\u201cI have to sign it, and that\u2019s when they become real nice to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
One bill, The Agricultural Workforce Development Act, Senate Bill 18-042<\/a>, offers an internship program through the Young and Beginning Farmers Association in which experienced farmers pay half the cost of tutoring an apprentice and the state pays the other half.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps farm business owners to take on interns,\u201d said Mike Nolan, president of the Four Corners Farmers and Ranchers Coalition. \u201cIt helps farmers get people to help, and it helps bring in younger people to learn about farming.\u201d<\/p>\n The average age for a farmer in Colorado is 60, Nolan said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe aging of farmers is a big issue not only in Colorado but nationally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hickenlooper said the bill not only attracts more young people into farming, it also provides incentives to keep water in agricultural use and minimizes temptations from the Front Range to divert Western Slope water across the Continental Divide for use by cities.<\/p>\n The other two bills help aspiring teachers.<\/p>\n The Financial Incentives for Educators in Rural Colorado Act, SB 18-085<\/a>, increases the number of stipends, each worth $6,000, available to student teachers and adults looking for a career change into teaching. The number of stipends expands from 20 to 60. Stipends come with a stipulation that recipients must spend three years teaching in rural schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original bill (passed in the 1980s) provided stipends only to student teachers in traditional education programs. This bill expands the program to offer stipends to alternative-certification programs, for professionals looking to change careers into teaching,\u201d said Evan Kennedy, director of rural residency for the Public Education and Business Coalition.<\/p>\n Sherri Maxwell, regional manager for the Boettcher Teacher Residency, an alternative teacher certification program, said the measure will attract people from within communities to fill the teacher shortages rural communities face.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting local people to fill positions in our local schools,\u201d she said. \u201cOne challenge we face is bringing in people to fill positions, and then they leave.\u201d<\/p>\n State Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, said the measure helps teachers advance in their profession. \u201cSometimes a teacher is just a few credit hours short of their master\u2019s, and this will help them.\u201d<\/p>\n McLachlan sponsored all three bills signed Thursday.<\/p>\n The second bill that helps young teachers is The Student Teacher Criminal History Record Checks Act.<\/p>\n