Aurora Public Schools cancels classes Thursday for rally at State Capitol
AURORA Colo, (KDVR) — Several large school districts are canceling classes, impacting nearly 200,000 schools kids across the Denver metro area.
Teachers plan to attend a rally at the state Capitol to make their voices heard and 'prevent state legislators from cutting public education funding to balance their budget.'
Full list: These Colorado school districts canceled class Thursday due to staff shortages
Aurora Public Schools, Boulder Valley School District, Adams 12 and several Denver Public Schools announced they can't hold classes while teachers take the day off to protest budget cuts.
'I think people are tired of having to just get by,' said Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association.'Or live with less at the expense of other people living very well.'
He said he wants to make sure people remember that education has been taking cuts for the last 15 years.
'We have done so to the tune of $11 billion in this state,' he said.
It's the reason Aurora Public Schools is the latest school district to cancel classes Thursday.
The district sent a statement Friday evening reading in part, 'While our primary goal is to always keep our schools open, due to a large number of staff members who have reported absences we will unfortunately need to close schools tomorrow.'
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'I think it's a very baffling decision. It's clearly putting the interest of adults over the interest of children. We know that here in Colorado as nationwide our students continue to struggle academically since the pandemic,' said Brenda Dickhoner, president & CEO of Ready Colorado.
Dickhoner says Colorado has some of the shortest school years in the country.
'It also puts parents in a really difficult decision to find childcare to take a day off from work all for what,' Dickhoner asked, 'For a rally?'
She also mentioned she was on a task force where a bipartisan law invested $500 million in K-12 schools.
'It also directs that funding to kids who need it most. To our at-risk students and our English language learners, but that was not enough,' said Dickhoner. 'So, now they're asking for more money.'
Vick said, 'That comes at the expense of other districts. So, what happens is there is basically a transfer of money from one district to others. So it created a situation where we have districts that do gain, but there are a number of districts and huge percentage of students in the district who will lose funding.'
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Vick says the rally does not come as a surprise and it wasn't a sudden action. He said CEA has been working with districts and open about their plans for some time.
The rally is scheduled to take place at the state Capitol starting at 11:30 a.m.
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