Boulder Valley is opposing House Bill 1158, which would add requirements around school district use of digital education materials. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Junie Joseph (D-Boulder) and Brandi Bradley (R-Littleton) and has passed out of the House Education Committee.
Bradley is the chairperson of Douglas County's Moms for Liberty chapter. Moms for Liberty bills itself as a parental rights organization and recently was classified by The Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The group has advocated for book bans and the removal of LGBTQ materials from school curriculums.
According to Bradley, the digital materials bill "ensures that digital education materials in public schools are free from harmful advertisements, promotions and embedded links. It protects students from inappropriate content while upholding the integrity of our classrooms."
Boulder Valley President Nicole Rajpal said at a recent school board meeting that Joseph, as a Boulder representative, didn't ask the district for feedback before proposing the bill.
"It doesn't really align with our principles, and it does not align with the fact that we need to fund education adequately before we continue to ask districts to fund more and to provide more," she said.
Rajpal said the bill would require the district to provide notice of any links that are embedded in district education platforms from publishers or in digital media. The bill also requires the Colorado Department of Education to develop a new reporting database to receive complaints regarding contracts with digital collections vendors, but that requirement would be removed under a proposed amendment — in turn removing a state allocation of $43,700.
Joseph, in a written statement, said the goal of the bill is to ensure that "students can focus on learning without unnecessary commercial distractions. By maintaining an academic environment free from such interruptions, we support more effective and focused educational experiences."
She added that she has "heard from many constituents who believe in the intent of this bill to better support our students and keep them focused on learning."
While Boulder Valley isn't taking a position on most education bills this session, the district is closely watching the Legislature's plan for K-12 education spending as Colorado faces a $1 billion budget shortfall. Gov. Jared Polis' budget proposal includes requiring school districts to use a single-year student count rather than the current multi-year average. With enrollment declining in most districts, that change would mean less money.
Boulder Valley officials have said the district could end up with $4.1 million less than expected, which equals 43 employees based on average salaries.
"This is the topic that our community needs to be paying attention to in this legislative session," Superintendent Rob Anderson said at a recent school board meeting. "We need our delegation, we need the entire Legislature, to focus on fixing this budget and holding K-12 harmless like they said they would."
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