Teacher Christina Hafler and her 2-year-old daughter, Emma, join hundreds of other educators at a rally outside the state Capitol in Denver to call for increased education funding on April 16.
"I've visited with many educators during this past week regarding next week's rally — including those who plan to participate, and those who do not," Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski said in a letter to parents.
While there have been differences of opinion in those conversations about the best means for advocating for change in funding public education in Colorado, he said, all voices have been united in saying that the district is grateful for support of ballot measure 3D that is addressing critical facility needs throughout the district.
"We're not able to give our students what they need and what they deserve given a state funding system that has gone backwards over the past decade," he said. "There are so many opportunities for us to better serve our students through expanded extracurricular activities, technology enhancements, differentiated and personalized academic supports, mental health education, etc. — but the failure of state funding to even keep up with inflation over the past decade has left us unable to make those investments."
District staff members have elevated student achievement throughout the district, he said, and are making district the most improved large district in Colorado over the past three years. Yet a growing number of our staff members struggle to afford housing and other basics, Gdowski said, because state education funding has not been adequate to support fair and reasonable wages for jobs that are "incredibly demanding and complex."