Dems divert millions from school construction to study rural district needs

A Democrat measure drew fire today for spending $3 million a year on a study of backlogged building projects in rural school districts -- rather than actually funding construction in those districts. GOP critics pointed out in debate on the Senate floor that the bill calls for repeating the study every five years and is estimated to cost over $12 million each time, with the money coming out of funds reserved for school construction.

"This bill spends $12.2 million and doesn't drive one nail, doesn't build one thing," said an outraged Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs.

Senate Bill 41, which passed on a voice vote along party lines, establishes an advisory committee and tasks it with giving technical assistance to rural school districts on assessing their capital construction needs. It also authorizes the state to use up to $3 million annually to conduct a “needs assessment” for public school capital construction. The money would come from lottery proceeds.

Republicans charged that the money would be better spent on actual school construction.

"A couple years ago, we built five new schools, four in my district, and it cost $10 million," said Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas. "Give me this twelve, and I'll build six new schools."

Republicans also charged that SB 41 is wasteful because rural school districts already know what their construction needs are.

"We should rename this bill the '2007 Act That We Need To Pass Because Rural School Districts Are Too Stupid To Know Whether Or Not Their Roof Is Leaking,'” said Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock. “If their roof is about to fall in, they can tell it. They don't need someone from the state of Colorado ... to come tell them whether or not their roof is going to fall in. If we’re really serious about providing real money to rural districts, why don’t we just write them a check for $12 million?”

Debate over the measure became heated after Republicans persistently questioned the spending priorities in the bill. Wiens offered an amendment to de-fund the study, and require the $3 million annual transfer from lottery revenues to be spent on real construction. The motion was defeated on a party-line vote.

At one point, the bill’s sponsor, freshman Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, raised her hand to respond to the debate but had her hand pulled down by Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver. Schwartz, a rookie lawmaker, had become visibly upset by the unexpected opposition to her bill.

Schwartz said in a public statment after the debate that, "We need to make a commitment to the children of our state."

McElhany responded, "If she wants to make a commitment to kids, how about actually spending some of her bill's money on them?"