GOP leader Penry names education reformers from both parties to key interim committee

Posted Tue, 19 May 2009

In a move that could foster continued bipartisan backing for education-policy innovations at the State Capitol, Senate GOP chief Josh Penry said today he will appoint a Democrat as well as a Republican—both committed school reformers—to a panel that will ponder the future of school funding in Colorado.

Penry picked newly minted Sen.-elect Michael Johnston, a Denver Democrat, to the Interim Committee to Study the Financing of Public Schools. Johnston was elected to the Senate only last week by a vacancy committee to fill out the term of former Senate President Peter Groff. Penry also is naming veteran Sen. Keith King, a Colorado Springs Republican and Senate Education Committee member, to serve on the interim committee.

“Both Michael and Keith put kids first, and they’re willing to look at a wide range of options to expand educational opportunity throughout Colorado,” Penry said. “The common denominator is their belief in education reform, not their party affiliation.”

Penry’s picks follow Groff’s decision just before leaving office to name the Education Committee’s ranking Republican, Centennial Sen. Nancy Spence, to the same interim committee alongside two Democrats whom he chose, Chris Romer, of Denver, and Bob Bacon, of Fort Collins.

“The common denominator is their belief in education reform, not their party affiliation.”

Penry noted that he and Groff, as well as other members of both parties, have worked closely on reform initiatives over the past few years. He said his selection of Johnston, a school principal who has won national praise, "reaffirms our committment to advancing education reform in a bipartisan way."

Groff, a vocal advocate of reforms like charter schools, stepped down from the Senate earlier this month to join President Obama's Education Department in Washington.

Penry said it is “only fitting” that a reformer like Johnston, who is scheduled to be sworn in to his Senate post next week, should follow Groff in representing northeast Denver’s Senate District 33. The political newcomer is founder and principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, a novel Thornton-area high school that Obama visited last year after all of its graduates were admitted to four-year colleges.

King, widely regarded as one of the General Assembly's foremost authorities on public school finance, is also a longtime champion of educational innovations like charter schools. He has helped found and run a charter school in Colorado Springs called Colorado Springs Early Colleges, giving students an opportunity to earn an Associates Degree while still in high school.

GOP leader Penry names education reformers from both parties to key interim committee

“The common denominator is their belief in education reform, not their party affiliation.”

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