Education is the cornerstone of any thriving society and of our democracy. It empowers individuals, fosters equality, results in innovation, inspires debate, creates culture, and provides opportunities for financial growth. A strong education system ensures that future generations, regardless of their background, have access to the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in life. At the same time, educational opportunities must be accessible to non-traditional learners, ensuring that everybody has equal access to knowledge and skills that will promote stability.

• Inhibit charter school growth. Charter schools lack transparency, exhaust public resources without being subject to the same accountability and exacerbate inequality, with little evidence that they do a better job teaching our children than public schools. We need to revise the laws governing charter schools to require more oversight and regulation or to eliminate their excess public funding.

• Invest in public education. There is only one way to significantly improve our education system, and that is to attract and retain talented educators and reduce class size. We should supplement funding by municipal school districts through match grants and other subsidies. We need to fund public community colleges, trade and vocational schools, and the state college systems, with the ultimate goal of making many of these programs more affordable or free.  

• Provide more educational opportunities during the summer. Research shows that long summer breaks result in educational inequalities disproportionally impacting economically disadvantaged communities. Although some programming exists, we need to fund a significant increase in summer educational activities and programs.

• Develop clear standards for mitigating bullying. Bullying creates significant obstacles to equal educational opportunities for students, and often leads to lifelong adverse health, educational, and financial impacts on affected students. We need to pass stricter standards for investigating, tracking, and responding to bullying and harassment, and provide for recovery by victims of emotional distress damages under Colorado law.