The LWVD Newsletter
October 2024 | Denver Ballot Issues Briefings
Both in Person at Montview Blvd. Presbyterian Church
Tuesday, October 1
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m
(Note earlier time because of the vice-presidential debate)
 Please plan to attend a briefing we are co-hosting with Colorado Social Legislation Committee about the local issues that will be on the November ballot. The Leaguers who did the research on each ballot issue will present the main provisions, background, and what a yes/no vote means. By attending the briefing, you will learn more about the ballot issues and be a good resource for friends and family.
See all the details in our 2024 Denver Ballot Issues: What a Yes or No Vote Means (formally called the Pro/Con brochure) on our website. Again, please plan to distribute our ever popular guide widely. Consider sending a link email to friends! Contact the office if you would like printed versions to distribute.
The Board met on September 16, to determine if the LWVD would support, oppose or take no position on the ten Denver ballot issues. After a consensus process, LWVD supports five of the issues based on either our established local positions or state/national positions. For the rest there were no relevant local, state, or national LWV positions to allow a position. 2024 Denver Ballot Issues - Where LWVD Stands
For a more in-depth understanding of the Background and Major Provisions of each ballot issue, please refer to the 2024 Denver Ballot Issues: What A Yes or Not Vote Means on our website, lwvdenver.org, or in the printed version.
Tuesday, October 15
5:00 p.m - Social Time
5:30 p.m. - Presentation Begins
Maud Naroll, Co-Director, Action & Advocacy, League of Women Voters of Colorado, will take us through all 14 statewide ballot issues. There will be more time for discussion of the school choice, alternative voting, removal of the marriage ban, and funding for law enforcement issues that present complexities or represent League positions.
Consider coming between 5:00 and 5:15 p.m. to socialize with fellow members and guests. Light refreshments will be provided
You can find the State-wide ballot issues on the LWVCO website.
Don't forget about the valuable League resource, Vote411, when you are getting ready to vote or helping others navigate the voting process.
| Voter Service - Busy Fall Election Season
Voter Registration – Events almost every day!
And sometimes two events in one day! Thank you to the many circulator volunteers. We have visited a variety of locations from the Denver Indian Center, to numerous Denver Health Clinics, to Movement Climbing Gyms!
One of our circulators, Mark Burger, founder and executive director of the East Denver Origami Society (EDOS), developed an origami bird with the QR code for the Secretary of State’s website – GoVoteColorado.gov. You can find more about the EDOS here. In addition to voting buttons from our Youth Council, these paper birds (see below) have been a great addition to our voter registration tables.
In order to engage younger voters, the League of Women Voters of Denver now has a TikTok account. If you or someone you know has the social media app, have them follow League of Women Voters of Denver. This online presence is in addition to our Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Ballot Issue Guides (formally our Pro/Con Brochure)
We expect to have 3000 copies available by late September and encourage all members to help with distribution. There will also be Spanish ballot guides. Please let us know if you have a club or community group or residence where you can hand them out. We will soon have Information on the state ballots to hand out as well. For copies to distribute, you can visit the office (call for available times) or email Lisa Haddox at lisa.m.haddox@gmail.com.The information will be on the LWV Denver website (lwvdenver.org), and you can find information on the state ballots on the LWVColorado website.
Diane Young
Speakers Bureau
We have a team of speakers who have volunteered to present information on the Denver Ballot Issues to community groups, residential facilities, etc. To request a speaker, email Lisa Haddox at lisa.m.haddox@gmail.com. | Thanks to the Ballot Issue Team
Ten ballot issues on the Denver ballot this year made for a challenging time for the ballot issue researchers, writers, editors and layout team.
Thanks to Sally Augden, Lis Brown, Katie Brennan, Emily Meyer, Geoff Withers, Diane Young and Neal Zelarney who spent many hours gathering information about their assigned issues and writing them up. Anne Duncan did a great job of editing and paring the information down to better fit in the ballot issue pamphlet. Pearlanne Zelarney got it all in the right format and sent to the printer as well as posting on the LWV Denver website. We will have a Spanish translation as well.
Diane Young
Editors' Note: This was an amazing coordination effort by Diane Young. We all owe her our special thanks!
| Ballot Issue Presentation Online
On Saturday, September 14, the LWV, Channel 8 (Denver Decides), INC (Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation and the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association hosted pro and con speakers for five of the most contested issues on the ballot. We will let you know when they will be shown on Channel 8. Meanwhile, you can view it here.
Diane Young | Thank you, Frances Natividad Coleman
 We were sorry to learn in August that our office manager of almost six years was resigning to take a full-time job with Denver Public Schools. Fran will be helping nurses with their records while they work with medically fragile children.
When we saw her three-page resume in December 2019 and knew of her four terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, we knew we had a candidate who would know a great deal about civic engagement. It was also a plus that she is fluent in Spanish. We are sorry to see her leave, and we thank her for the work she did the last few weeks to make the transition easier for the new office manager. Fran assures us she will retain her League membership, and we certainly wish her the best.
