Right now, we're going to talk about some ignorance lying around about the proposed Amendment number eighty. Joining me now is Christy Burton Brown with Advanced Colorado. Also side note, she's also running for the Board of Education in the fourth district. And I already voted for you or her, So there you go. My secret ballot is out now Christy, welcome to the show.
First of all, thank you, Mandy, I appreciate it.
Andrew vote, Well, we're going to talk first about the Amendment eighty, which is a school choice amendment and Advanced Colorado and what other organization put this forth? It just went out of my head.
Actually we are the organization of posts. Okay, so we have a good coalition supporting it.
Okay, great, So Advanced Colorado puts this forth. It is a very simply worded amendment and that I think is part of its beauty but also part of the issues that have arisen, or at least issues that have been seized on by people who don't want this to pass. And I want to start by talking about where are the money's coming from on the anti side, Kelly, because now, no, let's not start there. Tell people what amendment eighty does, and why it's important that it passes first, Let's start.
There, sure your right, Mandy, that is actually completely simple. Out of all the fourteen measures on your ballot, Amendment eighty is basic. It is putting the right to school choice we've enjoyed in Colorado for decades in our constitution so that it's no longer at the mercy of politicians who can change it whenever they want.
So the purpose of this is to push back against the sort of shifting tides in Colorado because Colorado, and I talked to my listeners about this earlier, Christy, Colorado was really at the forefront of the school choice movement many years ago, and because of that, we have a vibrant charter school community. We have a vibrant home school community with great supports, but they are outside the control of the teachers union. And that's what brings us to
who's spending against Amendment eighty. Is it all coming from teachers unions or there are other people trying to get this defeated.
So it is almost entirely coming from the teachers Union. And what I think people really need to know is that it's the National Teachers Union who's funding the majority of the campaign, putting those ads on your TV and lying about an amendment eighty. As of a few days ago, the National Teachers Union had put in over four million dollars, and the other roughly million dollars that they have has come from in a state, the Colorado Teachers Union and
a couple other organizations that smaller amounts. But it really is National Teachers Union doesn't understand our system here in Colorado, doesn't know how popular it is, aligned to voters telling them this is threatening public school funding when the Colorado Fiscal note by a non partisan government agency say this is zero dollar fiscal impact. This is not a funding amendment.
So one of the things I want to take a little bit of a different tact than you just did. I do believe that the teachers unions know how popular this is. I do believe that they understand that we have a vibrant charter school system and they absolutely hate it.
And even though all of the people who voted for school choice and all of the people who have supported charter schools in Colorado over the years, they've all moved on right because they have jobs and families and they figure it's done so we don't have to worry about it anymore, whereas the teachers' unions never stop thinking about how to undermine and destroy a parent's option to choose the educational opportunity for their kid that best fits that kid,
which is at the heart of this amendment. I do want to ask them, yeah, oh go ahead.
I was just going to say, and I agree with you that their motives are very interfarious when you look at what they do. They like to come in from any you know, from their national high place, and come into any state and say, doesn't matter what you guys think of your system, right, hate it, and so we're going to fight it.
So let me ask you about some of the criticisms that have been levied against Amendment eighty And the biggest, most common one that I have heard from kind of a surprising place is from homeschoolers or charter school parents who say, wait a minute, does this give the government any way to sort of snaggle their way in under the guise of quote ensuring equality education.
Sure, and I've heard that's concerned as well, and I think it comes from a good motive, but it's misplaced when you look at that amendment eighty. It is like the fact is the legislature could meet tomorrow in their next session and put any restrictions on our rights to school choice that they want to. They don't need our
permission to do that. And that, in fact, is the exact reason we need Amendment eighty is because you tell politicians to get their hands off your rights when you put them in the constitution, because only the voters in Colorado can change the constitution, not the legislature. So you know the language, the operative language, this is very simple. It is the right to school choice. And parents always exercise rights in Colorado on behalf of their children, so
that's also very clear. Even though the right to school choice is being given to every case through twelve child, the purpose language also says parent and have the right to direct the education of their child. That's an general precedent Colorado camp violate. So that's immense parental rights and school choice rights in our constitutions.
This to me should be a no brainer, I mean honestly, but is it enough of an issue to get people to say, yeah, we need to put this in our constitution. I mean, I know that we have a large chunk of our children for any state. We have a pretty good chunk of our children in charter schools. I know that out of the top ten most successful schools in the state, a good chunk of those are charter schools or private schools. I think there's only one public high
school in the top ten. So I mean, I'm just afraid there's complacency and people saying, look, why do we need this, why do we need this now after we have this vibrant system already?
