Capitol Coverage – Teachers Rally in Denver

Teachers rallied at the state capitol on Monday asking for more money for K-12 schools and opposing to some changes being proposed to public employee pensions. Bente Birkeland has more…

Michelle Pearson works at Century Middle School in Thornton. She was the Colorado Teacher of the year in 2011.

“We cannot continue to support quality education on the string that we’re doing it right now. We have unfilled jobs. We cannot support our kids.”

Colorado schools are still facing a shortfall even though lawmakers put quite a bit more money into schools this year. Republican Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert says the funding is adequate.

“We are for the 7th time in the eight years I’ve been here we’re increasing the money that we’re giving.”

A bipartisan bill to stabilize public pensions is also under consideration. But there’s still a lot of disagreement on how it will ultimately look especially around issues such as defined contributions. I’m BB at the state capitol.