Sharp philosophical clashes about the role of government in education – and rare moments of good humor – recurred throughout the debate between Rep. Mike McLachlan and challenger J. Paul Brown hosted by the Durango Education Foundation Tuesday night at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
Both men running for Colorado House District 59 – which encompasses about a dozen school districts, including Durango School District 9-R – positioned themselves as champions of K-12 education, with Brown touting his 12-year tenure on the Ignacio School District 11-JT school board, and McLachlan proudly broadcasting the achievements of his wife, Barbara McLachlan, an award-winning teacher and veteran local educator.
But the disagreements were fundamental.
Brown said the federal government has “way too much influence in our schools.”
While he praised some aspects of Common Core, he said the bad outweighed the good. “It’s a top-down program mandated by federal government, and maybe even by the United Nations,” he said. “I think between Colorado and local districts, we can come up with better standards. That’s what I suggest.”
McLachlan disputed the idea that the United Nations is trying to usurp local school boards. “Whenever I heard my opponent say something it part of a UN conspiracy or an imposition by the federal government, it breaks my heart. I’ve been to the United Nations, and (Durango School District) 9-R is not on their map.”
McLachlan said, in general, Common Core represented a step forward. “I don’t believe the federal government is behind Common Core. But it’s the result of an entire academic discussion that took place over a long period of time. It’s better than what we had before” and more likely to “produce intelligent students,” he said.
Brown disagreed that Common Core represents progress in curriculum, saying, “I’ve heard of math questions that are just horrendous. None of us could figure out those math equations the way they are supposed to learn that.”
Meanwhile, McLachlan said the state needed to address curriculum. He lambasted recent attempts by the Jefferson County School Board to launder of stains the American history it teaches students, saying curriculum must be based on reality.
He said, “They want to do away with the history of the United States and show that we lived in a placid environment,” but in reality, American democracy has always consisted of debate and dissent.
Brown said, “I believe the state is way too heavy-handed in terms of them telling school boards what they need to do with curriculum. Ignacio is different than Durango,” he said, recalling that his son Levi’s third-grade teacher realized Levi loved horses.
“So she had him reading books about horses, and he learned to read well doing that. School districts are the same way, and different school districts need to have flexibility to set their own curriculum. I think the state has way too much influence,” Brown said.
McLachlan countered that he fully supports teachers having the pedagogic license to reach students in whatever way works best. “But you can’t have a school board that wants to teach something that doesn’t exist in history or science. We need to teach our children reality, and discern between theology, ideology and fact,” he said.
McLachlan and Brown agreed it was imperative to keep college tuition costs low.
McLachlan said that when he went to college in the 1970s, “you could go virtually anywhere and work your way through college,” whereas now, students face crippling debt.
Brown said the cost of college has become so staggering that “I don’t know how students can go to school in Colorado. I’m not quite as ancient as my opponent – just joking, ... but I worked through college, too, New Mexico State, and was able to work my way through and without any debt.”
Both candidates opposed Amendment 68.
Brown said, “I don’t believe we should use gambling money for K-12 education.”
McLachlan agreed, saying the measure would only “benefit New Jersey casinos,” and that whatever money for education might come to K-12 education is a “gimmick” that would only kick the deeper question of how to fund K-12 education in Colorado down the road.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
