Dear Editor,

Please vote “no” on Amendment 31, the amendment proposed by Ron Uniz, a millionaire from California.

This amendment will affect every school in the State of Colorado, because, if it passes, it will remove the option, from parents, from individual schools, and from the school districts themselves, to choose the best way to educate our children. For example, the amendment dictates that only one method be used to teach second-language learners. If that method is not used, not only could superintendents and principals be sued, but teachers could be fired and not allowed to teach in Colorado again for up to five years! And further, teachers would not be permitted to hold a state job or run for public office. If your particular school district even has only one child who is not proficient in English, a separate classroom and a separate teacher to teach that single child for one entire year would have to be provided. Could your school district afford that? By the way, there is NO extra funding provided in this amendment. The funding to implement Amendment 31 will come from your local schools’ budgets, which means a direct hit on your child’s classroom and the quality of education that is provided. It is estimated that $30 million in additional funding will be required to enforce this law. Can Colorado taxpayers afford that?

I live in a small Colorado community with children who attend public school. I also have nieces and nephews who attend Colorado public schools in small districts. If Amendment 31 were to pass, how will these small school districts be able to survive financially? We should all not only be greatly concerned, but also terrified.

Amendment 31 says that all children should be taught in English. No one in the world disagrees with that statement, but it is the communities and their schools who should retain the choice of how it is done. This amendment is so seriously flawed that both the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates oppose it!

Don’t allow local control to be taken away from us by a millionaire from California! Vote “no” on Amendment 31!

For more information, call (720)329-6774 or http://www.no-on-31.org.

Beverly Rasmussen

Edwards