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Common Dreams reports
Colorado's teachers' union expects more than 400 teachers at a rally that's planned for Monday at the state's Capitol in Denver.
[...] Englewood School District, outside the capital city, announced on Sunday that schools would be closed the following day as 70 percent of its teachers had indicated they wouldn't be working Monday. It was unclear on Sunday whether more school districts would be closing.
"We are calling Monday, April 16th a day of action", Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association (CEA), told KDVR in Denver.
[...] According to[1] KMGH in Denver, "The CEA estimates that teachers spend on average $656 of their own money for school supplies for students." The state's teacher salaries rank 46th out of 50, with educators making an average of $46,000 per year.
Public schools are underfunded by $828 million this year, Dallman told the Post, and lawmakers have said they could inject at least $100 million more into schools--but they have yet to do so.
[...] The planned protest follows a trend that was seen in West Virginia and Kentucky before moving west this month to Oklahoma and Arizona as well as Colorado. In all the states where teachers have walked out and rallied at their Capitols, teachers have reported paying for school supplies out of pocket, working second and third jobs to make ends meet, and coping with funding shortages while their legislators hand out tax cuts to corporations.
[1] For a laugh (or perhaps a deep sigh), check out all the whitespace in the source code of the page.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday April 16 2018, @05:21PM
I entirely agree (and not just on the simple face argument: less education is more stupid.)
Of course, there are exceptions - the Northeast US is pretty good about funding education. I even lived in a neighborhood in Miami that approved a bond issue (voluntary tax) to improve education. Yeah, that happened, once. Even in Alachua (read, backwards backwoods Florida) county, one school board member really believed in "doing the right thing" for the kids and the future; unfortunately, she was outnumbered 6-1 on most issues of substance.
I fault them for just not being all that different from the Republicans on most matters of substance. They talk a slightly more liberal line, but the donkey and the elephant walk about the same.
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