This past Tuesday, the voters of Jefferson County delivered a loud and clear message against the divisive and hardline posture of their school board majority. By nearly a two-to-one margin, they recalled the board majority of Ken Witt, Julie Williams, and John Newkirk and refused to vote in their allies running for the two open seats.

That voters delivered a mandate for a more balanced education policy seems hard to refute. The sentiment was widespread, spilling into Douglas County, where voters rejected three school board incumbents and established a vocal minority on that school board.

But this recall also sent another message, one that will resonate across the country: a rejection of partisanship in our school boards.

Since the Citizens United decision of 2010, political professionals have stood witness to a trickle down of big-money politics, from Congress and gubernatorial elections to state legislatures and, finally, to local political bodies like school boards. As gridlock in our legislatures has increased, so has the flow of money down the political food chain. Frustrated special-interest groups have tried to effect change where they thought it was feasible — locally.

The problem with this flow of money is that it’s divisive. Big-money politics, with its attendant fundraising and reliance on sporadic voter turnout, often requires anger or fear to spur action. It means focusing on wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage or, in the case of the Jeffco recall, school curriculum. This mindset has afflicted most political professionals at one time or another. I am not exempt.

I managed Ali Lasell’s race for the school board in Jeffco, where she ran for the open District 3 seat and won. The editing and re-editing of our communications was an almost weekly battle at the beginning of the race. I would write a fundraising email with a sentence like, “Help us put a stop to the Koch brothers taking over our schools.” Mrs. Lasell, in her wisdom, would scratch that off and write something positive, like, “Let’s work together to bring more transparency to our school board.”

“This is about making positive changes for our kids, and our community,” she would tell me. “Cut that kind of language out.”

She was right. This week, Jeffco voters rejected the politics of divisiveness for their schools. Community members across the gargantuan county ignored party lines and gave up their weekends to knock almost 150,000 doors and make tens of thousands of phone calls. The voters followed their leadership, voting for the recall by a landslide, even though Republican voters outnumbered Democratic ones. Four of the five new board members are registered as unaffiliated.

This is a victory for school and county boards everywhere. It sends a clear signal that Washington’s partisan gridlock has no place in our local government. Interest groups that attempt to frame this fight as a battle royal against the unions or against a conservative conspiracy would do well to heed the message that it is neither of those things. It was a fight for home rule, for a board that would sit amongst the community with open and respectful ears.

I am proud of what we have done for Jeffco’s children, and I know that the newly elected board members will live up to their mandate.

Morgan Hartley, a progressive organizer based in Denver, managed Ali Lasell’s successful campaign for the Jefferson County School Board this fall.