1-Color
March 13, 2014
75 cents Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 122, Issue 19 A publication of
douglascountynewspress.net
District survey still being weighed School leaders say implementation must be carefully considered By Jane Reuter
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com Community members repeatedly have requested a return of the once-annual Douglas County School District parent and employee surveys.
School board president Kevin Larsen recently said the idea is not off the table, but that it must be thoroughly examined. A parent survey has not been done since 2012, and DCSD discounted those results as too small to be statistically valid. Some parents believe the surveys are needed to gauge community satisfaction with the district’s policies and direction, and they again asked for their return during the March 3 Board Unplugged meeting at Parker’s Cimarron Middle School. “It’s something I think we could look at,”
Larsen said after the meeting. “To just say we’re going to do a survey, I think that’s got to be very carefully considered. How do we do that so the results we get from it truly represent the whole community and have meaningful, valid results we can base some things on? It really needs to be cross sectional, representative of everybody’s viewpoints.” Larsen also noted the board was elected based on an education reform platform, and a survey’s results likely wouldn’t prompt a change in direction.
He also said the key components of DCSD’s education reform — including pay-forperformance, the market-based pay scale and other policies — already are in place. “I don’t think we’re going to be dealing with so many changes,” he said. “We’re trying to just refine what we’ve already laid out.” Regardless, the Strong Schools Coalition is among many who continue to advocate for a survey. Coalition president Laura Survey continues on Page 9
Child care tax credit advances Bill aims to help low-income families with child care costs By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Bob Lowenberg, a retired history teacher and author, is shown during a past effort to measure the City Hotel building. Measuring is one of the many things one needs to do when applying for placement on the Endangered Places list. Photo by Virginia Grantier
Preservation sought for city hotel Town’s oldest building misses ‘endangered places’ list; historic board to apply, again By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia. com
Castle Rock’s City Hotel, the town’s oldest building, as it looked around 1900. Photo courtesy of the Douglas County History Research Center POSTAL ADDRESS
news-press
Local historians continue to worry about the future of Castle Rock’s oldest building. The circa-1872 City Hotel, at 415 Perry St. — a two-story wooden building with peeling paint and major structural problems, stands out in an area of mainly upscale shops and restaurants. The question is whether it will continue to be preserved. The hotel didn’t make this year’s list of endangered places in Colorado, compiled by Colorado Preservation Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides expertise, grant-writing and other assistance to help save and renovate places on the list.
Low-income families who struggle to pay for child care could get some relief, under a Democrat-sponsored bill that cleared its first legislative hurdle on March 5. But Republicans on the House Finance Committee called the effort a “Band Aid” approach to a problem that they believe is not up to government to solve. House Bill 1072 would create child care tax credits to families who make less than $25,000 a year in federally-adjusted gross income. The credit would be equal to 25 percent of a taxpayer’s child care expenses. The new credit — which is capped at $1,000 — would only be available to those who do not qualify for existing child care tax credits that are tied to federal returns. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, a bill sponsor, told the committee that parents in poverty often face two choices — either give up their career endeavors to take care of their children or use a large portion of their incomes to pay for child care. “This bill will increase self-sufficiency by allowing parents to stay in the workforce,” Pettersen said. “Our child care expenses are one of the most expensive in the nation.” Marlana Wallace of the Colorado Fiscal Institute, a nonpartisan economic think tank that supports the legislation, said that Colorado ranks as the fifth least affordable state for infant care and that child care costs often soak up as much as half of a lowincome family’s income. Only those who support the legislation provided testimony, including Megan Smith, an Alamosa single mother of a 7-year-old child. Smith said she moved to Colorado from Chicago to attend Adams State University five years ago and that she initially struggled to pay for child care. Smith said that she now has a good-paying job with the university and currently wouldn’t qualify for the tax credit. She told committee members that she remembers what it was like to struggle and that she
Hotel continues on Page 9
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Care continues on Page 5
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