Al Meiklejohn: A champion for public education
Al Meiklejohn, former Colorado State Senator and public education advocate, died this week. Senator Meiklejohn was a friend to public education for many, many years. Senator Meiklejohn served 24 years (six terms) in the Legislature, concluding his service in 1996.
The Senator was a public school graduate (Denver’s South High School) and a graduate of the University of Denver. An Air Force veteran, he practiced law and accounting before he began his remarkable public service career. He served on the Jefferson County School Board and was elected to the State Senate in 1972.
The front page of the June-July 1996 edition of the CEA Journal celebrated Sen. Meiklejohn’s contributions to public education. The main headline proclaimed, “Colorado students win with boost in education funding” (an article about HB 96-1354 that added $120M to K-12 education). Then followed by a story about CEA honoring Sen. Meiklejohn with The Coloradan Award at the Spring 1996 CEA (annual meeting) Delegate Assembly.
The Journal article said, “We in the Association know Sen. Meiklejohn best as the chairman of the powerful Senate Education Committee. An outspoken advocate for public education and educators, the Senator has played a key role in the passage of many laws to improve our schooling system. He was instrumental in passing the Colorado Standards & Assessments and educator licensing laws – and he has been a guide for his fellow lawmakers because of his knowledge and commitment to education issues, including complex school finance issues.”
The article continued, “A senior statesman at the Capitol, Sen. Meiklejohn has a reputation among educators and policymakers as a careful listener, an articulate spokesman, and a champion for children. Senator Dottie Wham perhaps said it best when she wrote that Sen. Meiklejohn’s presence will be sorely missed (at the Capitol) and while the children of Colorado will be unaware of his absence, the lack of his persuasive voice in the Senate will indeed affect their education.”
We say today as we said in 1996, “Thank you, Senator Meiklejohn. For many years you have been a fine friend of children, of Colorado’s education employees, and indeed of this Association. We will miss you.”
Tags: Al Meiklejohn, CEA, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Legislature, Jefferson County Senator, Senator Al Meiklejohn, State Senate, State Senator
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March 5, 2010 at 11:26 am
[...] the education spectrum. First, the teachers union in their CEA Capitol Connection blog declared him “a champion for public education,” highlighting a 1996 feature to him in their own magazine on the occasion of his retirement from the [...]