Changes Promised by Obama Administration Finally Reaching Adams, Broomfield, Denver Counties

Don't flush just yet.

Home values in Denver have increased 12% in 2009, and are slowly increasing throughout the state. Why?

The educational system is finally making some noise.

Test scores and community approval have risen steadily since 2005, and it's showing in tax dollars.

The next time you can, thank a teacher .

After pouring over pages and pages of various federal, state and county agency's economics statistics, one can only find one common factor in the an otherwise explainable trend of rebound: perseverance.

No single teacher, principal or philosophy can claim credit. It has been a group-effort by a nation unwilling to surrender a fight for the future of its children.

Other states are showing the same trends. Those who are still lagging are not far behind. Arizona and Utah, commonly last in every category in every year since 1970, are seeing the gap decrease in regards to SAT scores, drop-out rates and college graduates. The non-traditional students are helping this.

But since school test scores his all-time lows in the early 2000's, teachers dug in, got their students through the last decade, and the result is a school system armed with savvy software-friendly teachers and students who are self-aware that the nation is starving for leaders to roar us into the 2020's.

The Roaring 2020's await. There are many factors to examine for this, from a special team of groundbreaking, user-friendly teaching-software trainers, who are about to be dispatched throughout Denver Public Schools by superintendent Michael Bennett, once a candidate for U.S. Secretary of Education, to the ongoing cutting edge tools produced by LucasArts & Apple, to the increase of online tools for students, to the mutual passing of major educationally-ambitious budgets by both the state House and Senate have led to the current ripple effect.

The fact is Colorado schools, once in the lowest tier of SAT score rankings, are now enjoying a top-15 ranking among the 51 provinces including the District of Columbia.

Community colleges and universities are also trying to work together more, realizing that not every student lives across the street from their campus, and those who do can choose to attend multiple schools. Virtual campuses have made cross-country and international students common, minus the commute. And, non-traditional enrollment is up in excess of 78% since online degrees were first offered in the 1990's.

Some colleges, like the University of Colorado, Northern Colorado University and Colorado State University, have implemented programs that reward full time students at one school such that they may take one class at another in-state partnering school, waiving the tuition, like a buy-full-time, get-a-credited-and-transferable-class-free coupon.

Usage of the College Level Exam Program (CLEP) is up.

Not surprisingly, financial aide is also up, but with a twist: nontraditional borrowers are repaying their loans more often than traditional student borrowers according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The birth rate, which will effect the number of schools needed over time, has stayed about the same as it was five years ago, so schools will continue to need teachers and administrators. House and Senate leaders have noticed this and school budgets are becoming increasingly passed without debate. Colorado is now taking its educational system very seriously.

So, if home property taxes increase in 2010 as a result of these improvements, we know who to thank: teachers.

Though no one likes higher taxes, you know what I meant.