The Churn: Hyatt moving on

What’s churning:

Mark Hyatt, executive director of the state Charter School Institute since February 2010, is taking a new job in Washington, D.C.

In an email circulated this week, Hyatt said he’ll become president and CEO of the Character Education Partnership in January. He described the organization as the “national advocate for effective, comprehensive character education in America’s schools.”

Hyatt, a retired Air Force officer, previously served as director of the Center for Character Development at the Air Force Academy. Before being hired by the CSI board, Hyatt was president of the Classical Academy charter school in Colorado Springs.

The institute authorizes and supervises 22 charter schools around the state that enroll nearly 10,000 students.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation today released its annual Kids Count report, which found that the U.S. child poverty rate increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009. The report also found that in 2010, 11 percent of American children had at least one unemployed parent and 4 percent have been affected by foreclosure since 2007.

Colorado data was released in March by the Colorado Children’s Campaign. That report found while the childhood poverty rate in Colorado remains below the national average, between 2000 and 2009 the number of children living in poverty grew faster in Colorado than elsewhere in the nation, rising 70 percent in Colorado compared to 18 percent nationally.

The national report ranked Colorado as 25th among states on several indicators of child health and well-being.

See the national data and read the Colorado report.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has named three members to the board of CollegeInvest, the agency that administers the state’s 529 college savings plans. Member Ashley Burt of Gunnison was reappointed; new members are Patrice Henning of Evergreen and Douglas Lyon of Durango.