Back in February, state Senator Rollie Heath asked his fellow lawmakers to consider raising taxes [2] to re-stock the dwindling pot of funding for public education, which is set to lose another $227.5 million (K-12) and $36 million (higher ed) in the next fiscal year. The proposal was swiftly struck down, but that hasn't deterred the Boulder Democrat. Heath is now partnering with four advocacy groups in a campaign called Support Our Schools for a Bright Colorado, which in the next election intends to ask voters to restore some taxes to 1999 levels: The measure would boost state sales tax from 2.9 to 3 percent and the state income tax from 4.63 to 5 percent (EdNews Colorado [3]).

Shortly after announcing the campaign yesterday, State Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp took a shot at Heath, calling him "tone deaf to the concerns of families and businesses across the state" (Denver Business Journal [4]), while the Independence Institute's Jon Caldara pointed to high unemployment numbers (Denver Daily News [5]). Caldara also wonders how the campaign's efforts will fare under new laws governing the signature-collecting process required to land measures on the statewide ballot.