March 17, 2011
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Schools struggle to
adjust to shrinking resources
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Fiscal policy
The Denver Post: Adams 12 Five Star Schools' $30 million budget gap will cut deep into classrooms
Nobody - including teachers - will be spared. As many as 94 will be let go this year as part of a stopgap plan to cut $30 million from the district's budget. In all, about 185 positions will be eliminated. This includes teachers at all levels, including a projected six per high school, Superintendent Chris Gdowski said Wednesday.
Also: Loveland Reporter-Herald: Committee uses survey to cut budget for schools
The Denver Post: House bill allows school districts to raise teachers' PERA rates
Teachers could be required to pay a greater share of their retirement costs under a bill that cleared a House committee Wednesday and that one union said was an effort to "Wisconsinize" Colorado's budget.
Also: The Colorado Independent: Union group likens Republican amendment to Wisconsin tactics
Pueblo Chieftain: Feds no solution for Fort Lyon, Pace says
Gov. John Hickenlooper proposed the prison's closure as part of his budget-balancing package for fiscal year 2011-12. Since that announcement, the governor's office has held frequent discussions with U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Colorado Democrats, to identify a purpose for Fort Lyon with the federal government, which shut down a veterans' hospital there and gave the state the site in 2000.
Also: Pueblo Chieftain editorial: Action now
KCFR-radio: Budget Breakdown - Local Impact Grants
In communities near oil and gas drilling, industry taxes pay for all sorts of stuff -- roads, parks, water treatment plants. But that money doesn't go to towns directly -- it has to flow through the state. And for several years now, Colorado's decided to keep that money for itself. So far, communities aren't happy, but they are making due.
Greeley Tribune editorial: Large tuition hikes may price many out of higher education
The day seems to be coming when a higher education might be out of reach for middle-class students.
Family economic security
The Denver Post: Denver-area residents paying more for food
Metro-area residents are being hit by higher prices at grocery stores and restaurants as rising commodity prices lead to higher food costs. The bigger receipts are accompanied by climbing gasoline prices stemming from unrest in the Middle East.
Health Policy Solutions: Colorado children at risk for poverty, obesity and hunger
To be clear, Colorado's child poverty and obesity rates are below the national average and the percent of children living in food-insecure households is about the same as the national statistic. However, in all three areas - poverty, obesity and hunger - Colorado is quickly headed in the wrong direction.
Jobs and economic security
The Denver Post: Colorado foreclosure filings, sales fall in February
New foreclosure filings dropped to a 30-month low in Colorado's metropolitan counties during February, according to a report released Wednesday.
Also: Denver Business Journal: Steep drop for Colorado urban foreclosures
Salida Mountain Mail: Unemployment rates grow above national average
For the first time since 2005 Colorado seasonally adjusted unemployment rates are higher than the national average, by .1 percent.
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