In 2013, a $ 1 billion school bailout tax increase (aka Amendment 66) went to the voters, who soundly rejected it. This year, Great Education Colorado, whose action committee threw buckets of money to the Amendment 66 effort, is collecting stories about the horror that attending Colorado schools is…because of budget cuts.
See, if they just unionsplained it to us, we would vote for their greedy package. Here’s what Great Education Colorado said about its new effort to unionsplain to us why we need to feed the union beast:
“Today, we’re inviting you to help us crowdfund our new video project: The Colorado School Experience. We’re seeking small donations (any amount truly makes a difference) from lots of people to make sure that more Coloradans understand the impact of budget cuts on our students.
We’ve spent years collecting pages and pages (and pages and pages and pages …) of stories that people — parents, teachers, kids, and concerned citizens like you — have submitted to us. The written words themselves are devastating — but they don’t do the stories justice. We need Coloradans to SEE the stories and hear from the kids themselves.
If we can raise enough money, we’ll be able to document these stories in video so that legislators and voters cannot ignore them. And if your group or community has a story that should be told in video, we’ve got an easy way to make that happen.”
First of all, is crowdfunding funds to influence voters and legislators even legal? But, more importantly, the bizarre concept that Great Education Colorado just. cannot. let. go. is that more money translates to a better education. The truth is that too often more money only means administrative largess, as we pointed out in 2013.
While it doesn’t appear that anyone has brought forth anything to put on the ballot at this point, we can’t help but see the similarities in theme and messaging in this ask. They are now claiming that schools can’t recruit teachers, which is false. That teachers have had to sell their home, which sounds like a personal problem. That there were pay freezes for teachers, which is true, but it’s also true of the entire private sector during the economic downturn, too. That music programs have been eliminated. Wait, where have we heard that before? That there have been cuts to special education. Wait, that sounds like Amendment 66, too.
The complaints go on and on. And, of course, the solution is to throw more money at schools, at least that’s what Great Education Colorado, which tried and failed to convince voters in 2013 that schools needed an ongoing billion dollar tax increase, says. If a two-to-one margin of defeat was not enough for Great Education Colorado, by all means, let’s put it on the ballot again. Maybe this time the defeat can be three-to-one since voters have already heard the slick lies that this organization spouts.