{"id":9389,"date":"2021-06-28T12:06:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T12:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=4622563"},"modified":"2021-06-28T12:06:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T12:06:09","slug":"colorado-marijuana-tax-hike-proposal-to-support-education-loses-teachers-union-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-marijuana-tax-hike-proposal-to-support-education-loses-teachers-union-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado marijuana tax hike proposal to support education loses teacher\u2019s union support"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-marijuana-tax-hike-proposal-to-support-education-loses-teachers-union-support\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/colorado-marijuana-tax-hike-proposal-to-support-education-loses-teachers-union-support.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/06\/28\/marijuana-tax-increase-education-initiative-25\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"4622563\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Colorado\u2019s political group pushing to raise taxes on recreational marijuana to fund after-school programs for impoverished students lost the support of the state teacher\u2019s union, though officials behind the initiative say they\u2019re unconcerned.<\/p>\n<p>Learning Opportunities for Colorado\u2019s Kids must collect nearly 250,000 voter signatures to place the proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/co-state-wire-colorado-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-1d172719eacfb0286aa5a8aaaabbc356\">Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress (LEAP)<\/a> program, or Initiative 25, on the November ballot. The measure would ask voters for a 5% excise tax increase on recreational marijuana by 2024 which would raise an estimated $137 million annually for tutoring programs, mental health care, career training and more for children.<\/p>\n<p>The state teacher\u2019s union, the Colorado Education Association, recently withdrew its support from the measure, instead taking a neutral stance on the issue with President Amie Baca-Oehlert citing \u201cconcerns and uncertainties\u201d about how it would be implemented.<\/p>\n<p>Money collected from the tax hike would be given directly to education providers, but it\u2019s not yet clear who would qualify or how the state would pay them, Frank Valdez, a spokesman for the union, said. Those unclear logistics make up the bulk of the group\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Former state Sen. Mike Johnston, who now works as president and CEO of Gary Community Investments and is heading the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westword.com\/marijuana\/proposed-colorado-ballot-initiative-would-raise-marijuana-sales-tax-5-percent-for-education-11916772\">Initiative 25 effort<\/a>, said those details would come if voters approve the measure. He reached out to the union for help crafting the proposal and even without the group\u2019s explicit support, Johnston said the signature-collection effort is moving as quickly as he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>Money collected through the raised taxes would pay for after-school programs, tutoring and more for about 100,000 of the state\u2019s most impoverished students, Johnston said. And it couldn\u2019t come soon enough since school districts across the state are combating what\u2019s commonly known as \u201csummer slide,\u201d where students forget or lose bits of what they learned in the previous school year. That problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be ready ahead of schedule,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cParticularly after COVID, people are really keenly aware of some of the lost learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even without the teacher\u2019s union behind it, Initiative 25 still enjoys bipartisan support from former Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and former Republican Gov. Bill Owens, among a swathe of other politicians and education advocates.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Those most likely to oppose it, marijuana industry groups, are keeping quiet for the moment, however.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re obviously aware of it,\u201d Truman Bradley, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, told The Denver Post, noting that his organization is reserving comment unless the initiative makes it on to the November ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Johnston\u2019s group has until Aug. 2 to turn the nearly 250,000 signatures into the Secretary of State\u2019s Office for verification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>A group pushing to raise taxes on recreational marijuana to fund after-school programs for impoverished students lost the support of Colorado\u2019s teacher\u2019s union but officials behind the initiative say they\u2019re unconcerned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8339,6811,6857,2205,7620,6813,77,9,7300,5019,441,1,3,2379,61,1736],"tags":[8340,6816,6859,4773,7622,6818,2655,7305,5022,3015,4974],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}