Nearly $1 million — mostly from a group supporting charter schools — has poured into the Democratic primary for a seat on the Colorado State Board of Education, a race that some observers say could play a role in the future of charters in the state.
But the two candidates vying to represent the 2nd Congressional District dispute that Tuesday’s primary, whatever the result, will alter the fate of charter schools. They each said in interviews that they support school choice, a system in which charters — public schools that have more autonomy than traditional, district-run schools — play an integral part.
“I believe this is a false narrative,” said Marisol Lynda Rodriguez, an education consultant new to politics with a background in charter schools.
“It’s just simply not true,” added Kathy Gebhardt, a former president of the Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education.
And yet, as of Friday, their race has drawn more than $871,970 in paid advertising from a single political action committee called Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students, which has charter school ties. That money has gone toward supporting Rodriguez and opposing Gebhardt.
The pro-charter committee has spent more than 20 times as much as a union-backed group has put toward its opposition to Rodriguez.
The winner of next week’s primary almost certainly will replace board member Angelika Schroeder, whose six-year term ends in January. No Republican candidate is on the ballot.
Noah Stout, an attorney who previously worked for DSST Public Schools, a charter school network in Denver and Aurora, according to his LinkedIn profile, and Kyle DeBeer, vice president of civic affairs for the Colorado League of Charter Schools, are both listed as agents for the committee.
Neither Stout nor DeBeer could be reached for comment Friday.
The committee is supporting Rodriguez because she can “serve as a really excellent advocate for our kids,” Stout told the Colorado Sun this week, adding, “I don’t come to this from a charter schools perspective.”
The Colorado Labor Action has spent more than $42,300 on mailers opposing Rodriguez, according to campaign finance reports. The Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, is a funder of that committee, according to finance records.
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The influx of money into the state race comes after more than $2 million was spent in the Denver Public Schools board race last year. That spending came primarily from groups and donors who backed education reform and charter schools, and they outspent the Denver teachers union 5 to 1, according to Chalkbeat Colorado. All three candidates they supported were elected to Denver’s school board.
The vast majority of the money in the 2nd CD race for the state board has gone to support Rodriguez, who is viewed as the candidate most likely to back charter schools when they appeal local districts’ decisions to reject …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Politics
