Colorado: Bill Ritter

Gov. Bill Ritter plans to sign nine education bills during a ceremony Thursday in Denver.

One would set up a statewide system to track the performance of teachers and principals to help close the so-called "teacher gap," where less experienced teachers tend to work in low-income schools.

Another provides more options for overhauling low performing schools.

The Obama administration is offering more than $4 billion to a select group of states willing to push school reforms. Closing the teacher gap and turning around struggling schools are among the goals of that "Race to the Top" program.

Colorado stands to win about $400 million if it's among the eight to 10 states that are selected.

Former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis officially entered the 2010 gubernatorial race with little fanfare and after critics have for weeks argued he was essentially running without filing the appropriate financial disclosures.

The Grand Junction Republican gave notice of his intent to run Tuesday to the secretary of state's office in what McInnis' right-hand man called a "purely bureaucratic" move.

So many people have asked to volunteer, Mike Hesse said, that McInnis made his candidacy official so he could put them to work.

And though McInnis' detractors claimed victory Tuesday, the filing has nothing to do with the mounting criticism, Hesse said.

Former Congressman Scott McInnis has officially entered the 2010 gubernatorial race with little fanfare and after critics have for weeks argued that he should file campaign-finance disclosures.

The secretary of state's office confirmed that the Grand Junction Republican turned in his paperwork Tuesday afternoon.

McInnis has traveled the state building support for his campaign in recent weeks and launched a phone campaign. But he has maintained, until now, that because he had not formally announced or spent money supporting his run, he did not have to register with the state or report the campaign's financials.

A legal-watchdog group has asked the secretary of state to look into whether McInnis' actions violated state campaign

Candidate Affidavit

laws.

Two years ago this month, 7-year-old Chandler Grafner starved to death in the bottom of a linen closet in a case of child abuse that outraged Coloradans and shone a light on holes in the state's child-welfare safety net.

The deaths of 12 other children that came to public attention a year later underscored those flaws.

A new law that took effect Tuesday is aimed at mending holes in that safety net by requiring every new social worker in Colorado to attend state training on how to better recognize and document cases of child abuse.

The law requires state training and certification for county and city workers, some of whom may not have received standardized on-the-job education at the local level, according to Gov.