Guest Editorial: The lost generation

Over the last couple of years, education budgets have taken massive cuts in public funding. This is not a new trend at all, but the most recent cuts have been crippling. As a result, tuition has gone up, classes have grown, and professors are getting laid off. The Associated Students of Colorado exists to unite our voices in defense of higher education, and we are speaking out.

As a result of the cuts, we are losing opportunities we'll never get back. Students move through the education system quickly. One year of a poor education cannot be regained.

This year, parents, students, and teachers organized as the Great Futures coalition and proposed a solution to pull Colorado back from the brink of writing off a "lost generation." What most don't know about the Colorado budget is that our legislators cannot raise the revenue it takes to balance the budget without cutting education. This is a long-term result of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, a dramatic overhaul of state budget policies that became law in 1992.

The best way out of a hole is to stop digging. To do that, we proposed the DECIDE Amendment (Decide: Education Cuts or Invest in our Democracy and Economy) to the House (HCR 1002) and Senate (SCR 002) of Colorado for a vote.

This amendment to the Colorado Constitution would give Colorado legislators the same ability to fund education they once had before TABOR. To become law, it needs two-thirds of the House and Senate to vote to put it on the ballot, and then pass with a majority of the popular vote in November. We need your help.

Monday, April 19, the House Education Committee heard four hours of citizen testimony regarding the bill. UC Denver Student Government senators Shannon Fender, Chris Lindsay, and I took the microphone to represent students. We spoke in favor of public education funding, urging legislators to support us. As a result, the DECIDE Amendment passed the House Education Committee 8-4.

The Senate Education Committee will also host public testimony in support of and in opposition to the amendment at 1:30 p.m. April 29 in Room 220 of the Capitol. I ask you to take your education in your hands and say no to cuts! Say no to tuition increases! Speak up on April 29 and say yes to the DECIDE Amendment. Students cannot wait!

Cynthia Negron is the director of legislative affairs for the UCD Student Government Association, and the campus organizer for the Associated Students of Colorado.