Guns, Schools and Politics
Violence in the District
Senator Johnston hosted two meetings this June with the Mayor’s office, the Prodigal Son Initiative and other community activists to address the May shootings at 28th and Fairfax and Bruce Randolph and York. Out of those meetings came a plan to create a master calendar of free, youth-friendly events. Because resources are scarce, the calendar idea was a way to proactively get kids directed at positive activities, while playing to the community’s strengths and building bridges between organizations. The committee is working to identify scheduled events, work to fill holes and get the message to kids with the goal of completion by July 4.
Park Hill and Stapleton Schools
Senator Johnston sees a lot of common ground between the Park Hill and Stapleton neighborhoods. “Both share the same goal of fostering socio-economically diverse urban neighborhoods,” said Johnston, who lives in Stapleton with his wife and three young kids and maintains a district office in Park Hill at 33rd and Hudson. Johnston, with then Councilman Michael Hancock, actively participated in the formation of the Stapleton public school network, where he says the goal was diversity and community over segregation and sub-communities. Now that the legislative session is over, Johnston, who considers education his central policy goal, is reengaging ongoing meetings with the district and the broader community on the issue.
2012 Legislative Session
Johnston cosponsored two significant piece of education legislation this session. The READ Act, signed into law in May, created the Early Literacy Grant Program to provide funding for literacy assessments and interventions, while establishing a process for districts to identify K-3 students who read below grade level and to work with their parents to provide extra reading support before the students reach fourth grade. However the ASSET bill, which would have created a third tuition tier for undocumented college students was killed in committee. Senator Johnston, however, continued to support this effort over the month of June, as a proponent of Metro State College of Denver’s decision to offer discounted tuition rates to undocumented students regardless of the bill’s status.
Johnston wants his constituents to be aware that his effort to remove the “Inactive – Failed to Vote” status, whereby state election officials are not required to send a ballot to voters who missed the last general election, was also killed in committee. Visit denvervotes.org for more information.
Johnston predicts that the 2012 election will generate a Democrat-controlled House. “Ideology is not what people want,” he said. “They want problem-solving.”
Reelection Campaign
Johnston, a Democrat, is currently running unopposed for reelection. “I don’t spend a lot of money on campaigns,” he said. “I’d rather spend that money keeping the community office open to constituents.”
Senator Michael Johnston can be reached at mikejohnston.org or 303-866-4864.