August 18, 2007
Director of State Legislatures - Ron Tupa
Ron Tupa is a former democratic state legislator who resides in Colorado, where he served a total of 14 years in the CO General Assembly from 1994-2008 before leaving office in 2009 due to term-limits.
Ron served on the House and Senate Education Committees throughout his entire legislative career, 6 years as a Representative and during the remaining 8 years in the Senate, where he also served in leadership as Democratic Caucus Chairman, Chairman of the Legislative Audit and State Affairs Committees, and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
During his tenure in office, Ron sponsored or passed nearly 50 pieces of legislation that dealt with education related topics or issues, including K-12 bills that would: update and strengthen CO state standards and establish high school graduation requirements, create a P-16 integrating council, revise school capital construction and renovation grants, increase criminal background checks on educators, extend tuition assistance for student teachers, expedite school safety inspections, reduce average class sizes, implement student wellness programs and safe routes to schools, and lower the cost of college textbooks.
While in office, Ron also taught high school social studies full-time or part-time in area public schools for 10 years and served on numerous boards and commissions related to education or education reform, including the CO Education Alignment Council, the CCHE Advisory Board, and several Interim Committees on School Finance, Teacher Tenure, School District Size, and TABOR/ Amendment 23 / Gallagher reform.
Ron graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in HR Management, and received his teaching certificate from the University of Colorado in Boulder in secondary education where he was a member of Kappa Delta Pi education honor society.
