Padres Unidos has now joined forces with parents in Commerce City, Colorado, taking up the fight for the freedom to learn in the Adams 14 school district. The members of the new Commerce City chapter have started on the task of recruiting a strong parent membership and leadership base which will allow the chapter to grown and begin bringing badly needed reform to the district.

Voices of the Leaders

"The most imortant part of being a member of the Padres Unidos group is being able to inform myself in order to relay that information to the rest of the community and to be able to learn to communicate with the [school] district administration, people of other organizations and, most importantly, with our community."

Maria I Avila

After months of struggle, parents, students and community members packed the DATA building on Tuesday, March, 31st to celebrate their victory in ensuring Caesar Chavez Academy's place in Northwest Denver in the fall of 2009.

 The school will offer an exceptional educational alternative for K-8 students in our community, particularly those losing their school, as the Denver Academy of Arts and Technology closes at the end of the school year. Cesar Chavez Academy will open its doors for the first time in Denver in the former DATA building.

On Monday, April 6th, the Colorado Senate voted 16 to 18 to defeat the Tuition Equity Bill, SB 170. After hours of debate, some of it inspiring and eloquent, some of it ugly and xenophobic, the Senate voted against the bill with 5 Democrats siding with the Republicans. This bill would have allowed all students graduating from Colorado high schools the opportunity to attend college at in-state tuition rates.

The Tuition Equity Bill (SB 170) passed in the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday, April 1, in a 5-4 vote.

Padres y Jovenes Unidos thanks Senators Mary Hodge, Suzanne Williams, Paula Sandoval, Abel Tapia and Bob Bacon for their support of the bill and "yes" votes during yesterday's proceedings. The bill will next be presented on the Senate floor.

The bill's hearing date was changed to Wednesday from Friday, in an effort to ease a heavy bill load that the committee had accumulated.

In a statement released this week Gov. Bill Ritter announced that he supports the Tuition Equity Bill and will sign it if it reaches his desk in its current form. 

"As Governor, I have long supported tuition equity as a matter of principal and policy... For me, this is about building a talented and well-educated workforce and strengthening our economy," the Governor said in the statement. Ritter's official support comes as the bill is passed into the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Padres y Jovenes Unidos thanks the Governor for his support of this legislation, which will be so beneficial both for Colorado's students and its economy. We urge the senators of the Committee on Appropriations to follow suit and pass the bill on to the Senate floor. 

The Senate Committee on Education passed Sen. Chris Romer's Tuition Equity Bill on to the Senate as a whole by a vote of 5-3 on Thursday afternoon.

The decision came after about four hours of testimony and debate during which 18 people from both sides of the issue spoke about the bill. 

The bill passed with two major amendments. The first removed the Colorado Opportunity Fund from the application of the bill, meaning that undocumented students will not be eligible for state financial aid. The second will require undocumented students attending college for in state tuition fees to also apply for U.S. citizenship. These amendments both remove the fiscal note from the bill and make it more bipartisan. 

Padres y Jovenes Unidos, along with parents and students of the Denver Arts and Technology Academy (DATA) demanded that the school, which will be closed due to financial mismanagement, be replaced with the high performing charter school Cesar Chavez Academy at a press conference in front of DATA Thursday afternoon.

The conference was attended by several members of the press as well as about 35 current DATA students and parents carrying signs that read, "Cesar Chavez Academy in NW Denver Now!" and "Honk for Good Schools."

Twenty one student leaders lobbied at the Capitol Building on Tuesday morning, Feb. 17, reaching out to 11 legislators and securing the promise of "Yes" votes from at least four of them before the start of the legislative floor sessions.

Representatives Michael Merrifield, Jeanne Labuda, Jim Riesberg and Edward Vigil all promised to support the bill when it is put to a vote on the House floor, bringing the total number of legislators that have promised their support to 11. 

"I hope it passes," Vigil said of the legislation, "I think we are better off with an educated community." 

Rocky Mountain PBS will be featuring a story on Sen. Romer's In State Tuiton Bill (SB- 170). A poll has been posted on their website asking Coloroadans whether they feel that in state tuition should be made available to U.S. citizens only.

In solidarity with our mission to ensure that all of our students graduate with the opportunity to continue their education at the university level, we encourage you to visit the CBS site and vote NO. Lets let our legislators know that we believe it is the right of every single Colorado student to have the opportunity to go to college. 

Vote NO at: http://www.rmpbs.org/panorama/index.cfm/entry/402/?dupe=1

Rep. Jerry Frangas (D-Dist 4) promised to vote in support of SB 170, the In State Tuition Bill, during a meeting with 15 student leaders on Friday, Feb. 13.

"I believe that the only way we're going to move forwardas a country is if we educate our kids. All of our kids. When we close the door on somebody who is willing to work hard I think we are hindering the future of America," Frangas told the students during the meeting, which was the most recent of six meetings the youth leaders have held with various legislators regarding the bill.