Education Policy

Educator Pipeline

PEBC supports efforts to address Colorado’s teacher shortage, particularly for our rural and small-rural school districts. We advocate for strategies at the state level to positively impact both the recruitment of new educators, as well as retaining a high-quality educator workforce.

PEBC supports continued and PEBC supports continued and expanded state funding for programs such as the Quality Teacher Recruitment grant program (QTR), the Educator Recruitment and Retention program (ERR) and investing in statewide efforts to recruit more individuals to become teachers such as TEACH Colorado. At the federal level, PEBC advocates for the continued expansion of teacher residency programs and is a member of the National Center for Teacher Residencies.

Elevating Teacher Voice in Public Policy

PEBC believes that education policy is strengthened when teachers have a seat at the table. Below are some examples of policy initiatives that PEBC has led or participated in with the explicit goal of providing practicing educators with experiences to share their perspectives with policy makers:

• In 2023-2024, PEBC co-facilitated the Colorado Safer Schools Initiative (CSSI) in partnership with Confluence Policy + Strategy Group, engaging more than 250 educators, administrators, policymakers, and safety professionals to address the complex factors influencing school safety. CSSI released an interim report in the spring of 2024, as well as a scan of policy and practice Bright Spots in June of 2024
• In 2021-2022, PEBC co-facilitated the Early Childhood Education Workforce Coalition (ECEWC), alongside the Keystone Policy Center (KPC). Bringing together more than 30 stakeholders across the Early Childhood ecosystem, ECEWC explored strategies to recruit and retain early childhood educators in communities across the state, including a robust exploration of career pathways and compensation strategies. This coalition, which was largely inspired by PEBC and KPC’s previous efforts in bringing together diverse stakeholders around shared problems of practice, released a report at the end of 2022 detailing its findings and recommendations.
• In 2020-2021, PEBC co-facilitated the Education System Resilience and Innovation Initiative (ESRII) with the Keystone Policy Center, convening over 80 education leaders to develop new strategies to strengthen the educator workforce, advance instructional innovation, and address inequities within Colorado’s education system that were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recommendations of ESRII led to the introduction of CO SB21-185 which secured unanimous bipartisan support and more than $13 million annually for educator programs when it was signed into law in June of 2021.
• In 2019, PEBC partnered with community organizations on The Teacher Informed Solutions in Performance Evaluation (TISPE) Project to elevate teacher voice in evaluation policy discussions. Participants received micro-grants to pilot new approaches in their districts, and produced a white paper with policy recommendations presented to Colorado legislators ahead of the 2020 session.

In addition to these efforts, PEBC is frequently asked to participate and contribute to efforts across the ECE-12 policy spectrum, in areas ranging from Postsecondary Workforce Readiness (PWR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) in K-12 Education, and others.

School Funding

PEBC believes that adequate and equitable funding of public education for all learners in Colorado is of utmost importance. A strong business environment for Colorado’s economy needs a great education system so that future generations of Coloradans have the skills and knowledge necessary to enter the 21st century workforce.

Federal Legislation

PEBC supported the development of the Teacher, Principal, and Leader Residency Access Act, a bipartisan bill to expand access to teacher residency programs that was modeled after the PEBC Teacher Residency.