What's at stake?
-- Higher education

Business leaders concerned by higher education cuts
The decline in higher education funding has created considerable worry among Colorado's business leaders. Emphasizing that investment in higher education is key to successful economic development, Colorado's business leaders have expressed widespread concern about the state's funding cutbacks:

"I'm often quick to say the sky is not falling. Now, I can't find the data that suggests Colorado is not in trouble. I was in Arizona recently before a state higher education board, and they were saying, 'Life could be worse -- we could be in Colorado.'" David Longanecker, Executive Director of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education ("State's colleges decry finances," The Denver Post, December 20, 2004)

"The bottom line is that institutions of higher learning in Colorado will continue to suffer funding shortfalls under the present system. If you ask the business community, a strong system of higher education is at the top of the list for economic development and the creation of jobs." -- Dick Robinson, CEO of Robinson Dairy and member of the Colorado Economic Futures Panel ("Solutions to Funding Colorado's Colleges," The Denver Post, April 17, 2005)

"A lack of publicly funded higher education institutions could leave our high school graduates without affordable higher education options, further exacerbating our struggles to 'grow our own' highly educated workforce. At the same time, our businesses could be left uncertain about the resources flowing from higher education institutions." -- The Public Education and Business Coalition ("Investing in the Next Generation: How Education Drives Colorado's Economic Future," November 2004, www.pebc.org/ourwork/policy/ed-econ.pdf.)

"[K]ey businesspeople and community leaders tell us . . . [t]hey are looking at the broader issues that will shape the future of Colorado, from the well-being of our higher education centers to the availability of skilled workers as our economy improves." -- Bruce Alexander, President and CEO of Vectra Bank Colorado, commenting on a July 2005 survey showing that 71 of 100 Colorado business leaders identified TABOR as their top concern. ("New Survey Shows TABOR is Top Concern Among Colorado Business Leaders; Vectra 100 Survey to Track Issues and Views among Influential Executives," Business Wire, July 12, 2005.)

"For businesses to be successful, you need roads and you need higher education, both of which have gotten worse under TABOR and will continue to get worse." -- Tom Clark, Executive Vice President of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce ("Is Grover Over?," Washington Monthly, March 2005.)

Source: A Formula for Decline, Lessons from Colorado for States considering TABOR, David Bradley and Karen Lyons, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 19, 2005

What's At Stake:

Senior citizens

Public health and safety

Local communities

Jobs and economic development

K-12 schools

Higher education

Montana's most vulnerable citizens

Agriculture