http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4287140

Article Last Updated: 09/04/2006 10:26:45 PM MDT


College program under fire

Lincoln High continues to promise free postsecondary classes, even if it requires private funding. The state said counting the students as high schoolers is illegal.

By Allison Sherry
Denver Post Staff Writer

When the roughly 500 freshmen packed into Abraham Lincoln High School on the first day of school, principal Antonio Esquibel promised them all a college education.

For free.

"I told them they can go to any school they want, and I'll find the funding," said Esquibel, who is starting his first full year as principal at the southwest Denver high school.

But where he gets the money from is a controversial question.

Last year, Lincoln allowed 100 seniors with enough credits to graduate to attend community college, paid for by per-pupil funding from the state.

The Colorado Board of Education ruled that such "fifth-year" programs are technically illegal.

Still, Denver Public Schools administrators are trying to figure out a way to make it work at Lincoln - where the graduation requirements were changed in the spring of 2005 to allow seniors to take community college classes before receiving high school diplomas.

The students are counted as high schoolers in order to collect the state's per-pupil funding of about $6,600 per student, which would go to pay tuition at the Community College of Denver.

Then-principal Scott Mendelsberg, who created the program, interpreted the state's constitution literally, saying it guarantees a free education from kindergarten through 12th grade for students up to 21 years old.

This program, along with a similar one called the "21st Century" program at tiny Sheridan High School, sparked controversy among state board members.

The state allows high school students to take college classes for free. This option is meant for "four-year" high school students who take a college class not offered in high school, Colorado Education Commissioner William Moloney said recently.

"The legislature never authorized free college tuition for the entire state," Moloney said.

In Sheridan, where high school students went to Arapahoe Community College on a fifth-year arrangement, Superintendent Mike Poore shut down the program.

"We weren't going to fight that fight," Poore said. "It just breaks my heart."

Since

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that decision, only about half the roughly 50 students who planned to go to Arapahoe or who were already enrolled are in that community college now.

In Denver, 133 Lincoln students are enrolled at the Community College of Denver and the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, which trains students in trades like cosmetology and real estate.

Jazmine Figueroa, 18, is starting her second year at CCD. Some of her friends are dropouts, but she has aspirations to be a midwife.

"Hopefully I'll get another year of this," said Figueroa, who works at a credit card company on the weekends. "I'd die if I had to pay for it all."

DPS administrators are trying to keep Lincoln's program afloat by exploring private funds.

They have not decided how they're going to "count" the 133 college students in this year's October federal count day.

If they are counted as high schoolers, DPS would get state funding for them, but they might have to pay it back, state officials have said in the past.

"Lincoln was doing cutting- edge work, and it's premature to eliminate the program," said Brad Jupp, DPS senior policy adviser. "It's clear that the debate about 'P-16' (preschool through college) programs is unresolved here. ... We are not going to renege on our commitment to the kids, but how we sort this out is yet to be determined."

Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.