With the school year back into full swing, it feels only natural to turn our attention to a topic frequently on the minds of all Coloradans, school funding. On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Host and Chairman Earl L. Wright is joined by CSI Mike A. Leprino Free Enterprise Fellow Brenda Bautsch Dickhoner, Ph.D. and Terry Croy Lewis, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Charter School Institute.
The three discuss a salient funding issue affecting charter schools across the state, dive into what the “Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance” is up to, and discuss the latest update to CSI’s school finance report, “Dollars and Data 2021: A Look at K-12 Education Funding in Colorado.” You may find the full report here.
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Brenda Bautsch Dickhoner, Ph.D. has spent her career working in education policy at the national and state level. She is currently the Mike A. Leprino Free Enterprise Fellow at Common Sense Institute. Recently, she served as a top advisor at the Colorado Department of Education. Brenda currently serves on the board of the Charter School Institute and on the Governor’s Education Leadership Council.
Terry Croy Lewis, Ph.D. is the Charter School Institute’s Executive Director. Previously she worked at the Colorado League of Charter Schools as the Vice President of School Quality and Support. Additionally, she was a founder of High Point Academy (HPA) which opened in 2006 and served as the Executive Director/Principal at HPA for 8 years. Before her work at HPA, she helped to develop other charter schools in Colorado as an independent consultant and as a consultant with a national organization focused on the creation of new charter schools. In 1997, she helped found her first charter school, Platte River Academy. In total, she has 20 years of experience in the charter school sector working in urban, suburban and rural communities and she has served in a variety of capacities such as founder, school leader, governing board member, and consultant. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland.