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Benjamin DeGrow
Ben DeGrow is a Colorado-based public policy analyst with a focus on education labor issues. Since joining the Independence Institute in 2003, Ben has advanced its research in the areas of collective bargaining, teacher unionism, teacher employment, and school finance. He oversees the Education Policy Center's informational Web site for teachers and coordinates the Institute's outreach to teachers.
Ben has authored six Issue Papers, 15 Issue Backgrounders, and numerous opinion-editorials for the Independence Institute. His writings have appeared in such Colorado publications as the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, Pueblo Chieftain, Colorado Springs Gazette, Greeley Tribune, Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Statesman, Colorado Daily, HeadFirst Colorado, Grand County Daily Tribune, and Denver Daily News. He is a contributing editor for the national monthly School Reform News, and serves as the regular free market blogger voice on Education News Colorado.
Ben has made many guest appearances on Colorado radio and television programs to discuss policy issues. He has testified before legislative committees and has given presentations to community groups, legislators, candidates, and national conferences.
Ben was born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1977, and grew up in the greater Detroit metropolitan area. He graduated summa cum laude from Hillsdale College in 1999 with a B.A. in History (Political Science minor) and received an M.A. in History in 2001 from The Pennsylvania State University.
Ben’s experiences in the classroom include leading recitations and discussions as a university graduate assistant and a term as a substitute teacher in public elementary and middle schools in Michigan. He also spent nearly a year on the editorial staff of the Hillsdale Daily News, where he earned Associated Press honors for local sports writing.
Ben is married to Marya DeGrow, who also is his co-worker in the Education Policy Center. They are parents of two daughters: Kyria and Elizabeth.
Among Ben’s favorite pastimes are reading, playing piano, hiking, visiting historic sites, and participating in various sports. A diehard baseball fan, he is excited by the recent World Series appearances of his two favorite clubs: the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies.
Articles by Benjamin DeGrow Issue Backgrounder
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What Should School District Financial Transparency Look Like? [PDF]
As the technological capabilities for greater transparency at all levels of government have continued to grow, so has public demand. Resulting in part from the public demand for transparency evidenced in the Senate Bill 09-057 debate, Jefferson County Public Schools created its own searchable online financial database. While Jeffco, Colorado’s largest school district, has established itself as a national leader in public education financial transparency, other Colorado school districts also have made progress in posting detailed expenditure information online. In addition, Colorado lawmakers have introduced new transparency legislation for consideration in 2010. As proposals are debated and initiatives implemented and upgraded, both state and local policy makers can benefit by understanding the criteria of effective financial transparency.
| 01-19-2010 | Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency (IB-2009-B) [PDF]
Through stricter enforcement of a federal law designed to ferret out union corruption, the U.S. Department of Labor in recent years has set the highest standard for disclosure of union finances. Colorado ought to model its practices after federal law, providing for the online public availability of useful, thorough, and transparent financial information from labor organizations. Adopting this approach would promote healthy accountability to Colorado government workers and citizens at large. | 03-27-2009 | Shining the Light on Colorado School Spending (IB-2009-A) [PDF]
In the interest of expanding public accountability and economic efficiency, Colorado school districts, charter schools, and other local public education agencies ought to follow the lead of state government by exploring online financial transparency. | 01-14-2009 | Amendment 49 and Government Payroll Reform (IB-2008-D) [PDF]
Amendment 49 on the November 2008 Colorado ballot proposes to limit government payroll deductions to specified items. The amendment effectively prohibits the collection and transfer of
funds to private non-charitable groups that lobby government officials and fund campaigns -- including such groups as political parties, professional associations, and labor unions. Current Colorado law allows government payroll systems to administer and deliver money to these groups. | 10-13-2008 | A Second Look at K-12 Cash: Updating the Facts about Per-Pupil Spending in Colorado (IB 2008-B) [PDF]
A follow-up to the 2006 report "Counting the Cash", this publication highlights reported statistics to provide needed context to the debate about K-12 education funding. | 06-12-2008 | The Case for Unionizing State Government Unraveled (IB-2008-A) [PDF]