Sure and media, I actually think you're right that people tend to get complacent when you have rights that are currently protected and you're not seeing the attacks coming on the horizon. Where we work in the education issue every day and we see what the legislature is proposing and that they're trying to, in their own words, attempts to create the beginning of the end for charter schools. In Colorado, we have the second highest population in the nation of
charter school students. But I think a good relation that people can see is to property taxes. Before our property tax spike that happened last year, there was actually an amendment on the ballot that would have stopped whose spikes from happening and replaced Gallagher with something effective, and voters voted it down because they weren't feeling the effect of
high property taxes. And now that this year you saw everyone in the really have said about it and wanted to fix I hope the same thing doesn't happen to school choice. That people are like, well, we have the rights, we like them, why put them in the constitution. And then two years from now we see major attacks succeed against school choice rights, and then people are like, oh, shoot, we should have passed it. Like we're basically saying, be proactive.
If you like the rights you have on school choice, get ahead of the politicians, put them in the constitution. Don't leave yourself at their mercy.
And one of the things that I think people don't necessarily pay attention to is the Board of Education in Colorado. And people may not realize that if you are in the Boulder Valley School District, your chances of getting a charter school approved are very very low. So the option to go and become a charter school under the Board of Education to get around from anti charter union controlled school boards is a huge thing that has to remain.
But it's my understanding and maybe you can correct me if you're wrong, since you're running for the Board of Education. The makeup of the Board of Education has changed in such a way that puts those new approvals through the state perhaps at risk. Is that accurate?
Yesinitely, Actually all going to depend on the election this November, because right now, even though it's a six ' to three Democrat majority on the board, it's full of five
to four pro charter majority. But because what happened in one of the Democrat primaries this year, it's set up to be an anti charter board unless Yasmin Navarro and CD eight when the Board of Ed seed if she wins, there's still one Democrat on the board who's pro school choice, in pro charter, who could still have a pro charter majority if Yasmin wins.
You know, Christy, it's kind of crazy to me that this has become so politicized on the Republican and Democrats side, because there's an organization called Democrats for School Choice. So this didn't used to be a highly politicized issue. When did that happen? I mean, when did we go from everybody saying, look, we want every kid to succeed and we want parents who know their kids better than anybody else to help them succeed. And yet here we are
still having this conversation. When did that shift take place?
You know, I think, honestly, Mandy, it has been a shift among to your point, elected Democrats, not Democrats on the ground when we've been pulling this issue. Their support for school choice and keeping those rights in the constitution, you know, a majority among all political parties. And that's true across the nation because parents belong to all political
parties and want their kids to succeed. But I'd say it about the last ten years in Colorado, the Democrat Party has elected more people who are anti charter school, anti choice, and you know, want to in my opinion, they're leaving minority students, economically disadvantaged students in sailing schools and saying you're stuck there. Too bad for you, this is the only system you can choose, and studies actually
show that's what's going on. You know, when people like that get elected to office, and so Amendment eighty gives people on the ground, like Democrats on the street, who don't feel that way, who want to make sure kids from those kind of families are most vulnerable. Kids have the option to go to a better and different school. That's what Amendment eighty would cement and kind of put back on these politicians that just aren't representing what people in their party actually think.
Well, let me read this text message I just got and people can text the Common Spirit Health text line at five six six. And I know if you have questions for Christy Mandy, the commercials against ad have said that it may take money away from public education. I know my wife voted against it for that reason. Can you go through that?
Sure? And you know that is what the ads are saying. They're telling people this is going to put public school funding at risk. The problem is that's a lie. And the way you can know that, if you're like I don't know which campaign to believe, they read the Colorado Blue Book that is put together by non partisan analysts that always do a fiscal impact statement, which says, basically, how much is this measure going to cost us? Zero dollars.
That's not from our campaign, that's from the Union. That is from non partison analysts who works for the state of Colorado, and they say there is no cost associated with this amendment. So I think people need to get to get the facts for themselves, because again, those ads on TV are being funded by the National Teachers Union. That's straight up line to voters and the union ad debates.
I've debated them a couple of times. They acknowledge at the debates, well, no, it's true, this isn't a voucher. There is actually no funding, but maybe one day there could be. So they actually acknowledge in person that the suggestion this causes or sorry, cost money to voters is a lie.
Well, now done a really good job just conflating a school choice with vouchers. Right, They've demonized vouchers, So now the move is to tie those two things together as if they are the same when they are not. Now, I personally am pro voucher, but I think that's going to be one of those things that you are going to have to get a lot of buy in from a lot of different people before you can even attempt it in a state. It can't be done at the
district level. It's got to be done at the state level, and it's going to require a lot of conversation and talking, and you cannot inflict that on people and expect it not to just end up in the courts for decades, you know what I mean, It's like vouchers. I love the idea, but the practicality of it, I have it on the back burner. I just want to make sure that parents can choose the best option for their kids. That's all I want out of this entire.
