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April
26, 2001
| "We don’t want
somebody teaching to the test. But if the test reflects the
standards, we want people to be teaching to the standards." |
|
— Gov. Bill Owens |
By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer
Gov. Bill Owens’s trip to southwestern Colorado this
week did not include any stops in Montezuma County, but while in Durango
he focused his comments on one of his pet subjects — education.
"We’re going to stay the course. The CSAP is the
right way. Colorado standards — that’s the right way to improve
education in Colorado," explained Owens to the editorial board of the
Durango Herald on Tuesday.
The Colorado Student Assessment Program was developed in
1993 by then-Gov. Roy Romer — with Owens’s support.
Since he took over as governor, Owens has been criticized
by educators for proposing to give failing grades to schools whose
students don’t reach the standards during the annual spring testing.
School districts are also concerned that funding could be
yanked from poor-scoring schools, and teachers have cited additional
stress from what they consider to be high stakes testing.
"It’s been frustrating to me that something started
in 1993 is now all of a sudden starting to be controversial," Owens
said. "In Colorado, all that is at stake in the CSAP tests is as
follows: That after three successive years of failure to thrive, about 15
principals will be reassigned out of 1,700 schools. This is a diagnostic
test."
Some critics have also voiced concerns over teachers being
required to "teach to the test."
Owens explained that the CSAP exams are based on the state
standards that state teachers developed. "We don’t want somebody
teaching to the test. But if the test reflects the standards, we want
people to be teaching to the standards," he explained.
Owens also cited a three-year record of receiving full
funding for his budget requests for K-12 education.
"I really believe that we’re on the right track in
Colorado," he said. "I believe that based on the combination of
better funding and also standards."
Other issues Owens addressed during the meeting included:
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Four Corners Monument: Efforts to obtain
$500,000 in state matching funds for a federal grant to build a new
Four Corners monument were recently derailed, but Owens said all is
not lost. Lobbyists for the monument are asking the eight senators of
the four states involved to move back the September 2001 deadline for
matching funds. Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have so far refused
to pledge the money, Owens said. But Owens said that if approached
early enough, the 2002 capital-development budget could include a line
item for the monument.
"I hope in the next session I will get the funding, and also if
we can get the federal government to extend the time for us to come up
with the matching dollars," he said.
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Smart Growth: Two competing growth bills, one
backed by a House Republican, another by a Senate Democrat, can be
melded into one legislative package, Owens explained. "I think a
compromise is going to be reached," he said. The Senate bill,
which died in a House committee, has since been added to the house
bill and will be worked through in a conference committee. Both houses
will give either a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down on the revised version,
and Owens voiced his support.
"It (the bill) will give local governments to control growth. It
will give local governments more power to coordinate with one another
from county to city, city to city, county to county. It will be a
significant step."
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Sen. Jim Dyer: When Owens appointed state Sen.
Jim Dyer (D-Durango) to the Public Utilities Commission this spring,
skeptics wondered if the appointment was a political move to overturn
the slim Democratic majority in the Colorado Senate by forcing an
election in a district that heavily favors Republicans.
Not so, said Owens, who considers Dyer an "American hero."
"We (Dyer and Owens) have been best friends for 15 years,"
said Owens, who explained that Dyer fit all of his qualifications.
"Dyer was a perfect choice for the PUC."
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