This paper provides a brief summary to Issue Paper 4-2008, highlighting the weak basis for Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order to form union "employee partnerships" in Colorado state government and the potential harms it creates. | 04-14-2008 | A Property Tax Increase by Any Name (IB-2007-C) [PDF]
The “Colorado Children’s Amendment” and Growing School Revenues | 04-17-2007 | Exposing TABOR Data Games: A Second Reply to CBPP (IB-2007-B) [PDF]
The case against the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is built on a shaky foundation of misleading data. The latest example of weak arguments comes from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). | 03-12-2007 | HB 1072: Empowering Union Leaders, Not Workers (IB-2007-A) [PDF]
House Bill 07-1072 threatens to unsettle the balance of power between employers and unions established by the 1943 Colorado Labor Peace Act. The Act requires a majority vote of secret ballots cast to approve union representation. But the bill would eliminate a second election in which employees decide whether to force dissenting co-workers to pay union dues or agency fees. Under HB 1072, workers could only reject a coercive all-union agreement by also rejecting the entire negotiated union contract. Because it limits choices both for union members and for non-union member workers, the bill is at odds with basic fairness. | 01-24-2007 | Counting the Cash for K-12 (IB-2006-A) [PDF]
The Facts about Per-Pupil Spending in Colorado | 03-05-2006 | Nullifying the Probationary Period [PDF]
The three-year probationary period for teachers is enshrined in Colorado Revised Statutes and serves to make sure teachers who are unable to fulfill professional qualifications can be removed before they receive their tenure rights. However, Colorado’s largest school district—Jefferson County R-1 (Jeffco)—has a negotiated policy that nullifies the purpose of the probationary period:
| 09-15-2005 | Adams 12 School District Increases Subsidy [PDF]
While renegotiating its collective bargaining agreement in 2004, Northglenn-Thornton School District No. 12 (Adams 12) agreed to allow more paid leave days to teachers’ union representatives and more extended leave to union officers. | 03-01-2005 | 'No Work, No Pay': The Lesson of the 1994 Denver Teachers' Strike [PDF]
In October 1994, more than 2,000 members of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) went on a weeklong strike for larger salary increases and greater control of working conditions. | 06-20-2004 | Opportunity for Conflict of Interest on Colorado School Boards [PDF]
Twenty-nine states have statutes forbidding a district employee from serving on the school board; several others (including Wyoming) have case law to the same effect. | 06-01-2004 | | School Districts Help Union Collect Political Contributions [PDF] | 06-01-2004 | | Public Funds Release Teachers to Perform Union Business [PDF] | 06-01-2004 | Issue Paper
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Douglas County's Home-Grown Teachers: The Learning Center Waiver Program (IP-6-2008) [PDF]
Seeking a creative solution to shortages in various teaching positions, Douglas County School District received a waiver from the state of Colorado to license and train its own teachers through the Learning Center. The district currently is able to license teachers in areas such as math, science, and world languages; to provide special education endorsements to teachers in other specialties; and to equip unlicensed professionals with the basic skills to teach more highly specialized courses to high schoolers. The waiver is scheduled to be renewed at the end of 2008, contingent on Douglas County meeting certain performance goals. | 06-10-2008 | A Shaky Foundation, A Potential Threat: Analyzing Colorado State Union 'Employee Partnerships' (IP-4-2008) [PDF]
Gov. Bill Ritter's November 2007 executive order allowing unions to serve as "exclusive representatives" of state employees is misguided. This paper exposes the contradictions, omissions, and other fallacies used by defenders of the order, while also highlighting new problems to which it could lead. As the paper explains, "True partnerships do not require giving exclusive representative status to third-party union officials." | 04-14-2008 | Denver’s ProComp and Teacher Compensation Reform in Colorado (IP-5-2007) [PDF]
This report provides an in-depth look at Denver’s new results-based system for teacher pay in the larger context of compensation reform. It identifies areas where the plan could be improved and expanded to be used in other Colorado schools. | 08-17-2007 | The Ignacio Market Driven Compensation Plan and Why It Fell Short (IP-3-2005) [PDF]
Colorado local school boards, unlike those in many states, determine their districts’ salary schedules. Most school districts pay teachers strictly according to the number of years served and the amount of postgraduate educational credit and degrees attained. Notable exceptions include Douglas County R-1, which has operated a performance pay system for teachers since 1994, and Denver Public Schools, which awaits a November 2005 vote on a mill-levy increase to approve funding for its “ProComp” plan. But the Ignacio School District 11JT in southwestern Colorado went a step further when it unveiled a unique and innovative teacher compensation proposal in February 2003.