Thing, exactly, Mandy and I think, and that's what we're doing in Amendment eighty. You know, I think if you're realistic about where we are in Colorado right now, and where we are in Colorado right now is a system that has been enjoyed and celebrated protected on a biperson basis for decades that you get to pick the best school for your kids. And in Colorado, if you want to put them in private school or homeschool, then, like my husband and I do, you've got to pay for
that yourself. And then the eighty wouldn't change that. But what it does say is the government can't interfere with those rights. The government can't say, oh, sorry, we're going to close down the charter school in your districts because we don't like the enrollment numbers. That's as a local school doesn't matter the charter school succeeding. We want to close it down right now, they can do that in Colorado.
You know, they could ban open enrollment if they want to, which is actually used by a lot of families in Colorado to cross district lines go to a better school for their kids. Then the legislature can dam that next session if they want to. The only way to stop that is to put those rights in the constitution, which is very simply what in an eighty does without impacting fundings.
A lot of textures asking a variation of this question, Mandy, I heard this would allow funding of private schools by using tax money. Does it do that?
Absolutely not, absolutely not, And that is what the Union is spending millions of dollars saying on TV to people. And it is an absolute why. And again people can look at the blue books take take non partisan analysts from the state's word for it. I mean, the state is no. The current state is no fan of any conservative issue. If this were going to cost money to public schools, they would say so. They put fiscal impacts on every measure, and they have said the fiscal impact
is zero dollars. You cannot get less funding than a zero dollar fiscal impact. To no, this is not a voucher. It's not a funding program. Would not take money from public schools and put them into private.
This person said Mandy. The concerns I'm reading from homeschoolers is that the amendment says quality education. The concern is who determines what is a quality education. They're afraid that the government will decide exactly what that means. Can you ask Christy if there's a possibility that the government can decide how homeschoolers are taught?
Sure, great question, And I would say right now, the government could meet in next legislative session and put any restriction it wanted to on homeschooling families. It doesn't need anyone's permission or a new law to do that. That puts us, you know, if you are a homeschooler, and I am a homeschooler and a homeschool grad, Actually that puts us in a very scary situation where it's a mercy of politicians who can restrict us tomorrow if they
want to so. And then an ad on the other hand, would actually put the right to homeschool your kids as a school choice option in the Colorado Constitution. You cannot have greater protection from the winds of politicians than putting that right in the Colorado Constitution. The quality language that some homeschoolers are getting a little bit hung up on, which I understand, is actually in the purpose language. And it's really really important that people understand the difference in
purpose language and operative language. Operative language is the law, that's the language that establishes the right to school choice in our constitution. The purpose language basically answers, why are we doing this, or we're doing this because every kid should have access to quality education. But that is not part of the actual law here, and so no, it does not give the government any for permission to mess with education standards in Colorado.
I guess when I just heard you say that this legislative session, the legislature could simply pass a law banning homeschooling. That never occurred to me until right now.
I think the homeschool group are missing that hugely, which you know, I'm a homeschooler, so that that Bob and me, they're completely ignoring that. I saw an email from them saying, let's just be vigilant and defend the rights we currently have. At the legislature. The legislature doesn't listen to homeschoolers. They don't care what we say. They could absolutely restrict and
ban whatever they want next session. And the only way to protect that is to put our right to homeschool in the constitution.
All right, we're talking about Amendment eighty with Christy Burton Brown, also a candidate for the fourth District for the Board of Education. This is a critically important amendment to do exactly what Christy just said. This is going and let's be clear, Christie, there's no and people don't often understand this. We will pass let's see Amendment eighty passes. What we've passed is essentially the skeleton framework of what this is
actually going to mean. And then they're going to pass laws, and then there's going to be lawsuits, and then they're going to put the meat on the bones of this amendment. So if we're worried about things like quality education, there are ways to address that going forward. As the meat gets put on the bones of this entire situation.
Sure, and you know it's not what people are worried about, they can certainly involve themselves in any discussions later that may happen. I do think that people do need to understand, like this is a constitutional right, like the freedom to speech, like the freedom of religion that we have in the US Constitution. Are there lawsuits that go on about those rights all the time? Sure there are. You know, people
sue over rights to make sure they're protected. But that doesn't change the fact that we should have those fundamental rights present in our constitution. So that we're putting the government on notice you can no longer interfere with our right to school choice. Here in Colorado, every family gets to make the best choice for their child. You can't block access.
Christy Burton Brown is my guest, Christy Burton. I know we're talking about the amendment. Well, why don't you give your sales pitch of why people should vote for you for the fourth Congressional District Board of Education seat.
Oh thanks, Mandy. I am running to give parents a voice to empower parents. You should be able to pick any kind of school that you want for your child, and I don't think the state Board of Education should block your access to doing that. So that's one of the fights I'll engage with on the state Board. I'll support charter schools and people's choice. So that's the kind
of voice we need. Also, I have school aged kids, and no one who's going to be on the board next year right now has school age kids, and I think that's also an important voice we need on the board.
I agree, Christy. Thank you so much for making time for us today.
Thank you, Mandy all Right,