Many of you are already familiar with Proposition 103 - in which case this is a reminder! If you are not, or you are tempted not to complete your ballot because there are no "big issues" on it, please re-consider! School funding is a BIG ISSUE!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Arapahoe County is one of FOUR counties (out of 64) in Colorado that is NOT doing a mail-in ballot-only election (the others are Lake, Jackson, and San Juan counties) - see below for details. Questions, please call me or see the websites below.
For Arapahoe County: if you are not signed up to receive a mail-in ballot, you can early vote or vote on Election Day (November 1) at one of 17 county vote center locations. DO NOT GO TO YOUR PREVIOUS NEIGHBORHOOD POLLING LOCATION TO VOTE - Arapahoe County has gone to VOTE CENTERS ONLY. Please go to http://www.arapahoevotes.com/2011-coordinated-election to find information on early voting, vote center locations, and mail-in ballot drop off locations.
P.S. PLEASE forward this to 10-20 of your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. to remind them to vote! Funding our schools is a NON-PARTISAN measure! The coalition supporting Proposition 103 is a grassroots group of parents, community leaders, grandparents, teachers, civic groups and state leaders who believe now is the time to strengthen our schools and communities.
GET BEHIND COLORADO SCHOOLS!
VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 103!
Proposition 103 is the ONLY state-wide initiative on the ballot this November, and it affects all of Colorado's schools, colleges and universities. In short, a YES vote will restore our taxes to 1999 levels for 5 years and provide much-needed funds to mitigate (and we emphasize mitigate) future cuts to K-12 schools and Colorado's colleges and universities. While this is not a long-term solution to our funding problem, it's the ONLY solution we have to stop the cuts.
Additional information on Proposition 103 can be found on the Great Education Colorado website at www.greateducation.org and on Proposition 103's campaign website www.voteyeson103.com. FAQs can be found HERE.
Cuts and reductions have affected all Colorado K-12 schools. Here's information for the Cherry Creek School District . If you're not in CCSD, go to the campaign website to see how your school district has been affected:
· CCSD funding under the School Finance Act was reduced in 2008-09 by $1.7 million, in 2009-10 by $8.1 million, in 2010-11 by $23.7 million, and for 2011-12 by $47.5 million through a statewide reduction of per pupil funding caused by State revenue shortfalls. This is a cumulative total of $81 million over 4 years.
· Last year for CCSD, because we had made prior cuts that would continue, we were faced with about a $25 million dollar shortfall between revenues and expenditures. Our $25 million dollar solution was a combination of more cuts ($14M) and utilization of reserves ($11).
Colorado's colleges and universities have been affected significantly causing an increase in higher ed tuition of 146% betwe en 2006 and 2010!
You can take action immediately:
1. Sign-Up - Great Ed's website is HERE and you can sign up to get continuous information on education funding.
2. Facebook - Great Education Arapahoe County has a Great Ed Chapter. Go onto our Facebook page now and LIKE us.
3. E-Mail - Forward this e-mail to everyone in your personal data base. Remember that we cannot forward e-mails to any school district e-mails! Please do NOT use PTO Manager to send out any information on Prop 103 either. Only use your personal e-mail data base.
4. Letter Writing - Have a letter-writing party in your home. Great Ed has packets of form letters that we can provide you or you can print out your own. Set a date and time, e-mail your friends, ask them to bring stamps with them, have them over to sign the letters and personalize them a bit, then send them out.
5. Presentations – We have a limited amount of speakers, so we can't promise we can fill every request, but if you'd like a speaker to make a 5-10 minute presentation at your PTO/PTCO/PTA, business group, or your place of worship, provide the date and time and we'll respond quickly.
6. Contact – E-mail Margie Adams for more information, to order letter writing packets or speaking engagements at margieadams@comcast.net
Margie Adams
Chair, Great Education Colorado Board of Directors
Laurie Ritchie
HD37 Chair
303-596-4243
