Dr. Bruce Broderius Highlights Amendment 66

One of Greeley's renowned educators presented an informational talk on the impacts of Amendment 66 for District 6 schools.  Dr. Broderius shared some background on the state's current school funding plan and how it has basically deprived District 6 of its fair share over the past 15 years.  By repurposing some of the money already in the State budget for education, and by raising taxes just a little, District 6 will begin to make up for the past deprivations.

The system will be more fair and the money raised by the tax will be protected from being used for anything other than the education of students.  District 6 will gain over 27 million dollars/year toward educational resources for our students.  Because the new system makes up for past slights, every $1 of tax we spend will net us $3.  That is a great investment in the future of our children and our community.  People like to live and work in communities that take the best care of the education of their children.

Damion LeeNatalli shared a perspective on our current contributions to education.  When he was in school, citizens paid 10% of their income to fund education.  We currently only spend 8%.  After the tax increase from amendment 66, we will only be up to 8.2%.  

District Superintendent, Ranelle Lang, shared that we have students in our district with extra challenges.  There are 53 different languages of origin for the students in our district.  We need to help  them all learn English as well as keep them from falling behind while they learn.  All children deserve the chance to succeed.  We all benefit when they do. 

We were also given a handout with Frequently Asked Questions as well as a breakdown of the facts and ways the 27 million dollars will be allocated.  If you want that information for yourself, go to www.coloradocommitstokids.com or www.greeleyschools.org and click on Ballot Amendment 66.

A big thanks to our own Doug Lidiak for bringing us this timely program.