, housing, etc.

The second category is “Mandatory Programs,” three-fourths of the budget, dominated by “Payments for Individuals,” two-thirds of which is Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The other third goes for veterans benefits, a raft of meanstested entitlement programs, and interest on the national debt which is rapidly accelerating.

When there’s a so-called government shutdown, most federal spending lives on. “Mandatory” programs are on automatic pilot and don’t require new legislation each year. Since we don’t disband the military, a “shut down’ mostly affects non-defense discretionary programs which is only about 15% of federal spending. So, “nonessential” government workers get a paid vacation and the Washington Monument is closed to tourists.

In the debt ceiling standoff, Republicans will try to force Democrats to cut spending. The Dems will counter with defense cuts. Since “payments to individuals” will be off limits, whatever cuts ultimately come from a compromise will be symbolic smallchange as a percentage of the national debt or even this year’s almost $2 trillion deficit.

As for solutions, to be effective, a Constitutional amendment to balance the budget would have to cap federal spending as a percentage of GDP. Legislatures in Democrat states wouldn’t ratify that. They’d want to get there by raising taxes. But we can’t tax ourselves rich and we’re already above the nation’s tax capacity. Attempts to exceed it are counterproductive and economically destructive. Ever-expanding federal spending is driving us to economic collapse. For progressive Democrats with no limiting principal on their journey to socialist utopia, if 100 welfare programs are good, 1,000 would be ten times better. Even with an amendment limiting spending, it would take years to balance the budget by bringing spending down to our tax capacity as a percentage of GDP.

A return to fiscal sanity would require coming to grips with economic reality and disciplining the federal budgeting process to live within our means. The bulk of federal spending — social spending driven by payments for individuals — is politically sacred and can’t be slashed but its growth must be restrained. Congress must pass appropriations bills, as the law requires, before the start of a fiscal year, instead of passing a patchwork of Continuing Resolutions after the fact. And we’d have to run budget surpluses to actually reduce the national debt.

In the advanced stages of a democratic welfare state like ours it may not be possible for a majority of politicians running on such a platform to win election.

Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.

Caldara: Colorado Media Catching On To Energy Monopoly Cronyism

by Jon Caldara, Complete Colorado Page 2

Among the many things I don’t like to do in my crotchety old age is compliment the young people at 9news.

But kudos to Kyle Clark and team for refusing an exclusive interview with Gov. Jared Polis after his State of the State address on condition they also interview only Polis’ handpicked sycophants. It would have been even better if they published a list of all the other media outlets that agreed to his journalistic blackmail and took the exclusive interview.

Kyle’s reporting partner, Marshall Zelinger, has been on a jihad that Colorado’s media should have been on since 2007 regarding crony, energy monopoly utilities and what’s been making them wealthy on the backs of their captive customers.

Why should these questions have been asked back in 2007? Remember the ol’ mantra: “elections have consequences.”

That was after Colorado elected Bill Ritter as governor and his white whale was transferring Colorado to an economically unsustainable, feel-good energy system — the one we are now just starting to pay for in earnest. Just look at your energy bill.

Before then the private energy monopolies and their captive customers had a “grand bargain.” The bargain was simple. The monopolies were guaranteed a profit no matter what they did.

They provided energy, they got a guaranteed profit. They went out on a business lunch, got a guaranteed profit. They passed wind, got a guaranteed profit.

In exchange, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was to rule over those private monopolies making sure they provided the least cost energy to their captive customers. And all those companies, including the largest one, Xcel Energy, had to prove to there was absolutely, positively no other way to provide power for less cost.

If you remember we were lied to and told renewable energy would save money because the wind and sun are free.

Oh, that part’s true. But converting wind and sun to energy is insanely, madly, prohibitively expensive.

In 2007, under the direction of Ritter’s newly appointed PUC and its chair Ron Binz (who proudly exclaimed there will never be another new coal plant built in Colorado, even though carbon sequestration now means coal plants can be carbon neutral at very low costs) the PUC changed its mission from lowest cost to a fluffy feel-good mission of environmental and social values at “reasonable cost,” whatever the hell any of that means.

In other words, they removed the guardrails that protected customers so utility monopolies can do what evil monopolies do, run roughshod over their hostages.

The monopolies changed their business model. They now can make many times more profit.

Read the following over and over until you understand your energy bill: Companies like Xcel are no longer in the energy business; they are in the building stuff business, and triple charging their hostage customers for it.

Starting with Ritter, through John Hickenlooper and Jared Polis and all their evermore left-leaning legislatures and activist appointees, Xcel has funded and partnered with green organizations to lobby for cascading green energy laws, mandates and regulations.

Thanks to a rubberstamping PUC that no longer demands “lowest cost” from energy providers, your energy bills aren’t paying for energy. You’re mostly paying for building crap.

Case in point is the Comanche power plant down by Pueblo. Xcel takes out a mortgage to pay for it, passes that cost on to its customers.

Then they decide it needs to be rebuilt into the cleanest coal-fired power plant on the planet. So, they take out a second mortgage to refit it. The PUC rubber stamps it. Customers pay for two mortgages for the same power. This power plant is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2070. That’s 50 years from now!

So, of course, Xcel is now going to close it in a couple of years and replace it with more stuff like windmills.

