Colorado Making it Easier to Support Kids in Schoolby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 16 Feb 2009 09:03 PM Have you ever requested time off from work to address your child's educational needs only to be denied? Apparently it happened one too many times to parents in Colorado, and now state lawmakers have designed a bill to help moms and dads take time off from work to deal with school-related events. The bill recently won preliminary approval in the Colorado House, but it still requires a final House vote before heading to the Senate. Unfortunately, for the bill's authors it was watered down to apply only to companies with 50 or more workers and restricts what school-related events parents may attend during work hours. In addition (and this is a biggie), it limits the amount of unpaid time workers may take to attend those events. House Republicans, who are against the bill, say it places an unfair burden on businesses, which could lead to companies not wanting to locate to state or create jobs there. As a result of the opposition, the measure was amended, and now reads that while parental involvement is key to a child's success in school, full-time working parents will not be allowed to take off more than 18 hours during the entire school year, and then no more than three hours at any one time, to attend school functions. Before you start lobbying your local lawmakers to institute a similar measure in your state, you should know that the Colorado bill also limits the type of activities parents may attend. Under the proposed legislation moms and dads are limited to parent-teacher conferences, special education services, response to interventions, dropout prevention, attendance, truancy and disciplinary issues. House Democrats, who were reluctant to approve changes to the original measure, maintain that the bill isn't anti-business; rather it is designed to remove any potential obstacle that might get in the way of parents becoming more involved in their children's education. What do you think of the proposal? Do you really believe the bill would stifle economic growth in the state of Colorado? Or do you think it encourages more parental involvement by giving moms and dads peace of mind that their jobs are protected if they do need to attend a school-related event? Related Articles: Do You Punish Your Kids for Bad Grades? Are You a Teacher's Worst Nightmare? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevanteducation tags User Comments sydneylobo (39) 09 Mar 2009 02:15 AMIt's good to know that we can get insurance now on internet it's a easier way to get and auto insurance. Most of the People are using online insurance because in today's world we don't have so much time for these things that is why it is very safest and best way of insurance. Great Post i look forward for ward to reading more. Sydney Auto insurance in Colorado Community Tags Auto insurance in Colorado, Colorado, education, school Discuss this article
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