Political Fights Come to Non-Partisan School Boards Across Colorado

Before the 2021 elections started, many across the country predicted that a red wave would sweep school boards across the nation. School boards used to be sleepy elections that sparked little interest. But after the pandemic struck the nation, those times are over.

The teaching of sex education at a young age and critical race theory were two major drivers of the sudden interest by conservatives to run for school board. When students were forced to learn at home, many parents gained greater exposure to what their children were being taught and were concerned about. Many of them then joined forces to elect members to change the way schools are run.

According to an article on Scholar.org, around 70 percent of local municipalities in the country are nonpartisan meaning that candidates do not run on the ticket as a Republican or Democrat. Most school board races (including Colorado) are nonpartisan with the exception of Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Alabama.

But, for the 2021 elections, the nonpartisan nature did not prevent candidates and voters from drawing a political line in the sand. According to an article on the Colorado Public Radio website, some parts of Colorado went with candidates backed by the teachers’ union, while others chose candidates who called themselves conservative.

“Overall, candidates backed by teachers’ associations won in many large districts — Denver, Jefferson County, Cherry Creek, Durango, and the Poudre School District in the Fort Collins area — while candidates backed by conservative groups ousted incumbents in several Colorado Springs districts, Douglas County, the Greeley Evans School District 6, as well as some smaller districts,” the article reported.

The change in some Colorado school boards could be the direct result of the increase in campaign financing that was prevalent during the election. A report by KOAA News 5 said that over $1 million was poured into school board races and much of it came for conservative nonprofit groups and private parties. In fact, most of the conservative school board candidates across Southern Colorado received money from these organizations including the Woodland Park RE-2 School District candidates receiving financial assistance for the Teller County Republican Party. 

Woodland Park School District Makes National Headlines

The Woodland Park school district’s board was one that changed drastically after last year’s election. Four new conservative members were elected leaving only one incumbent on the five-member board.

According to David Rusterholtz, Woodland Park’s new school board president, the conservative wave in the area was started by the pandemic and national headlines reporting on what was being taught in schools. “During the government shutdown of schools, people were seeing what their kids were learning at home,” Rusterholtz explained. “Part of my job is that I go to people’s homes and take care of propane issues for them. And when I would go into homes, I was hearing from people saying, ‘You won’t believe what is in my kid’s online material.’ It wasn’t as though critical race theory and white guilt were being overtly taught, but people were very concerned. So built into programs even in math programs would be things suggesting the idea that white people should feel guilty for things that were done to Black people over 150 years ago. They were very concerned about it.”

Many were concerned to the point where they started a charter school and applied to the old school board, but the application was denied. In Woodland Park, the school board hadn’t held an election for over a decade due to there being no interest. But in 2021, there were nine candidates that ran for the four open school board seats.

Since the new board took office in the mountain town late last year, the board has already made some drastic changes. One of the very first things the board did after getting elected (and before being sworn in) was to remove mask mandates and leave it up to the parents whether their students would wear masks in class or not.

Next, they addressed local parents’ desire for school choice by looking at how they could bring in the city’s new Merit Academy as a charter school as quickly as possible. The process has been sped up and the plan is that the charter school will be part of the district next school year.

The next thing the school board tackled was the teaching of controversial subject matter. The board along with the district’s superintendent drafted a policy where parents can choose to opt in or opt-out of certain subjects being taught. Once this change was announced the superintendent was featured on the Fox and Friends national news program.

Another concern the new board members discussed while on their campaign was the usage of the Summit Learning Platform, which has struck controversy due to its financial backing from people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. “That (the Summit Learning Platform) was a self-directed curriculum that some grades had and many, many parents did not want that, kids didn’t want that,” Rusterholtz said. “So, for the next school year that is completely gone. The new curriculum will be put in its place.”

Other Local Boards Opt for Leadership Changes

School District 11 in Colorado Springs also saw a change during the last election as three conservative board members were elected giving them the majority. According to District 11’s Public Information Officer Devra Ashby, the school board meetings have reached record attendance numbers since the new board has been elected.

Ashby said that even though the meetings have struck more local interest, there have not yet been any major policy changes. But recently, the board parted ways with the district’s Superintendent Dr. Michael Thomas who was hired in 2018 to work on equity programs within the district. After his departure, students protested controversial social media posts by the school board members by walking out of classes.

In Douglas County, the new school board also ousted their Superintendent Corey Wise. Protests also came about after Rice’s termination and he has said he is filing a lawsuit against the board.

Then in early March, a judge filed an injunction to order some of the Douglas County school board members to follow Colorado’s open meeting laws and keep them from having one-on-one meetings that discuss district business. “The evidence indicates that four members of the board collectively committed, outside of public meetings, to the termination of Wise’s employment,” Douglas County District Judge Jeffrey Holmes wrote in the injunction. “The fact that no public comment was permitted at the February 4th meeting is additional evidence of the (four board members’) commitment to their course of action.”

In the last year or so, citizens have also blamed the new Woodland Park School Board and the Woodland Park City Council with violating open meeting laws.

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The Maverick Observer is an online free-thinking publication interested in the happenings in our region. We launched in February 2020 to hold our politicians and businesses accountable. We hope to educate, inform, entertain, and infuse you with a sense of community.

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