Education

Earlier this year, the General Assembly adjourned without addressing Colorado's most pressing education challenges. Lost in end-of-session accolades and "mission accomplished" rhetoric was a sad fact: Thanks to the curious priorities of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, Colorado now has more rigorous standards for sex education than for math, science or English.

In the months since, the news has been just as worrisome. Earlier this month, the Ritter Administration proposed a significant roll back of rigorous admission standards required by Colorado's colleges and universities. The requirements were established a few short years ago in response to the large and growing number of Colorado kids who graduate from high school ill-prepared for the demands of higher learning. Fortunately, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education warded off the most egregious aspects of the proposed standards roll back. They deserve real credit for standing up to the Administration. Translated in practical terms, the Commission's decision means that our education standards took baby-steps backward, rather than giant ones.

But doesn't that strike you as strange? Shouldn't Colorado join the rest of the nation in actually raising standards in order to meet the demands of this remarkably competitive world?

It is not as though meaningful reforms to increase standards haven't been proposed. Senate Bill 73, by Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Michael Garcia, D- Aurora, would have required students to be proficient in English to receive a Colorado diploma. And Senate Bill 131, which we sponsored, would have set graduation standards for math and science at four years and three years, respectively. While important first steps, both bills made only very modest demands of our public schools.

After receiving broad bipartisan support in the Senate, both bills were dispatched on party-line votes in the House Education Committee, which is rapidly becoming a graveyard for common-sense education reform efforts. Rather than demanding more of our education system, the majority on this committee stubbornly defends an indefensible status quo.

Yet even as they were killing math, science and English measures, members of the House Education Committee initiated and won passage of House Bill 1292, which set forth detailed and graphic content standards for sex education.

Colorado's kids deserve better. Students graduating from high school this year face an increasingly competitive global economy where math, science and communications skills are at a premium.

Job growth in technical fields outpaces overall job growth by a rate of four to one, with many new jobs heading overseas. By the end of the decade, it is projected that 90 percent of the world's engineers will live in Asia.

Moreover, according to a recent Washington Post editorial, by 2025, one in four public school students will not be fully proficient in English. By contrast, British Finance Minister Gordon Brown has noted that by the same year, the number of English-speaking Chinese people is likely to exceed the number of native English speakers in the rest of the world.

If our generation fails to meet the challenges posed by the new global economy, America's competitive advantage will disappear before our eyes. The verdict is clear: enough baby-steps backwards, and enough with the failed status quo. It's time for Colorado to start moving forward on education. It is time for Colorado to join the nation and the world in raising rigor and increasing standards in our schools.

Colorado State Senator Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction) lives in Grand Junction and represents the seventh district. He currently serves on the Education and Capital Development Committees. He also previously served in the Colorado House of Representatives.