Rural schools one step closer to hiring retirees
A bill that would allow rural schools to hire retired teachers whose pensions are covered by Public Employees Retirement Association is only one procedural step away from heading to the governor’s desk.
The measure, sponsored by Reps. Jon Becker of Fort Morgan and Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling, cleared the state Senate recently on a 29-6 vote.
Under the bill, retired school teachers with pensions from the PERA can teach a full school year at rural schools, using definitions of “rural” and “small rural” developed by the Colorado Department of Education. The bill could allow 147 of the state’s 178 school districts to bring in those retirees.
Current PERA rules cap the number of days a retired school teacher can work at 140 days, far short of a full school year for most school districts.
The bill was amended by the Senate Education Committee to limit the program to six years, ending in 2023, rather than in 2028, which was the time allotted in the original bill. Becker said he viewed that change as a “poison pill” amendment — one designed to cause the bill to fail. “Six years is not enough,” he said, adding that it was “yet another attempt to hurt rural teachers.”
The last test the bill must pass is that the House must decide what to do about the Senate amendment. Despite their irritation over the amendment, Becker and his House co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Barbara McLachlan of Durango, both told this reporter they would agree to it in order to get the bill to the governor’s desk.
Becker also said that in six years he would be back with another bill to extend the program.
Bill to raise sales tax dies
A bill to raise the state’s sales tax to pay for part of the state’s $9 billion backlog of fixes to the Colorado roads, highways and for local community transportation needs died in a Senate committee last week. But that doesn’t mean that the matter is dead for the year, with eight ballot measures already filed that could still put the issue in front of voters this November.
The Senate Finance Committee voted along party lines, with Republicans rejecting the bill, on April 25. Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham of Canon City, the bill’s sponsor, had said he did not have the votes from his Republican colleagues to get the bill out of the finance committee, and on that, he was correct. The Republicans’ main objective was the idea of raising the state sales tax to pay for about $3.5 billion in bonds. The sales tax, if approved by voters, would have increased from 29 cents on a $10 purchase to 34 cents on a $10 purchase.
In the meantime, the Colorado Contractors Association has filed six ballot measures that would ask voters for a combination of sales and gas taxes to fund the state’s transportation wish list. The Independence Institute has filed two other measures that would not seek tax increases, but direct the General Assembly to use existing funds.
Although Becker did not vote for the bill when it was in the House because he did not like asking voters for a tax increase, he said he preferred the issue remain with the General Assembly rather than coming to voters through a ballot initiative.
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