State rep visits valley for town hall chats on pressing Colorado issues

Education a priority

(Editor’s note: Crested Butte News reporter Toni Todd conducted this interview with Millie Hamner last July.)

Millie Hamner, Colorado State Representative for District 61, passed through town this summer on what she called her pre-campaign kickoff tour. Hamner’s visit included a town hall-type meeting with Crested Butte residents at Rumor’s Coffee and Tea, and a second gathering with District 59’s Mike McClachlan at Western State Colorado University.
“I applaud the local school district for taking on the mill levy override and going to the community,” said Hamner, a former school district superintendent and current chair of the education committee within the Colorado legislature.
Hamner acknowledged the state legislature’s unpopular interpretation of Amendment 23—passed by voters in 2000 to prevent lapses in funding for Colorado school—and the shortfall that’s resulted for districts across the state. “Colorado experienced a recession,” she said, “and we didn’t have the money.”
A lawsuit on the part of several school districts against the state is pending, to recoup what they’ve been shortchanged. Meanwhile, Hamner said, the purse is beginning to fill again, and the strings have been loosened a bit.
The School Finance Act and the State Successful Students Act were passed last spring, which will result in an increase of $500 million for Colorado schools.
“We had to fight really hard to get more for K-12,” Hamner said, “but, understandably, [the school districts] are still not satisfied.” These two pieces of legislation promise an increase of $368 per student for the RE1J school district beginning July 1, and a total increase in funding of $665,712. While that falls short of the estimated $1.9 million shortfall expected this year, said Hamner, it’s a start. “We’re buying back some of the negative factor,” she said.
Distribution includes $18 million for the READ Act, a program to help more struggling readers, $13 million for charter schools, $17 million for additional Early Childhood at Risk Enhancement (ECARE) slots. Part of that is intended to make full-day kindergarten accessible to more low-income students, something that should help their working parents. Governor John Hickenlooper mandated $3 million of the funding for increased transparency, Hamner said, “so people know where the money is going.”
Special education/Board of Cooperative Education Services will receive $2 million, and $7.5 million goes to English Language Learners. “The fact is,” said Hammer, “we have English language learners. The fact is, they need more help.”
Gunnison area schools stand to earn a per pupil raise to $7,021 in the coming year. “That’s still below the national average. I recognize that,” Hamner said. Her point was that Hickenlooper’s only request of the legislature was to find $187 more per student for the coming year. Instead, Hamner said, they were able to agree on the comprehensive package above.
There are still obstacles to overcome in straightening out funding for Colorado schools. “TABOR is still an issue,” Hamner said. If a mill levy is passed and property values go up, she explained, the mills must be reduced to maintain the amount being requested from the taxpayers. However, if the values take another dive, those mills cannot be increased to maintain that amount. Under TABOR, that’s considered a tax increase and must go to voters for approval. It’s what’s known as TABOR’s ratchet effect. This, Hamner said, makes it difficult to maintain adequate funding for education and many other programs through economic downturns.
Recent sessions on Capitol Hill in Denver also resulted in more money for colleges. “To preserve K-12, we had to eliminate funding for higher ed,” Hamner said. “We’ve now put $100 million back in.” That money comes with the stipulation that colleges and universities will not raise tuition by more than 6 percent per year in coming years.
Funding for recovery from floods and fires was a legislative priority this year, said Hamner. Representatives will tackle the topic of wildfire mitigation in September, and are in the midst of developing a state water plan. One attempt to provide incentive to concern recently failed. “Agriculture is the biggest user of water,” Hamner said, explaining that current water rights law provides no incentives for farmers and ranchers to conserve. “They can even lose their water rights if they don’t use them,” she said.
Senate Bill 23 was crafted to allow agricultural users to make voluntary transfers of unused appropriations of water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for in-stream flow enhancements west of the Continental Divide. “I was very much in support of the bill,” Hamner said, “but Governor Hickenlooper vetoed it.” SB-23 was passed by bipartisan vote in both house and senate and carried the support of the Colorado Stockgrowers and Trout Unlimited, but was nixed by Hickenlooper in deference to opposition by the Colorado River District and some eastern plains Republicans. “It’s a bill that made sense to me,” Hamner said.
To sum up 2014, Hamner said, “We’re busy.”