CU Connections

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday announced its decision to overturn a district court decision in the Lobato v. State lawsuit, ruling 4-2 that the state’s school finance system does not violate the constitution.

All CU-initiated bills are on their way to Gov. John Hickenlooper for his signature.

University of Colorado-backed legislation aimed at helping the state’s higher education institutions secure the best and brightest in-state students is awaiting Gov. Hickenlooper’s signature.

Campus leadership has said that CU often loses Colorado’s best college prospects to out-of-state institutions offering richer scholarship packages.

For the first time, a matrix for merit pay that is dependent on employee performance score and salary will be used for classified staff.

Senate Bill 165 — co-sponsored by Sen. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, and Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Chaffee – sought permission for Colorado’s 13 community colleges to grant four-year degrees in up to seven fields of study, including dental hygiene. Proponents said accessibility and affordability were the driving factors.

Colorado Democrats on Tuesday announced a list of proposed gun-related laws, including a measure to ban the carrying of concealed weapons in buildings on college campuses.

Colorado lawmakers convened Wednesday at the Capitol for the start of the 69th General Assembly, a session in which nearly one in three members is a newcomer to the legislature.

At his annual presentation Tuesday to the state’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC), Benson said the university estimates it has saved about $35 million in recent years because of efficiency legislation.

Gov. John Hickenlooper and state lawmakers say approval of the ballot issue would bring long-overdue reform to the state personnel system.

House Bill 1252, legislation that would have required more detailed financial reporting in the form of searchable databases of all revenues and expenditures at many higher education institutions, was left unfinished Wednesday as the Colorado General Assembly ended its 2012 session.

The Higher Education Association of the Rockies (HEAR) sponsored the Colorado Higher Education Legislative Update, an afternoon of discussion Friday at the First Baptist Church in Denver.

A bill that would have changed the way retirement benefits are calculated for new hires joining the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) was tabled indefinitely by the Senate Finance Committee.

The 2.5 percent PERA contribution shift for University of Colorado employees will end this July.

A bill that would require greater detail in existing reporting of financial information at institutions of higher education advanced this week in the State House.

The first time Peter Simons remembers being in a “service role” was in junior high school, when a teacher asked him to work with a girl who was shy and withdrawn. Even then, he understood that part of him was geared to trying to make the world a little bit better.

Federal stimulus funding softened the blow higher education suffered this year as Colorado lawmakers struggled to balance the state budget during one of the most contentious and difficult legislative sessions in years.