Colorado is behind the eight-ball in per-pupil funding ó $2,162 behind the national average. Some of it relates to the diversion of education dollars to other areas of the state budget. Colorado spends $4,000 less per student than Nebraska and $8,000 less than Wyoming. Also, Colorado ranks 31st in the nation for teacher pay, according to the National Education Association’s 2017 statistics. Colorado teachers’ annual salary averaged just under $52,000. No wonder Colorado teachers were on the Capitol steps on Friday, April 27.In 2012, after 13 years in the making, the Freedom Memorial was built in Aurora, Colorado. Rick Crandall founded the memorial. The names of 6,000 fallen U.S. servicemen and women are eternalized in panels of glass. The slanted panels symbolize the fallen soldiers. The jagged pieces are reminiscent of Coloradoís mountains and the water surrounding it represents a war fought overseas.
