Aurora rep. 'sorry' for FLC Indian bill: Middleton says it's “back to the drawing board"
Animas SDS
Fort Lewis College is reimbursed to provide free tuition to Native
American students said on Thursday that the legislation likely will
likely be killed, and that she never expected the fallout that
occurred.
“It would be fair to say that the bill will be scrapped in its current
form," said Rep. Karen Middleton, D-Aurora, sponsor of House Bill
1067, a bill that would have cut $1.8 million from Fort Lewis' budget.
She said her goal was to fix a budget crisis but was persuaded to
rethink her bill after its intent became “twisted" by the news media.
in the press.
“My vision for this was not where this landed. My goal was to actually
re-align how funding was going out to colleges, and it's obviously not
been taken that way, so now we're going to go back to the drawing
board to figure out a better way of approaching this."
Legislators had expressed concern about the FLC tuition waiver's
rising costs as the state cuts its own departments. FLC enrolled 3,685
students in fall 2009, including 608 out-of-state American Indian
students and 130 in-state American Indian students.
Middleton said the bill was intended to be a first step in fixing the
budget, and stressed that she was carrying the bill for the Colorado
Department of Higher Education. She said she wasn't given enough
background information before going forward.
“It was sort of presented as a technical budget fix."
Rico Munn, executive director of the department, said he expects the
bill either will be changed or pulled entirely.
“I think it's fairly unfortunate that some people have either
misunderstood or twisted the intent of what the bill was trying to
do," Munn said.
Herald staff writer Chuck Slothower contributed to this article.
http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/01/21/Aurora_rep_sorry_for_FLC_Indian_bill/
Nathan
Rep. 'sorry' about bill: Middleton plans to scrap Fort Lewis College
Indian measure
The sponsor of a controversial bill that would have affected Fort
Lewis College's American Indian student tuition waiver fund said
Thursday the legislation likely will be killed and that she never
expected the fallout that occurred.
“I expect it will go away completely," said Rep. Karen Middleton, D-
Aurora, sponsor of House Bill 1067, a bill that would have cut $1.8
million from FLC's budget.
She said her goal was to fix a budget crisis, but she was persuaded to
rethink her bill after its intent became “twisted" by the news media.
“My vision for this was not where this has landed. My goal was to
actually realign how funding was going out to colleges, and it's
obviously not been taken that way," Middleton said. “So now we're
going to go back to the drawing board to figure out a better way of
approaching this."
“Perfect," said Steve Schwartz, vice president of finance and
administration at FLC. “We appreciate the efforts of (Colorado
Department of Higher Education Director) Rico Munn and Representative
Middleton to recognize the unique history and heritage of Fort Lewis
College, and we look forward to working with them on this issue in the
future."
Legislators had expressed concern about the FLC tuition waiver's
rising costs as the state cuts its own departments. FLC enrolled 3,685
students in fall 2009, including 608 out-of-state American Indian
students and 130 in-state American Indian students.
Middleton said the bill was intended to be a first step in fixing the
state budget, and stressed she was carrying the bill for the
Department of Higher Education. She said she didn't write or work on
the bill and wasn't given critical background information before she
agreed to carry it.
“It was sort of presented as a technical budget fix," she said. “It
was really a department bill."
Munn said he expects the bill either will be changed or pulled
entirely.
“I think it's fairly unfortunate that some people have either
misunderstood or twisted the intent of what the bill was trying to
do," Munn said.
Instead of backing the bill, Munn's department will work with the
Legislature's Joint Budget Committee to cap out-of-state tuition rates
at FLC for the next few years. Gov. Bill Ritter's budget request for
2010-11 already asked that FLC - alone among Colorado colleges - not
be allowed to raise its out-of-state tuition next year because of
growing expenses for the tuition waiver.
Rep. Ellen Roberts said the only solution fair and equitable to FLC
would be scrapping the bill.
“We learn our first year here at the Legislature that you can't make a
bad bill good, and this is a bad bill from the very start," she said.
All colleges, including FLC, still are in for substantial budget cuts
caused by the recession. FLC leaders are opposing Munn's plan to
apportion the cuts because the method takes a bigger percentage cut
from Fort Lewis than any other college over the next two years.
More than 200 people attended a public meeting at FLC's Native
American Center on Wednesday to organize against the bill. FLC
spokesman Mitch Davis said he received media inquiries from The New
York Times and CBS News.
Sen. Bruce Whitehead and Roberts, who represent Durango and FLC,
joined with two FLC alumni, Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, and Rep. Sal
Pace, D-Pueblo, to fight the bill. The four met with Middleton on
Wednesday afternoon.
HB 1067 still is scheduled to be heard in the House Education
Committee at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
FLC students were planning a show of force for the hearing. Between
150 and 170 students committed to travel the 236 miles to Denver on
Sunday afternoon in order to protest the bill Monday, said FLC senior
Robert Abshire, who is helping organize the protest.
Middleton said that would be a premature move.
“I'm kind of caught up in something right now that was unintentional,"
she said. “I am truly sorry that the way this bill has been presented
has been felt so personally."
Abshire and other students were meeting Thursday night to go over
logistics of their trip to Denver when they heard the news. He said he
was grateful legislators were willing to hear them out.
“But they need to know we're still ready to go."
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