| 03-07-2005 | Take Public Funds off the Negotiating Table (IP-5-2004) [PDF]
Let Teachers’ Unions Finance Their Own Business | 02-28-2004 | The Wrong Kind of Self-Employment: Keeping District Employees off Colorado School Boards (IP-3-2004) [PDF]
Colorados state legislators and local education policymakers should clarify the status of public school boards as representatives of the public interest. The law should reflect the fundamental incompatibility of a person simultaneously serving as an elected board member and paid employee for the same school district. | 01-31-2004 | Opinion Editorial
| Title |
Date |
Courts Should Not Mess With School Funding
Let Colorado's legislators deal with that issue. | 10-26-2009 | Stapleton School Shortage Needs Creative Thinking
Soon-to-be-overcrowded schools in a fast-growing northeast Denver neighborhood call for innovative solutions to finance school construction and to provide students educational alternatives. | 09-08-2009 | Union Employees Deserve Transparency
State government workers remain in the dark about how unions spend the workers’ money. | 06-18-2009 | “Stimulus” Education Dollars Little More Than Jobs Program for K-12
Rather than helping, the large amount of free-flowing federal funds may end up undermining efforts to improve educational opportunity in Colorado. It too heavily subsidizes the status quo, while needlessly placing promising innovations at risk. | 02-19-2009 | Financial Transparency Strengthens the Public in Public Education
School officials should place detailed and useful spending information where citizens can access it freely. | 01-26-2009 | Putting Education - Not Unions - First
This year brought the biggest electoral Democratic wave in more than three decades. Yet Colorado teachers union officials may have lost, rather than gained, political ground. | 11-15-2008 | Unions: Minority Rule
Colorado state employees who opted not to participate in recent union elections may face undesirable consequences for their apathy. | 08-25-2008 | A Conservative Solution to Big Labor's Dominance in the Political Process
With rules tilted so far askew, the notion of fair elections in Colorado soon may become a mockery. | 06-27-2008 | Big Labor WINS collective bargaining at taxpayers' expense
Thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter's gold-plated invitation, union leaders are on the verge of taking a major role in state government. Taxpayers and dissenting workers should pay attention. | 05-01-2008 | Ties That Bind
A Denver school looking to overcome some steep challenges has asked to be liberated from the bureaucratic rules holding it back. Only one very formidable roadblock remains before this burgeoning freedom movement: the teachers union. | 02-11-2008 | Ritter can restore trust with taxpayers by making 'partnerships' transparent
Bill Ritter's recent union executive order could use a healthy dose of public accountability and transparency. | 11-26-2007 | Pueblo School Districts: union teaches that “no” doesn’t really mean “no”
Pueblo school districts are two of only four Colorado school districts that require teachers who have never joined a teachers union to submit a letter each year to avoid paying hundreds of dollars to the union. | 09-09-2007 | An honest education in 'professional pay'
The Colorado Education Association's policy on teacher compensation doesn't live up to its slogan of "professional pay". | 07-30-2007 | Public shouldn't fund teachers' union activities
Recent revelations surrounding the alleged misuse of public school funds by a union leader shed light on a deeper problem. School officials should not release control of taxpayer funds to a private organization. | 05-31-2007 | Ritter plan increases burden on taxpayers
Bill Ritter’s plan to raise $50 million in new property taxes | 04-15-2007 | Ritter’s Tax “Freeze” Plan is Melting: New Education Spending Proposal Needs Voter Approval
The heat of public pressure has begun melting a new plan to raise taxes for early education, and rightly so. | 03-22-2007 | HB 1072 attacks individual workers' rights
As proposed in the Colorado legislature, House Bill 1072 would remove a vital protection for workers in the Labor Peace Act. | 02-04-2007 | Romanoff Task Force Should Hear from Wide Range of Voices
Education task force needs to sort through suggested reforms from a new national report. | 01-04-2007 | Fiscal Conservatives: Do not despair! Independence is here...
Ushering in a new era of big government, the role of the
Independence Institute as a fiscal watchdog is now more important than
ever. | 11-09-2006 | Right Side? Wrong Reasons:
Amendment 39: more symbolic than transparent. | 10-24-2006 | Washington Case May Benefit Free Speech for Colorado Workers
A pending U.S. Supreme Court case may yield positive results for the free speech of dissenting Colorado union members and fee-payers. | 10-03-2006 | A Double Victory for Teachers’ Rights: Unions to Ask and Disclose
Decisions by a federal court and the Colorado Secretary of State on consecutive days spelled a preliminary dual victory for individual teachers and a setback for unaccountable union bosses. | 08-30-2006 | Court: Teachers Union in Poudre Puffs Bacon’s Election
Court finds that the Colorado Education Association and the Poudre Education Association violated state law when the groups coordinated campaign activities with democractic state senate candidate Bob Bacon.
| 07-26-2006 | Teachers Without License
Smart and capable professionals who want to impart their expertise to high school students should have a clearer path to the classroom. | 05-25-2006 | Bennish Controversy makes Case for More Choice
Everyday consumers have gained insights into the current public education system. | 03-17-2006 | | ProComp's Downgrade | 10-25-2005 | | Do The Math: More Money Doesn't Equal Quality Education | 09-29-2005 | | Send CEA Back to School | 08-19-2005 | | Failed Local School Reform Plan Sheds Light on Challenges | 04-14-2005 | | Abusing Public Resources, Trampling Teachers' Rights | 03-03-2005 | | Public Service Message Irritates Teachers' Union | 12-22-2004 | | It is Time to Respect Non-union Teachers | 08-13-2004 | | An Unhealthy Protest: Boulder Valley School District's 'Sick-Out' | 06-25-2004 | | Keep School Boards Conflict-Free | 03-31-2004 | | The Educational Minutemen Advance | 01-21-2003 | | The Land Of The Free-- Not The Freebies | 09-20-2002 | |
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» Jon Caldara
- President of the Independence Institute
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» Jessica Peck Corry
- Director of the Campus Accountability Project and Property Rights Project
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» Marya DeGrow
- Research Associate, Education Policy Center
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