The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce announced its position on four bills working their way through the Colorado General Assembly.
HB15-1306 Business Opportunity Study / Rep. Angela Williams (D-Denver) and Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) and Sen. Larry Crowder (R-Alamosa) and Sen. Lucia Guzman (D-Denver)
Summary: This legislation directs the Department of Personnel to commission a study to determine whether disparities exist in the state procurement system between the participation of historically underutilized businesses and other businesses. Historically underutilized businesses are defined as businesses owned by racial or ethnic minorities, women, veterans or persons with disabilities. The final report and recommendations must be provided to the general assembly and the executive director of the department of personnel no later than Jan. 1, 2017.
The Chamber supports HB15-1306 because the analysis outlined in the bill would provide information to determine if the state procurement system provides an equitable bidding process. Additionally, the Chamber supports efforts to attract and develop talent in all areas of business and supports efforts to develop small businesses of all kinds. We think it is important for the state to know whether its procurement processes are reflective of the diversity of available contractors in our state.
HB15-1317 Concerning Pay for Success Contracts / Rep. Garnett (D-Denver ), Rep. Rankin (R-Carbondale) and Sen. Johnston (D-Denver), Sen. Martinez Humenik (R-Wheat Ridge)
Summary: This legislation will allow the state to enter into pay for success contracts, which increase access to evidence-based prevention programs and ultimately save taxpayers money. In a pay for success contract, philanthropic or private investors provide the initial funding for a promising intervention that could save public dollars if implemented. Only if the intervention program reaches a threshold of success that saves money within the contractual period are initial costs paid back. Without authorizing legislation, state cost savings would not be able to be used in a pay for success contract.
The Chamber supports HB15-1317 because it gives the state an opportunity to bring the discipline, financial rigor and risk of the market to bear on social issues that are extremely challenging to impact. The bill invites innovation and allows the market to assess and invest in innovations to address social issues, while also allowing us to bring the best public, nonprofit and private sector thinking together to address some of the social challenges we still face in Colorado.
SB15-223 Remove Penalty When Parent Ops Child Out of Test / Sen. Chris Holbert (R-Parker) and Rep. Steve Lebsock (D-Thornton)
Summary: The bill requires a school district, a board of cooperative services that operates a school or a charter school to allow a parent to excuse his or her child from participating in a standardized assessment that is required by the state or local education provider. Each local education provider must adopt a written policy that a parent may follow to excuse his or her student from taking the standardized assessment. The department of education and the local education provider cannot penalize the student, the student’s teacher and principal or the public school that the student attends, and the department cannot penalize the local education provider that enrolls the student if the parent excuses the student from taking the standardized assessment.
The Chamber opposes SB15-223 because while we agree that time spent testing needs to be reduced, we can’t make that change at the cost of teacher, student and school accountability as this bill does. We have to hold on to the reforms we’ve made to date that have made us a national leader in accountability. In order to prepare our students to succeed in the economy of today and tomorrow, we must retain high standards; assessments that allow us to compare students’ progress locally, nationally and internationally; and the ability for local school districts to manage their own curriculum. With strong statewide assessments comes data that can inform school choices for parents and students; the opportunity to identify weaknesses and intervene when a student needs remediation, ultimately saving parents, students and schools money; enhanced transparency through diverse local input from educators, parents and business and community leaders on standards and assessments; and understanding the outcomes of our education system. We believe that if we follow these principles, our children will be prepared to lead our workforce and economy in the future. SB223 is contrary to these principles.
SB15-233 Revising Co Ed Accountability Measures / Sen. Vicki Marble (R-Littleton) and Rep. Justin Everett (R-Littleton)
Summary: This bill repeals the current statewide Colorado Academic Standards for English language arts, math, science and social studies and requires the state board to develop new academic standards in these subjects as recommended by a new academic steering committee created in this bill. The bill reduces statewide testing to the federal minimums. The bill would prohibit the state board from entering into any consortium for developing standardized tests. Another provision in this bill would reduce the percentage of teacher evaluation based on student growth from 50 percent to 15 percent.
The Chamber opposes SB15-233 because while we agree that time spent testing needs to be reduced, we can’t make that change at the cost of teacher, student and school accountability. We have to hold on to the reforms we’ve made to date that have made us a national leader in accountability. In order to prepare our students to succeed in the economy of today and tomorrow, we must retain high standards; assessments that allow us to compare students’ progress locally, nationally and internationally; and the ability for local school districts to manage their own curriculum. With strong statewide assessments comes data that can inform school choices for parents and students; the opportunity to identify weaknesses and intervene when a student needs remediation, ultimately saving parents, students and schools money; enhanced transparency through diverse local input from educators, parents and business and community leaders on standards and assessments; and understanding the outcomes of our education system. We believe that if we follow these principles, our children will be prepared to lead our workforce and economy in the future. SB233 is contrary to these principles.
Click here to view all the Chamber’s positions this session.
Jennifer Jones is the director of public affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
[Photo by: Ken Lund]