Colorado’s democratic process allows “we the people” to rise up and have our voices heard – directly, through the ballot – when our elected officials won’t listen to us. It could happen again this November, as the Independence Institute is collecting signatures to put a new citizens initiative before voters statewide.

Eight years ago, the institute earned enough autographs to put to ballot an initiative for public transparency of negotiations between school districts and teachers unions. It came after the Legislature torpedoed a vote on a similar bill. The electorate subsequently passed the citizens initiative by a 70%-30% landslide.

Talk about “power to the people.”

We’re staring down a sequel to those events this fall, as the institute has filed an initiative to expand the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) to permit parental access to teaching materials used in their kids’ classrooms.

The ballot initiative – which needs roughly 125,000 signatures to get on the ballot – comes after the 2022 Legislature failed to put a similar bill on the matter to a floor vote. So, Republican state Rep. Tim Geitner of Falcon and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara advanced the proposal as a citizens initiative instead.

“It doesn’t give parents power to cancel or alter a curriculum,” Caldara said, “but instead lets them know what their child is being taught.”

Often in the convoluted, disorienting world of politics, it’s rare to find a policy proposition this straightforward – or with such a natural appeal to parents across the spectrum.

It simply calls for greater transparency. It could give parents a better understanding of what their children are learning – allowing parents to reinforce or, if they feel it’s warranted, challenge the curriculum.

While many school districts, schools and teachers in Colorado do commendably provide parents a lot of information about their curriculum, the practice is far from uniform.

There’s a palpable disconnect between parents and a public education establishment that too often spurns parental involvement. That was evident in November, when voters across the state came out in larger-than-normal numbers for off-year elections anchored by school board races.

The message reverberated across districts, as parents decided they’d had it with blanket public-schooling policy from on high governing the lives of their children. After nearly two years of subpar “remote” learning, mask mandates and politically motivated instruction, parents were fed up.

In November’s wake, judging by the lack of action from the Legislature – as well as the statewide narrative from the teachers unions who’ve effectively run Colorado education for years – these entities don’t quite get it yet.

Parents by and large are not asking for a rewriting of history courses to leave out the grave mistakes of the country’s past; those details should be in there with the good, which there’s plenty of.

Parents are not saying university-level critical race theory course syllabuses are being handed out to unsuspecting sixth graders for the ensuing semester. Parents are not expressing a lack of faith in the majority of teachers. Most teachers are committed to their students’ education with no agenda.

Parents simply want to be able to take a look at what is being taught. In short, they want transparency, honesty and accountability. Having been denied it by the Legislature, they just might vote for it if given the chance in November.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board