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Back in February, I pointed out that Salida is not actually a backwater. Instead it is on the leading edge of contemporary culture because national trends start here first -- lay-offs, low pay, cocooning, petty gossip, etc.
Now Salida can again lead the way. Colorado's most urgent current crisis is school finance. Gov. Roy Romer says that unless the state can come up with about $250 million more each year, the state's future is in peril.
No. If every school district were to follow the progressive lead of Salida, then taxes could be cut substantially, and the state could still enjoy a surplus.
The most recent figures at hand are from 1989. The average Colorado school district spent $4,633 on each student then. Some spent more -- Cherry Creek spent $6,070 and Denver $6,745. But Salida spent only $3,549.
Altogether, Colorado spent $2.4 billion on primary and secondary education. If every district had run at the Salida level, the bill would have been only $1.8 billion. The difference is $600 million, which means a surplus in the state treasury, rather than a shortfall.
Romer predicts catastrophe if school spending were cut by only 15 percent, and the Salida standard represents a 25 percent reduction. Does catastrophe really loom if all Colorado schools were to run on a Salida budget?
The administration told me that the local drop-out rate is slightly lower than the state average. Standardized test scores are a little above average. More than half the graduating seniors continue their educations; some go to schools like Cornell, Brandeis and the University of Chicago.
So below-average spending does not produce below-average results; by the usual educational measurements, Salida schools are above average.
Of course there are deficiencies. The elementary school is overcrowded. The high school offers no calculus and only two foreign languages; if your children are talented in fields like math or music, you must buy private lessons. Our schools simply don't offer much advanced training, unless perhaps in football.
Also, teacher pay here is below the state average. But many local teachers live in nice houses and drive new cars, and the district never has trouble filling vacancies. It appears that no Colorado teacher or school district would suffer unduly if salaries were pruned to the Salida level.
(Note that in 1980, the average teacher made 11.4 percent more than the average Coloradan; in 1990, it was 34.3 percent more. That suggests some room for reduction.)
The Colorado Education Association would complain if statewide salaries fell to Salida levels, but so what? The facts are clear. If the Salida standard were adopted statewide, Colorado schools would improve and state taxpayers would save $600 million a year. The sky is not falling, no matter what the governor says.
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