All through the Prop 103 debates, lead sponsor state Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) loved to wax on about how he was doing it "for the kids." It's a common refrain heard from those on the left over the years who want to demagogue spending issues, especially pertaining to education. Yet when time came to allow parents the ability to protect their children from sexual predators, the Democrats in the Legislature lined up behind the interests of the teachers unions, not the children.
The Denver Post's Sara Burnett reports:
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday shot down a State Board of Education rule requiring school districts to notify parents when a district employee is arrested or charged with certain crimes.
Lawmakers said the state board did not have the authority to issue the rule, which gives school districts 24 hours to alert parents after learning that an employee has been arrested or charged with any felony or some misdemeanors. Those charges include misdemeanor sex assault, child abuse or driving under the influence if the employee's job includes transporting children.
We can see the outside group ads now…DEMOCRATS VOTE TO STOP PARENTS FROM KNOWING ABOUT SEXUAL PREDATORS TEACHING THEIR CHILDREN.
The bone-brained move even earned the Democrats on the committee, including Senator John Morse, a rebuke from The Denver Post editorial board. From the editorial:
Colorado parents ought to know when their child's teacher stands accused of a serious crime, particularly one involving allegations of wrongdoing against children.
The action Thursday by a committee of legislators to let such a notification requirement expire was unfortunate.
This is a time when there is absolutely no way for Democrats to excuse their support of a teacher's union legislative priority as actually support "for the kids."
Their vote helps keep parents in the dark about dangerous and illegal activities of adults responsible for their children.
We can't think of any voters, outside hardcore union hacks, who support that.
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For more on this controversy, check out the podcast from Grassroots Radio yesterday, where they had State Board of Education member Bob Schaffer, who crafted the rule Democrats blocked, on to talk about the monumentally bad decision to block the rule.
Jerry Sandusky is a Republican. He doesn't hate kids – he LOVES them – A LOT. Good thing he isn't a Democrat, huh?
which means it won’t be of interest to any of the witch hunters at this blog, is whether the statement – “Lawmakers said the state board did not have the authority to issue the rule…” – is true.
If it is and you’re making a stink, it’s because you hate our constitution and our American way of life. It’s unfortunate that that’s synonymous with “Republican” today.
to require school district to notify parents, then who the hell does?
As far as I can tell, the best thing you can say about the public school system in Colorado is, when a predator of children is discovered in its ranks, no one tries to cover it up. Apparently that may be changing.
yes the legislature can allow rules to be sunsetted, but this is not unlike Joyce Foster a few years ago trying to create more lax rules for rapists, such as her brother-in-law. Do Democrats really need to have explained to them why parent’s may be interested in school employee’s arrests?
This is one of those issues which show how beholden Democrats are to teacher’s unions. This shouldn’t even be a partisan consideration.
I’ll just take your comments as, “I don’t know.”