Hal Bidlack
Well, the Colorado primary is in the rear-view mirror (as a kid, did anyone else think it was the “rear-voom mirror? I did). I know you and my editors would like me to write yet another detailed and lengthy analysis of the election results, right? (Editor: not so much.)
Ok, let’s talk about education.
As reported in Colorado Politics, with Gov. Jared Polis’s signature, Colorado has become the first state in the nation to create a “bill of rights” regarding education for students who become entangled in the legal system. I like it when we lead the nation.
As explained in Senate Bill 1216, the bill supports youth in the juvenile justice system. It establishes a bill of educational rights in a number of ways. The bill lists eight specific rights, though it also notes this list is not exhaustive and other rights may well exist.
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The goal is to get these young offenders to stay in school or return to school if they left. The new law requires students who are in the juvenile court to have alternative solutions to a general education, when appropriate, as well as providing for their prompt enrollment in educational programs and appropriate credit for course work completed while the student is, as the bill puts it, “justice-engaged,” which I assume means in custody or other judicial involvement. Currently, we see 66% of youth involved in the justice system dropping out of school before completing high school and only 1% end up getting a college degree.
Now, I can almost hear the eye-rolls of my conservative friends, who want to complain about yet another fuzzy liberal program to help criminals. But it is rather the opposite. Many studies have shown a person’s lack of education increases the likelihood the individual will become involved in crime or other antisocial behaviors. The investment made in education for, say, a first-time 16-year-old offender, will certainly be cheaper than long-term incarceration should that person, as an adult, again become engaged in criminal activity. The bill allocates $82,883 (an odd number to pick?) to kick the program off, and given it costs more than half that amount just to incarcerate a single prisoner for a year in Colorado, if successful the new program will pay for itself almost immediately.
I’m hoping the program will ultimately include trade school education, as we will always need HVAC experts, plumbers, electricians and other skilled tradespeople. I was fortunate enough to have the Air Force pay for my Ph.D., but I will readily admit a person who can fix a leaky pipe or a bad light-switch is more valuable to most Coloradans than anyone with a doctorate.
We live in an odd political era, when the GOP presidential candidate is calling for the halving of the federal Department of Education as well as other cuts to programs that, well, help people who are not rich. And if you are even a bit seduced by the MAGA message, please note it is in your personal benefit to support educational programs. More educated communities have less crime and more employment.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the unemployment rate for those without a high school diploma was 9.6%, far higher than the 3.7% we see nationally. And yet the national rate for those with a bachelor’s degree is even lower, at 2.7%. So, more education, especially to the level of high school graduate, equates to more people paying taxes and not taking federal benefits. So, supporting education for these kids will, over time, put money into the system rather than taking it out, and that’s a good thing.
No doubt the new bill will have its growing pains, and we will learn as we go along how to make the program better and more efficient. That said, the new law seems an excellent and inexpensive starting point. Heck, if it only ends up keeping two kids out of jail, it will pay for its initial costs. But more than that, a program to give kids a shot at a diploma will make our cities safer and the kids involved will have a sense of pride in their accomplishment, and they will face a much brighter future.
Once again, Colorado leads on education, and that is something we can all be proud of.
Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.