Denver Public Schools may be Colorado’s largest school district, but with 177 others of all shapes and sizes across the vast and varied Centennial State, it’s not as if Denver sets the standard for others to follow. Not in policy or politics. Certainly not in a state that constitutionally enshrines local control.

And yet, many in the state’s education establishment do watch Denver as a sort of laboratory, and perhaps a bellwether, for trends in public education. Especially when it comes to education reforms like Colorado’s thriving charter-school movement, which has been championed by successive administrations and school boards in Denver.

Chalkbeat Colorado reminds us this week that even in Denver, support for reforms continues to hang in the balance – and hinges on the outcome of each school board race. An early sign that board control could be up for grabs again is an announcement by prominent Denver political figure Rosemary Rodriguez that she won’t seek re-election, Chalkbeat’s Melanie Asmar reports.

The district is  in some ways ground zero in a perennial tug-of-war between advocates of innovations like charters – and those who say the district has turned its back on neighborhood schools and the needs of the wide-raning children who attend them. Rodriguez is among the reformers, but in the face of more board openings in the upcoming November election, anything could happen. There are well-heeled stakeholders on both sides of the debate: big-check writers in the education-reform movement vs. dues-funded teachers unions.

Hence, as Asmar notes:

All seven current board members support Denver’s nationally known brand of education reform, which includes a “portfolio” of traditional district-run, charter, magnet and innovation schools.

With four of the the board’s seats up for grabs this November, the campaign presents an opportunity for opponents of those reforms to again try to get a voice on the board.

We’ll be watching.