Hudak’s Senate Notes – September 2009

Month: 
September
Year: 
2009

GEARING UP FOR THE NEXT SESSION

 

All the interim committees of the Legislature are currently focused on proposals for legislation for the 2010 session, since our deadline to get them in for bill drafting is mid-October. This deadline is early so the legislative staff can finish these bills before we legislators have to submit the 5 bills that we are permitted to sponsor on our own. It is amazing how much work the legislative staff does to get all the bills drafted. They put in many hours during the fall and winter, and especially during the period from Thanksgiving through the first week of January – when other people are taking time off for the holiday season, it’s their “crunch time.”

 

TOWN HALL MEETING

My next Town Hall Meeting will be Saturday, September 26, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Standley Lake Library. We will be discussing Education and will have a presentation on SchoolView – this is the website showing how schools are performing based on the new accountability system created in my big education bill, SB 163. There will also discussions about CSAP and about the impact of education changes on teachers.

 

JOIN ME FOR COFFEE (OR BREAKFAST)

Don’t forget to join me on the first Thursday of every month at Panera Bread Café, 7739 Wadsworth Blvd., 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. for coffee (or tea or breakfast) to discuss issues of concern to you. The next one will be on October 1.

 

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING AS YOUR SENATOR

Here are some of the things I’ve done since mid-August, when the last newsletter went out:

  • Held my first Legislative Coffee at Panera’s – about 35 people attended.

  • Participated in a work session to begin determining what the Framework for Action in Early Childhood should consist of.

  • Attended the Colorado Substance Abuse and Healthcare Summit.

  • Attended the MetroNorth Chamber’s quarterly Development Breakfast.

  • Toured the Community Corrections facility in Jeffco. [See article below.]

  • Attended the first meeting for this school year of Jeffco Schools’ Strategic Planning Advisory Council.

  • Made a presentation at the Jeffco Schools’ Accountability Training about the new requirements for school accountability committees.

  • Participated in meetings of the Drug Policy Task Force of the CCJJ.

  • Met with the Direct-File Subcommittee of the CCJJ.

  • Gave a report at the monthly Arvada Roundtable breakfast.

  • Continued meeting with stakeholders to discuss how to provide education to juveniles charged as adults who are being held in county jails awaiting trial.

  • Continued meeting with the EOPR Task Force. [See article below.]

  • Continued meeting with the Early Childhood/School Readiness Commission.

  • Attended another meeting of the School Finance Interim Committee.

  • Participated in a work session of the Race to the Top (R2T) committee on helping struggling schools. [See article below.]

 

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS

I toured Jefferson County’s Community Corrections facility; it’s located in Lakewood. Community Corrections is a placement in the state’s correctional system that is used for several purposes:

  • “Diversion” from prison for people who are not a risk to community safety and whose rehabilitation would be best provided in an intense treatment environment; most people placed for diversion have substance abuse and/or mental health issues.

  • “Transition” of people from prison to parole.

  • Incarceration for “technical violations” of parole.

The majority of people placed in Jeffco’s facility are there for diversion. They all begin in the “intense supervision” wing. From there, they slowly gain more freedom, eventually being allowed to go to work during the day, and ultimately going on “non-residential reporting” status. The facility has a success rate of 67% - meaning that this percentage of people placed there never commit another crime.

 

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY/POVERTY REDUCTION TASK FORCE

The purpose of the EOPR Task Force, which is made up of 10 legislators, is to design a plan by December 2010 to cut the state’s poverty rate in half by 2019 (10 years from now).

Here are some interesting pieces of information we got at the most recent meeting:

  • Many retail and small-business employees get no paid sick leave – thus, they either have to go to work sick, infect others, and work at low effectiveness or risk losing their job.

  • Teen parents often don't qualify for benefits because their income level is judged based on their parents' income, whether their parents are supporting them or not.

  • Women who leave their husbands because of domestic violence don’t qualify for assistance until they are divorced, because their income level is based on their husbands'.

  • Child care is not covered for many students, creating a limitation on their ability to get higher education.

  • Poor people lack access to high-quality food because it's expensive – they eat a lot of processed food, which is cheaper than fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat/fish.

  • People with disabilities - particularly multiple, severe, and/or persistent disabilities - have difficulty ever getting out of poverty.

  • The most consistent factor in homeless youth is having no father in the home.

  • Community colleges and other education programs (such as those at workforce centers) are key to getting people out of poverty.

  • Historically, building trades have provided a way out of poverty.

  • Collaboration of public entities with private and nonprofit organizations create some of the most successful programs to reduce poverty.

To find out more about the EOPR, including agendas and dates of meetings, go to http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/2009/comsched/09EconomicOppTFSched.html.

 

RACE TO THE TOP

Race to the Top (R2T) is a competitive grant, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that the U.S. Department of Education will be giving to up to 10 states. Lt. Gov. O’Brien has organized committees to give input on what should be in Colorado’s proposal for this grant; the committees are working in the four “assurance” areas required in the grant application.

I have been working on two R2T committees: Teacher Effectiveness and Low-Performing Schools. (The other two are Longitudinal Data Systems, and Standards and Assessments.) The Teacher Effectiveness Committee is working through these subcommittees:

  • Differentiating Teacher and Principal Effectiveness

  • Equitable Distribution of Teachers and Principals in High-Poverty Schools

  • Equitable Distribution of Teachers and Principals in Hard-to-Staff Subjects

  • Effectiveness of Teacher and Principal Preparation Programs

  • Use of Data to Inform and Guide Instruction

The Low-Performing Schools committee is looking at what efforts have been successful in Colorado and the nation to turn around struggling schools, in order to come up with a plan for what Colorado might want to do. Research has shown that there is no single model for turnaround that is always successful, but there seem to be areas that are common to successful turnarounds: identifying specific goals based on data, having a curriculum that is aligned with standards, training teachers effectively, providing time for staff collaboration, having a principal that is focused on the turnaround plan, providing a safe and appropriate school environment, and working with parents and the community.

For more information about Race to the Top, go to http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/OIT-2/OIT2/1240228834570.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

These are some of the meetings I will be attending or hosting in the next month:

  • Tuesday, September 22 – EOPR Task Force meeting.

  • Thursday, September 24 – Drug Policy Task Force meeting.

  • Friday, September 25, 5:30 p.m. – I will be on a panel at a reception for the Serious Women, Serious Issues, Serious Action Conference sponsored by 9 to 5, the National Organization of Working Women, and the Latina Initiative.

  • Saturday, September 26, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. – My bimonthly Town Hall Meeting at Standley Lake Library.

  • Legislative Luncheon sponsored by the Mental Health Center of Denver.

  • Thursday, October 1, 7:30-8:30 a.m. – My monthly Legislative Coffee at Panera Bread Café, 7739 Wadsworth Blvd.

  • Friday, October 2 – Arvada Roundtable breakfast.

  • Friday, October 2 – Early Childhood/School Readiness Commission.

  • Tuesday, October 6 – Meeting of the R2T committee on helping struggling schools.

  • Wednesday, October 7 – Meeting of the R2T committee on teacher effectiveness.

  • Tuesday, October 13 – EOPR Task Force meeting.

 

To get further information about the State Legislature, go to the General Assembly website at http://www.leg.state.co.us. For more information about the Senate Democratic Majority, go to http://coloradosenate.org/home/.