Education is Opportunity
“One of the greatest barriers of the average family to the good life is access to education beyond high school.”
Gov. Roy Romer, State-of-the-State, 1998
Throughout his elected service, Gov. Romer focused intently on education because he believed in its fundamental power to transform lives and create opportunity. Many of his goals, from his first service in the Colorado House of Representatives to his final days as Colorado’s Governor, to his six years as Superintendent of Schools for the Los Angeles Unified School District were focused on making education work better for children, families and adults advancing their careers.
Hear from some of the people who worked on these pivotal issues.
Quality early childhood education and child care
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With the help of his wife, Bea Miller Romer, Gov. Romer brought one of the first Head Start programs in the nation to Denver in 1965.
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Also in partnership with First Lady Bea Miller Romer, Gov. Romer’s administration was credited as the epicenter for what at the time were cutting-edge improvements to early childhood education and specifically for children from birth to three years of age as well as opportunities for young children who were the most likely to fall through the cracks.
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The Romer administration put considerable emphasis on quality early childhood education and child care, including creating the first professional standards for early childhood educators, creating the first Child Care Tax Credit for families and directing significant resources to rural counties to build or renovate child care facilities. With a taskforce of experts from across the state, Bea stewarded the development of the “First Impressions” initiative which focused on then unprecedented concepts in early childhood education such as the value of preschool to young, developing minds, the critical role of fathers as caregivers, the need to better support families who were struggling and the importance of investment in early childhood education as an investment in the future.
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The capstone of early childhood work in the Romer administration was legislation that created the Colorado Preschool Project, today the Colorado Preschool Program. This initiative improved and made more accessible high-quality childcare and early childhood education. That work continues to underpin early childhood education in Colorado.
K-12 education
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The Romer administration instituted standards-based education and state testing with the aim of giving teachers the support they need to evaluate student growth and ongoing needs, as well as areas of improvement for their professional development.
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Gov. Romer supported and signed legislation that allowed parents to send their children – at no cost – to any public school in their district or the state. In addition, he ushered in charter schools, making Colorado one of the first states in the nation to do so.
Higher education
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Roy Romer carried the initial legislation to create Metropolitan State University and the Auraria Campus, ensuring it ultimately passed and a more affordable and flexible path to a university degree was available to all Coloradans.
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Committed to the idea that a degree in higher education should be about demonstration of competency, not time sitting in a seat, Gov. Romer joined then Utah Governor Mike Leavitt to create Western Governors University, a first-of-its-kind online institution that continues to provide an affordable, performance-based educational path to thousands each year.