DISTRICT COURT, DENVER COUNTY, COLORADO Denver City and County Building EFILED Document 1437 Bannock St. CO Denver County District Court 2nd JD Denver, Colorado 80202 Filing Date: Dec 9 2011 3:54PM MST Filing ID: 41327315 Review Clerk: Rafaelita M Almazan Plaintiffs: ANTHONY LOBATO, et al., and Plaintiff-Intervenors: ARMANDINA ORTEGA, et al. v. ▲ COURT USE ONLY ▲ Defendants: THE STATE OF COLORADO, et al. Case No. 2005CV4794 Div. 424 FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1 FINDINGS OF FACT....................................................................................................................1 I. PARTIES ............................................................................................................................1 A. Individual Plaintiffs...............................................................................................1 B. School District Plaintiffs........................................................................................4 C. Plaintiff-Intervenors………..................................................................................4 D. Defendants..............................................................................................................8 II. A THOROUGH AND UNIFORM SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION..................8 A. The Importance of a Public Education ................................................................8 B. The Meaning of a Thorough and Uniform System of Public Education ........10 C. Education Reform: HB 93-1313 and the Inception of Standards- Based Education...................................................................................................12 D. Education Reform: The Expansion of Content Standards and Assessments ..........................................................................................................15 E. Education Reform: School District Accountability and Accreditation .........15 F. Education Reform: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001............................17 G. Education Reform: The Preschool to Postsecondary Education Alignment Act (CAP4K)......................................................................................20 H. Education Reform: The Education Accountability Act of 2009.....................25 I. Education Reform: The Educator Effectiveness Act of 2010 (SB 10-191)............................................................................................................29 J. Summary...............................................................................................................29 III. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE SYSTEM ............................................................30 A. The Public School Finance Act of 1994: Total Program Funding..................30 B. The Public School Finance Act of 1994: State and Local Share.....................32 C. The Public School Finance Act of 1994: Override Mill Levies.......................32 D. Categorical Program Funding............................................................................34 E. Capital Construction Funding; Bonded Indebtedness .....................................34 F. Declining Enrollment...........................................................................................35 G. Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) ......................................35 IV. ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SCHOOL FINANCE SYSTEM AND A THOROUGH AND UNIFORM SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................35 V. UNDERFUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION...........................................................40 A. The APA Study: General....................................................................................40 B. The APA Study: The Successful School District Approach............................42 C. The APA Study: The Professional Judgment Approach ................................42 D. The APA Study: Conclusions.............................................................................43 i E. Costing-out Estimates by Voreta Herrmann.....................................................45 F. Underfunding of the Colorado Department of Education ...............................45 G. Gifts, Grants and Donations ...............................................................................46 H. CAP4K Funding...................................................................................................48 I. SB 191 Funding ....................................................................................................48 VII. SCHOOL FUNDING LEVELS HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON EDUCATIONAL QUALITY..........................................................................................49 VIII. COLORADO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ...............................................................54 A. Student Achievement Levels ...............................................................................55 B. Achievement Gap.................................................................................................56 C. Graduation Rates.................................................................................................57 D. Post-secondary and College Readiness ..............................................................57 IX. FACTORS THAT IMPACT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT .......................................59 A. Plaintiffs’ Expert Witness, Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond...............................59 B. Teacher Quality....................................................................................................60 C. Professional Development ...................................................................................62 D. Class Size...............................................................................................................64 X. LOCAL CONTROL OF INSTRUCTION ....................................................................65 XI. SPECIAL STUDENT POPULATIONS: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................65 A. Trial Witnesses.....................................................................................................65 B. Impacts of Preschool Education .........................................................................66 C. Characteristics of Effective Preschool Programs..............................................68 D. Colorado’s Preschool Program...........................................................................69 E. Full-Day Kindergarten ........................................................................................74 F. Early Childhood Conclusions and Recommendations .....................................76 XII. SPECIAL STUDENT POPULATIONS: SPECIAL EDUCATION ..........................77 A. Plaintiffs’ Witnesses.............................................................................................77 B. Background..........................................................................................................78 C. Special Education Funding .................................................................................80 D. Achievement of Students with Disabilities.........................................................84 E. State and District Compliance with IDEA Requirements................................85 F. Response to Intervention.....................................................................................87 G. Personnel Shortages.............................................................................................87 H. Charter Schools....................................................................................................88 I. CDE Support ........................................................................................................88 J. Other Special Needs Issues..................................................................................88 XIII. SPECIAL STUDENT POPULATIONS: GIFTED AND TALENTED EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................89 ii A. Background ..........................................................................................................89 B. Gifted and Talented Funding..............................................................................89 C. Achievement of Gifted and Talented Students..................................................90 D. Results of State Monitoring.................................................................................91 E. Personnel...............................................................................................................91 F. CDE Support ........................................................................................................92 XIV. SPECIAL STUDENT POPULATIONS: ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS......................................................................................................................92 A. Background ..........................................................................................................92 B. Legal Requirements Regarding English Language Learning .........................92 C. Research on Effective English Language Learning Programs........................93 D. English Language Learner Funding ..................................................................94