We’re Hiring
So that brings us to our need for a new office manager. The detailed description of the person we are looking for is on our website (LWVDenver.org) under Home. It would be a plus if s(he) were a League member, although that is not a requirement. We wanted to let all our members know of this situation, thinking perhaps you or someone you know might be interested.
It is a permanent part-time position of 16 hours a week, usually 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 or 1:30 pm, four days a week, although that is somewhat flexible. On occasion, the hours might increase slightly, and in the summer decrease. The person would need to understand all things League, which can be challenging, but also competent in computer skills, office software, and the experience and details of running an office. Our office manager must be able to work alone and as a team and be able to deal with multiple “bosses,” who are all a pleasure to work with!
Please send your resume and a cover letter outlining your qualifications and interest in the position to info@lwvdenver.org. For more information, please contact Jeanette Scotland at jscotland@gmail.com.
In the Meantime
We are trying to keep the office open as much as we can with volunteers primarily from the board. However, if any of you could cover Monday mornings for 3 – 4 hours for a few weeks to answer phones and help distribute ballot issues, please contact me at the above email.
Jeanette Scotland
Director of Organization | Recap of the Education Funding in Colorado Briefing
There were two speakers for the LWVD Kickoff Event: Lisa Weil, Executive Director of Great Education Colorado, and Kristin Hultquist, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Metro State University Denver.
Lisa is the executive director of Great Education Colorado and a former public interest attorney who has two children who went to Denver Public Schools. She has served on the staff of many elected officials, including Senator Tim Wirth and Governor Roy Romer.
In her presentation entitled School Funding in Colorado: Where Are We Now, How Far Can We Go, Lisa spoke about some pressing issues facing citizens of Colorado related to public schools, including Amendment 80, the state education budget stabilization factor (BS), and the adequacy studies coming in January 2025. She critiqued Amendment 80, which establishes the right to parental school choice K-12 children, saying it lacks transparency, accountability and standards. This proposed amendment sets up a scenario leading to another push for vouchers, diverting public funds and discriminating against children with special needs. She pointed to a disastrous outcome in a similar program in Arizona. Moreover, parents in Colorado already have the right to choose their child’s school.
Of the budget stabilization factor, which was designed to eliminate deficits in school spending, Lisa informed the audience that while Colorado has drawn the stabilization factor to zero, the state’s current education budget now equals that of 1989. This is far too little in an era of increased technology and student need. She concludes that Colorado still spends far less than the national average on a per student basis. Our state ranks 45th in the percentage of taxable resources that are spent on education.
Lisa’s final points were about the adequacy studies coming out in January 2025 to defined what “base” level funding should be, with special attention to at risk, special education and English language learners. The studies also state what resources we need in areas such as staffing and class size to meet the needs of the average student. However, such costs could increase in high-poverty neighborhood schools and in isolated rural areas of the state. She urged the audience to defeat anti-public education measures like Amendment 80, to change the narrative on what full funding is and to demand that legislators meet with constituents to find out about the adequacy study.
Kristin Hultquist is the head of the Board of Trustees at Metropolitan State University and the CEO of the nonprofit HCM Strategists. Her talk was about “The Colorado Paradox” in higher education funding, wherein Colorado has the fourth largest percentage of college graduates among the 50 states but currently spends less per student on higher education or vocational training than all but two states. That means that Colorado high school seniors struggle to receive higher educational or vocational training, a fact that especially impacts first-generation college attendees, minority and special needs students. The result is that less than 50% of Colorado high schoolers go on to college, which is ten percent lower than the average in the rest of the nation.
Demographics are changing in Colorado, Kristin noted. We used to be able to count on high rates of in-migration (part of which accounts for our overall numbers of highly-educated citizens), but many fewer people are now moving to Colorado due to our high cost of living. She also stated that 73% of new jobs will within seven years require some level of post-secondary training. Corporations look for a significant population in a state to fill their jobs, and our education rates may not meet their requirements.
Kristin pointed out that in Colorado the burden of higher education funding has shifted dramatically from the state to individual students under TABOR. Kristin, like Lisa, pointed out that educators are paid far less in Colorado than in other states, which makes it difficult to attract and keep good talent. We rank 50th in the US in teacher wage competitiveness and 41st in pupil/teacher ratio. She argued that state funding of higher education is one of the most pressing issues facing both policymakers and institutions in Colorado. She spoke of the need and difficulty of implementing public policy changes to transform educational institutions into generators of economic mobility, opportunity and equity.
The League of Women Voters at both the state and national levels supports equitable, quality public education at all levels. A quality public education is essential for a strong, viable and sustainable democratic society and is a civil right.
Tracey Trenam, Program Committee | LWV Denver Board of Directors Meetings
Your 14-member Board meets monthly, usually on the second Monday at 4:00 p.m. on Zoom. These meetings are open if you are interested in attending.
