History:
Former Governor Bill Owens created the Colorado Educational Alignment Council in 2005 to develop policy recommendations which would assist in creating a dovetail fit between K-12 education and higher education.  Two of their recommendations were to increase the rigor of high school content standards in the tested areas, and to adopt statewide graduation requirements.  Two of the members of that council were Sen. Tupa and Rep. Todd who then, in collaboration with ideas from the Colorado Association of School Boards, crafted HB 07-1118 in order to codify some of the findings from CEAC.

HB 07-1118 was passed by the Colorado House on January 30th and passed the Colorado Senate on April 12th.  There had been concern among the supporters of HB 07-1118 that some of the provisions from SB 07-131 requiring math and science as graduation standards for every student in the state of Colorado might be inserted into this bill in the amendment process but that didn't happen.

The Bill:
Section 1. A brief summary of Colorado's development of content standards is described along with a rationale for modifying the standards as future expectations of the workforce have changed, and some students continue to be caught in the achievement gap. 
Section 2. By July 1, 2008 the bill requires the state board of education to adopt comprehensive guidelines for high school graduation which will then have to be met or exceeded by each school district in the state. 
The state board will have to include recommendations from the Colorado Education alignment Council, the P-16 Council, and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education in their considerations. 
The board is given the latitude to develop a system of multiple and diverse pathways to diplomas. 
The board will also be required to ensure that the content standards from which the graduation requirements are drawn are sufficiently rigorous.  To accomplish this, the board is encouraged to utilize the input of stakeholder groups.
Section 3.  A state graduation guidelines development council will be created within the state department of education.  The council members will be appointed by the governor and charged with developing the comprehensive set of guidelines and recommending them to the state board of education.  The council will hold public meetings through out the state and also seek input from educational stakeholder groups.
Section 4.  Local boards of education are required to develop a community-based process to incorporate the values and expectations of that community into a blueprint for the education system which serves that community.
Section 5.  The Commission for Higher Education will work in a cooperative manner with the state board of education to align the graduation requirements with college entrance requirements and the revised admission standards must be implemented for freshman by the fall of 2012.

Good:
The "arts" are included as a category of student interest and economic need in the section describing multiple and diverse pathways to diplomas.
Phase II of the Pre-Collegiate Curriculum Requirement has been suspended and replaced by the cooperative alignment to be implemented by 2012.
The bill creates a framework for multi-lateral educational stakeholder input in an open and transparent way.
The vision of the bill recognizes that 21st century workers will need skills that are arguably best developed in the arts and humanities: innovation, creativity and adaptability.

The New Horizon:
This will all happen by July 1, 2008 with the recommendation from the state department of education being given to the state board of education by May 1, 2008.  Arts and humanities supporters must find and use the available opportunities at the state and local level for influencing the development of the statewide graduation requirements as well as influencing the blueprint that local communities will adopt. 

To read the final bill, go to http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2007a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/5CBD607BCDE3BC2E87257251007B68B5?open&file=1118_ren.pdf

In recognition of National Arts Advocacy Day, ABE hosted a breakfast on March 12th at the Capitol for our Colorado legislators.  Legislators were treated to the gorgeous sounds of Bellisima, the women's choir from the Denver School of the Arts.

This past month, ABE board members testified at the Senate and House Education Committees in favor of HB 07-1118 and HB 07-1345, a bill to redesign the School Accountability Report to include information on all the subject areas which were defined as core content areas by HB 93-1313, and against SB 07-131 which would have required four years of math and 3 years of science for all Colorado students to graduate from high school.

About ABE:  We are a Colorado non-profit organization concerned about the narrowing of the curriculum and the marginalization of arts and humanities as a result of high-stakes testing, snapshot accountability, and higher education requirements placing de facto mandates upon K-12 public education.

    
Fifteen leaders from education, public service and business form the board of Advocates for a Balanced Education and share a desire to offer students-become-adults the balanced education which will provide them with the necessary skills  for economic self-sufficiency and participation in a self-governing society.

    
For that purpose, our goal is to assist  educational policy makers at all levels of state and local government, as well as the citizenry of communities in supporting the inclusion of the arts and humanities as an essential part of Colorado’s K-12 public education system.