Unintended consequences of tax-limit amendments
Re: “Big tax reform on the way?” March 11 news story
Tabor and Gallagher are outmoded ways of funding government. Voters had not considered the unintended consequences when voting for these two amendments. Let us allow our elected representatives do that which we elected them to do: govern and make decisions for us.
Judith Anderson, Lakewood
Time to revise educator effectiveness bill
It’s been nine years since Colorado’s educator effectiveness bill, Senate Bill 191, was passed. Since then, it hasn’t changed once. This is strange.
Why? As a public school teacher, I continually reflect and revise my practices. After each school year, my colleagues and I reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what needs to change. We then revise our curriculum and activities to best support kids the following year. This is what good teaching is all about: reflecting and revising to improve student education.
This legislative session, a bill sponsored by Sen. Tammy Story and backed by the Colorado Education Association will propose minor revisions to SB 191 around how often teachers should be formally evaluated. This bill is the result of teachers reflecting on the law and their classroom experiences and then proposing revisions to improve their practice. Already there is opposition to these revisions. Clearly, the opponents do not know how good teaching works.
Good teachers reflect and revise to improve their practice, which ultimately improves student education. We do it in the classroom for our kids. Why won’t our legislators do it in the Capitol?
Ivan Mayerhofer, Colorado Springs
Eagles killed by green energy too
Re: “Fight for flight,” March 10 news story
I read with interest your front-page story by Bruce Finley about the problems that oil and gas, fracking and residential growth cause for the eagle population and their nests. In the interest of fair disclosure (I know this is hard for you to do on this issue), how about a front-page article on the number of eagles killed each year by alternative energy, i.e. wind turbines and solar panels?
Jon Whitney, Colorado Springs
Diagnosis of autism increasing, not the condition itself
One of my friends, who tends toward the anti-vaxer argument, asked if I thought it was odd that there has been such a dramatic increase in the number of kids diagnosed with autism in recent years. This is my reply:
As a practicing psychotherapist and university professor of psych courses, I am aware that the diagnostic criteria for autism have dramatically changed since the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition (DSM-3) was the standard reference of mental disorders more than 25 years ago. We now have been using the DSM 5 since 2013, which presents autism as a spectrum of disorders with a significantly expanded set of descriptions.
It’s not just about “Rain Man” anymore. Did you know that Anthony Hopkins and Daryl Hannah are both autistic? In addition, there is more testing being done these days at the grade school level to identify kids with any number of mental health diagnoses that have long been overlooked. Therefore, there is no dramatic increase in the actual number of cases, but rather an increase in our ability and motivation to identify kids with these conditions.
Dr. Gene I. Katz, Boulder