Board Highlights
Monday, September 9
-
We recently received some much-appreciated donations from members and non-members. However, we also received a $5,200 bill from LWVUS for Per Member Payments.
- Voter Service activities dominate our League right now: voter registration, research and writing of Voter Guides, training of our Speakers Bureau, sending info for VOTE 411, and working with Denver Decides to record issues forums.
- We have already submitted three videos to TikTok. Check them out!
- The November briefing will be on the Indigenous People of our state, their issues and feelings about a Land Acknowledgement Statement at our meetings.
- We need someone to step up and help us with PR for our briefings and other activities.
- We expressed our gratitude to Fran Coleman as she leaves as office manager. We have a new job posting ready to go, and we plan to post that at various locations in hopes of finding a well-qualified person soon.
|  | | Cassie Bishop (second from left), Membership Chair, organized an excellent Drinks and Dialogue at Raices Brewery with Cobalt and Women's Foundation of Colorado.
Pictured, left to right: Pilar Chapa, Cobalt; Cassie; Leah Audin, League of Women Voters; Maggie Stoot, Women’s Foundation of Colorado; Alison Friedman, Women’s Foundation of Colorado. | Making Democracy Work Day
LWVCO MDW Day event on Saturday, September 21, was excellent and loaded with information. Here is the link to the event which includes time notations for each speaker: https://youtu.be/p5KkXH81jIY?si=_UYJVG-f_uPsfRNl.
Jeanette Scotland | Congratulations
Congratulations to long-time Leaguer Sarah McCarthy who will be honored October 10 by Historic Denver as one of three “Keystone Awardees” at the organization’s 54th Annual Dinner. The Keystone Award recognizes people who have made significant contributions to Denver’s historic preservation over their lifetime or career. Sarah served on our board as Communications Vice President and was a member of the Observatory Unit. | Welcome New Members
Mariam Bouricius, 80211 mttejeda@gmail.com
Nancy Campbell, 80209, bncamp@comcast.net
Priscilla Cross, 80210, priscross1@hotmail.com
Dee Dukehart, 80246, Dee@DeeDukehart.com
Priscilla Cross, 80210, priscross1@hotmail.com
Maria Johnson, 80211, mkestenson@gmail.com
April Legere, 80134, april.legere@gmail.com
Alicia Smoot, 80206, Asmoot23@gmail.com
| LWV Denver Units
A great place for meaningful conversations
Cheesman Unit
Next in-person meeting: October 22 at 9:30 a.m. (the fourth Tuesday of the month)
Bobbie Heisterkamp’s home
Leader: Bobbie Heisterkamp (303-333-6818)
Cherrington Unit
Meets in person Thursday following briefings at 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Next meeting: Thursday, October 17, 1:00 p.m.
Location not yet identified
Leader: Peg Oldham (720-220-3988)
Highland/Woodbury Unit
In-person meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1:00 p.m.
Next meeting: October 16 at Sassafras Restaurant
3927 W 32nd Ave, (80212)
Leader: Sally Augden (303-455-5800)
Observatory Unit
Meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 6:30 on Zoom or in person
Next meeting: October 22 at 4:00 p.m. at University Hills Library
Leader: Diane Young - dioyoung@comcast.net or (303-886-3365)
| VOTER Articles Welcome!
We welcome articles from all members. We usually publish the VOTER on the fourth Thursday, so the deadline to submit articles is the Friday before.
| VOTER |
Article Deadline |
Voter Publication Date |
| November |
Friday, October 18 |
Thursday, October 24 |
| December/January |
TBD |
TBD |
Please send your articles or ideas about articles to pzelarney@yahoo.com. | Consider a Sustaining or Benefactor Membership
We appreciate all those who pay $60 to be a member. However, the LWV Denver can only keep $8 of that $60 and the rest goes to Per Member Payments to the LWVCO and LWVUS. For those who are able, think about paying a sustaining $125 membership that gives the LWV Denver $73 or a benefactor $300 membership that gives the LWV Denver $248 to use for our education activities, to support our office and to continue our voter service resources for the city of Denver. Thank you!
Bobbie Heisterkamp, Treasurer
| Please Renew Your Membership or
Become a Member Today
If you received this email VOTER and are not a member, please consider joining us. If it's time to renew your membership, consider doing it online.
Follow this link to join or renew at one of our membership levels and remember that it covers Denver, Colorado and National membership. Also, please consider renewing at the sustaining or benefactor membership level. Membership dues are tax deductible.
| Regular Individual Membership |
$60 |
| Sustaining membership (includes an additional donation) |
$125 |
| Benefactor membership (includes additional donation)
|
$300 |
Two regular members at the same address
|
$90 |
| Two sustaining members at the same address (includes an additional donation) |
$150 |
| Two benefactor members at the same address (includes an additional donation)
|
$450 |
Member needing assistance with paying dues
|
$5 |
| Part or full-time student |
$10 |
Members: Forward this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join! | | 1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303-321-7571 | | | |