That’s a third mortgage to pay for the windmills which, of course, the PUC rubber stamped. Well, the wind doesn’t blow all the time, so it must take out another mortgage to build backup gas generators and power lines for that too. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Congratulations, hostage customers. You are now paying multiple mortgages for the exact same bit of electricity and that’s just one of many, many scams.

It’s taken the mainstream media 16 years to ask questions. Ask faster! Maybe voters will think about the consequences.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

March Happenings at Aims Community College

GREELEY, CO – February 24, 2023 – Aims Community College hosts events designed to create shared experiences and deliver first-hand exposure to programs and campuses. All are welcome to these free public events on Aims Community College campuses. To request accommodations for any of these events, call 970-3396388 or email disabilities@aims.edu.

Till: Movie Screening | March 3 | 6 p.m. | Welcome Center Auditorium | Greeley Campus

Aims is hosting a free movie screening of Till (2022). Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.

Tactile: Ceramics Art Show | March 7 | 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. |Ed Beaty Hall Gallery | Greeley Campus

Come to an art reception for the latest Ed Beaty Hall Art Gallery show, “Tactile: Ceramics,” featuring work by Michael Lemke. The artist describes the work as “attempts to convey the importance of touch and the process of pottery making, as well as the experiential properties of working in the studio.” He says, “Another passion is marine life, so including textures and colors that refer to the coral reef is a natural fit for my work.”

Engineering Technology Open House | March 8 |5:30-7:30 p.m. | Applied Technology and Trades Center | Greeley Campus

Explore opportunities in industrial technology, engineering, manufacturing, robotics and energy. Everyone is welcome to attend. Learn about Aims programs, find out how and when to get started, and connect with industry business leaders. You’ll also find demonstrations in our learning lab space and have the opportunity to complete an activity. The Community Lab is a space where people can explore, expand, and discover design elements, small-scale fabrication, electronics, craftwork, and the fusing of seemingly-unrelated ideas.

Ag Day Open House | March 21 |5-7 p.m. |Platte Building | Fort Lupton Campus

The Ag Day open house is a free, family-friendly event. This is an opportunity to learn about local agriculture, tour the Aims Agricultural Sciences greenhouse and facilities, and participate in hands-on activities with community partners. The activities include a petting farm with live animals, baby chicks hatching and more.

Photos from last year’s event are available for media use.

Discover Aims Open House | April 1 | 9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. |Welcome Center Ballroom | Greeley Campus

Are you interested in Aims Community College and what it has to offer? Explore the resources available to you, attend information sessions and take a tour of our Greeley Campus. This event is open to new and prospective students, families of students, and community members. Lunch is provided. Sign up at aims.co/discoveraims.

Tax Help Colorado

Saturdays | Feb. 4 - Apr. 8 (closed Mar. 11-18) | 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Cornerstone | Greeley CampusFridays | Feb. 3 - March 3 | 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. | Prairie Building | Fort Lupton Campus

Aims offers free tax preparation and e-filing assistance for the community’s low- to middle-income taxpayers. This service is provided through a partnership with Tax Help Colorado. Anyone who made less than $60,000 annually in 2022 can receive assistance from IRS-certified Aims students and community volunteers.

For more information about events at Aims Community College, visit events.aims. edu.

Regular Season Ends With Prairie Girls Win Over Weldon Valley

by Paul Dineen, Get The Picture Sports LLC

The Prairie Mustangs girls basketball team visited Weldon Valley on February 18, with Prairie winning 72-12. Both teams are in the 1A North Central league.

Prairie entered the game 7-11 overall, 0-2 in the league for third place (behind Briggsdale and Fleming). The Mustangs have had large swings in their win/loss margins. They’ve ranged from a win by 49 to a loss by 39. Yet, those have resulted in nearly equal averages, with the average score being 34 by Prairie to 36 by opponents.

Weldon Valley entered 3-13, 0-2 league for fourth place. The Warriors had also had significant margin swings, from a win by 29 to a loss by 59. Their average score is 29 by Weldon Valley to 48 by opponents.

Both teams are on the young side. Weldon Valley’s roster shows six freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and no seniors. Prairie’s is older, with three freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors and one senior.

The Warriors went ahead 4-3 lead 2:40 into the game, but that would be their only lead. Prairie then ripped off sixteen points for a 20-4 advantage after one period. They stretched that to 45-11 at the half, then 71-12 after three. Given the score, the clock was running during the fourth quarter and the points for that frame were just one to zero in favor of Prairie, for the 72-12 final.

Prairie scorers were led by senior Alliyah Nelson and freshman Tanna Bailey with sixteen points. Nelson shot three for five from three-point range and had five steals. Sophomore Kendra Sutter grabbed eight rebounds.

Weldon Valley freshman Haylee Nelson scored five points. Nelson and freshman Ellie Koch each took in six rebounds.

With the win, Prairie finishes the regular season at 8-11 (1-2 league, for third place). Their next game was a playoff on February 24 against the Fleming Wildcats (12-6) at Northeastern JC in Sterling.

Weldon Valley finished 3-13 (0-3 league, for fourth place). Their next game was a playoff on February 22 against Longmont Christian (2-17) at Northeastern JC in Sterling.

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