Sunday, November 07, 2010

Government that works for all us? I don't think so.

Our GOP controlled school board in Douglas County just disclosed that they are working on a voucher program to provide "choice" for parents, even though the public schools in our district are among the highest performers in Colorado. The only private schools in Douglas County are religious, so guess who would benefit.

Unfortunately for the school board, Article IX, section 7 of the Colorado constitution expressly forbids a school district from "... [paying] from any public fund or moneys whatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian society, or for any sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university or other literary or scientific institution, controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatsoever..."

So, after they hired a new superintendent at $250K+ annually, discontinued free bus services for students, and laid off teachers, now they're going to waste money on legal fees defending this obviously unconstitutional policy. And on top of everything, they had the chutzpah to demand that the local media not cover the story. Government that works for all us? I don't think so.