The down-ballot primary election this month for State School Board District 2 holds enormous significance for the future of charter schools here.
According to Erica Breunlin of The Colorado Sun, “What’s at stake is the panel’s willingness to overturn local districts when they reject a charter school’s application.”
Currently, term-limited Angelika Schroeder is part of the 5-4 majority on the Colorado Board of Education that is willing to overturn local school districts when they deny charter school applications.
The two contenders for the position – both Democrats, since no Republican is running – differ substantially on this issue.
Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students, a pro-charter school state-level super PAC, has poured nearly $685,000 into the contest in support of education consultant Marisol Lynda Rodriguez in her bid against former Boulder Valley School Board President Kathy Gebhardt.
Rodriguez says on her campaign website, that she “is a Boulder-based business owner, education veteran and most importantly, mom of two Boulder Valley School District children.”
Various pro-charter organizations are supporting her bid in hopes of “preserving fair consideration for charter schools at the board level,” according to Dan Schaller, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. He had added “I think we are just very interested in ensuring the state board remains a fair and objective arbiter of these decisions impacting charter schools….”
Meanwhile, Gebhardt told The Sun that she believes charter schools are “an essential part of our choice system.” Gebhardt has advocated for charter schools in her 30 years of being involved in Colorado schools. She served on Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education for eight years, two of them as president. Her children, now grown, went through the BVSD schools
She has concerns about charter schools, among them, that they have discriminated in the enrollment of some students, particularly those with special needs, those living in poverty, and those with English as a second language. Data from the Colorado Department of Education would seem to back her up, indicating that in this past school year, nearly 90% of students with special needs were enrolled in public schools, while about 10% were in charter schools.
However, Gebhardt would prefer most decisions about charter schools to come from the local level, where both need and data are closer to home.
She is endorsed by 2nd District Representative Joe Neguse, State Treasurer Dave Young, Senate President Steve Fenberg, and the Colorado Education Association. Rodriguez is endorsed by Gov. Jared Polis, who lives in the 2nd District and, not coincidentally, founded two charter schools.
State school board members serve six-year, unpaid terms. This election will determine whether that final decision about a charter school remains in the State Board’s hands for the next few years, or in those of local boards.
Both candidates have websites with a whole lot of information. Please check them out and make this important decision.
This issue may already have affected our families in the Coal Creek area, in Jefferson County, where the local school was closed and families had to choose whether to endorse a local charter school.
It’s not often a down-ballot election can affect us locally. This time it may.
