Coming home from the Colorado House of Representatives for the weekend, Barbara McLachlan, the new rep for House District 59, held a town hall meeting on Saturday morning at the Patio in Ignacio.

While most people were there for a weekend breakfast, several did stop by her table to say hi.

She polled them if they would support an increased state sales tax or gas tax to fix the state's roads. Most preferred a gas tax, she reported.

What about a meter on a car that would measure the mileage, then charge the driver for the miles driven? she asked.

Naw, one respondent said. Too Big Brother.

McLachlan said other constituents wanted to talk about public lands policy and education. McLachlan has hosted similar meetings in Pagosa Springs and Gunnison, and recently attended a school board meeting in Ouray.

McLachlan's first legislative session started Jan. 10, and she said learning about the issues in her district is like "drinking from a fire hose."

Having been a teacher in Durango, education is important to her.

"What's best for education?" she asked. "And the students?"

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Gallagher Amendment and Amendment 23 are all on a collision course for school funding, she said.

"We are so in debt to our schools," she said of the so-called "negative factor," where the legislature promises funding to each school district in the state, then takes some of it back midway through the school year.

McLachlan said she would like to see an approach to statewide education similar to the Colorado Water Plan, where groups from each water basin in the state sat down to talk about what works, and what doesn't, in their area.

"I'd like to see a statewide, non-partisan plan" for school funding, she explained. Current funding for school districts is antiquated, with rich urban districts providing more property taxes for local schools than poorer and rural districts.

"We shouldn't punish kids based you where they live," she said. "We need to change the financial system."

What ties legislators' hands is that most of the state budget is already appropriated by the time they start working on it.

Unfunded state mandates, rules and testing also aren't fair to school districts, she said. Consolidating some districts, or at least their administrative functions, might be a way to save money, she said. El Paso County, for example, has 17 school districts spread throughout the Colorado Springs area.

She and other Western Slope legislators are starting an "adoption" program with Front Range legislators so they can familiarize themselves with rural issues. One co-worker asked her recently if she drives home every night from Denver.

"Uhm, no," she said of the seven-hour drive, and that's in good weather. She hopes her urban counterpart will visit her in Durango between sessions.

During the legislative session, which runs through May 10, McLachlan can be reached in Denver at (303) 866-2914.