Fund our schools

The legislative session in Colorado has started off in its usual fashion. Hopes and promises of greatly increased funding and collective bargaining rights have been dashed once again by the Governor and the state legislature. In a time of educator shortages, our legislature is actively avoiding every opportunity it has to give educators voice and to fully fund our schools.

We’ve heard legislators’ excuses every year, and every year Colorado students and educators suffer because of the legislature’s inability to fund our schools as required by our state constitution. This year’s senior class has never seen a fully funded school system, and unfortunately for Colorado’s children, excuses don’t fill classrooms with educators or buy resources for our students.

We’ve tried testing, we’ve tried accountability, we’ve tried blaming the teachers, but the one thing the legislature has failed to try is fully funding our schools. The legislature got creative in its creation of the Budget Stabilization (B.S.) Factor; now it’s time for our legislature to step up and get creative with the influx of money from the Federal Government and the increases in property tax. It’s time for the state to pay back its IOU of $10 billion that it owes Colorado’s students. It’s time for No More B.S. (factor).

Teachers are tired of fighting; they need someone to fight for them. Will the Governor or the legislature step up? We doubt it, but we would love to be wrong. If the legislature can’t get creative, we look forward to using our voices at the ballot box in November.

Kim Serio–Moffat County Education Association; Liz Waddick–Summit County Education Association; Keely Kuehl, Cody Jump, and Roxie Aldaz–Lake County Education Association; Jessica Reagon–Steamboat Springs Education Association; Stephanie Nixon and Marnie White–Aspen Education Association; Karen Kolibaba–Eagle County Education Association

Thanks for cleaning up

I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the individual who took time out of their Sunday to pick up the trash at Woodbury Park after Saturday night’s gathering. Thank you for going above and beyond on a blustery, windy Sunday! The individual not only picked up several bags of trash but put it in his personal vehicle and hauled it away.

Robin Weible

Thank you to the community

On behalf of the Gates family, I would like to offer my most heartfelt thanks. It was heart-wrenching to wake up in a world and find out our loved one was no longer in it. Since then, the Colorado sunsets have looked less colorful, and our favorite foods have tasted blander.

However, with generosity and support from this tight-knit community, full of lifelong friends and caring souls, we have been able to start to see the world in vivid colors again, and with every dish we were brought, we have started to taste the sense of love we thought we had lost.

Knowing that we do not share this loss alone has lessened the pain in our hearts. Joshua Stillwell was not only a son, brother, husband, and father – but a friend to many. As we heal, we will remember the lives he has impacted. In parallel, I hope you all know how your kindness has touched our hearts in our darkest times. What is great about this small town is the sense of community that demonstrates itself in so many ways.

At this time, we would also like to extend a special thanks to the Faith Lutheran Church, the church’s members, and pastor John Turner for providing a place for us all to gather, the service, and the nourishments.

Respectfully, Joey Gates