A brief history of the Coalition for Better Education
January 2004 to May 2005
Brad Handrich, one of the true eagles at the University of Northern Colorado’s College of Education, deserves a great deal of credit for this coalition. He spoke to me shortly after I had given a presentation on the harms and dangers of standardized testing and told me that he was organizing some of his colleagues, aspiring teachers, and that they were going to pursue a website. Brad is a visionary of this new century; I am a wizened old veteran of the past one. We had our common grounds, and we had our differences. However, the coalition and the website came into being at a propitious time - with the advent of ballot initiative #83 in March of 2004. Brad saw to it that the initiative appeared on the website along with our brochure and a sample opt-out letter. While we were petitioning, I took pride in informing the citizenry of the address of our website. That address also appeared on the back of our anti-CSAP buttons.
On August 2, 2004, about twenty-five principled petitioners met at the Office of the Secretary of State to submit our signed petitions. Of course we had nowhere near the required number of signatures. We guessed that we had somewhere around 11,000. (The actual count was 12,485; something we learned three weeks later.) We needed something like 68,000. But no matter, we were going to submit anyway, and make it as much of a news event as possible. Ironically enough, that was the same day that the official CSAP results were released to the media. So, we did get some publicity, and I think we can fairly say that a movement began.
But what to do next? Thoughts were batted around that day in the hallway of the Secretary of State’s Office, and an idea took form: inform the parents of their rights to exempt their children. How can we do that on a cigar box budget? Some inspired activists stepped forward. Carol Carminati with her “NO CSAP” license plate offered to make more anti-CSAP buttons. Laura Manuel volunteered to upgrade the website, and because of her the site is an attractive, vital component of this grass-roots movement. Laura also investigated the possibilities of outdoor advertising with VIACOM. Meg Sandoval Phillips created bumper stickers informing parents to “Just Say No” to CSAP testing. Angela Engel did exhaustive research into the harms and corruptions of this “reform movement” in education, and took her show on the road, making presentations before various parent groups and the legislature’s Joint Education Committee. Elizabeth Gallegos organized two bake sales on the UNC campus. So, funds were raised, bus benches and mall posters went up, parents and the press took notice, and our campaign to inform happened.
Our coalition has caused something of a legislative stir. Representative Judy Solano from Brighton introduced HB 1246 to exempt certain special education students from testing. The bill passed both houses, and as of this writing is awaiting the governor’s signature. But perhaps even more significant is the stir that parents have caused throughout the state. In Aurora, about sixty parents opted their children out of Crawford Elementary School in protest of the elimination of a dual language program. In Bennett the school board threatened to retain a student if she did not take the CSAP. In Greeley, Terri Medina made headline news for opting her daughter out of the testing. In Lakewood, a number of students distributed opt-out letters to parents, and voilá, twenty students were conspicuously absent from testing.
As visionary activist Tim Babbidge said, “These are the icebergs forming in the path of the SS CSAP Titanic.” May they ultimately be the catalyst that restores local control to our schools.
Don Perl
May, 2005