The future of our state depends on our current education system. Reductions in funding of our schools hurts us now, and really hurts us 20 years later when our youngest children graduate from the system. Without a priority focus on improved education, we will not be able to graduate students able to compete in the global market. Our citizens are most valuable asset, and education is how we can best invest in our future.

My priorities for Education include:

• Fully-funded full-day kindergarten for all
• Access to more preschool opportunities
• Focus on early-childhood literacy
• Financial savings by reductions in unnecessary CSAP testing
• Better pay for quality teachers
• Reductions in class sizes
• Development of critical thinking skills
• Encouragement of parental involvement
• Enhanced, individualized opportunities for gifted and special needs children
• Improved access to state universities for qualified students
• Expansion of access to trade and vocational schools
• Higher education scholarship programs based on state service commitments (service-based scholarships for future teachers, doctors, nurses, etc.)
• Distance-learning programs to increase availability of advanced subjects in rural Colorado

Many of my most influential role models in my life have been my teachers. I was privileged to attend one of the most advanced public schools in the country, NCSSM, as a high school student and cherish that opportunity. That was in North Carolina, but I believe Colorado has the potential to deliver even more.