Regional
(2010-03-24)
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DENVER, CO
(KUNC) -
Education groups want Colorado voters to consider a constitutional initiative that would repeal portions of the state taxpayers' bill of rights, or TABOR. The proposed ballot measure would give the legislature more authority to raise taxes to fund the state's budget-cut plagued education system.
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The effort pleases people like Kristi Hargrove, who braved the roads to travel to Denver from Gunnison, where her kids go to school.
"I'm also a small business owner, and I'm a republican who passionately believes that education is not partisan," Hargrove said, while speaking at a news conference at the state capitol Wednesday.
She added that schools like hers in Gunnison are in crisis mode.
"There's no fat left, we're cutting programs, we're cutting teachers," she said, "Our class sizes are going to be increased. We're at the end, we can't cut anymore."
The announcement of the proposed constitutional ballot initiative comes as schools across Colorado are bracing for across-the-board budget cuts of up to 8%.
Some are already laying off staff. Similar layoffs are looming at colleges and universities once federal stimulus money runs out next fall. Education groups say all of this could be fixed if the legislature wasn't hamstrung by prohibitions on tax increases.
But it's not clear whether such an initiative would pass the muster of voters in a down economy, especially in a state with a long history in siding with conservative-backed anti-tax initiatives.
Arvada democratic representative Debbie Benefield says it's worth a try.
"We're going to have to ask, this doesn't say give me X amount of dollars from income tax or sales tax or property tax," she said, "This just says let the legislature do the work we were elected to do."
Benefield will sponsor the so-called referred measure as a bill in the legislature. It will need 2/3 majority vote from both houses, to make it onto the 2010 ballot.
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