The Denver School Board race for three seats is turning into an expensive brawl. The contest is between, on one side, those who want to dump DPS’s neighborhood and comprehensive schools and turn the district into charter or innovation schools run by non-profits and for-profit management companies and, on the other side, those who believe in the public foundations of public schools. Ulcca Hansen, the leading fundraiser in the at-large DPS race, is a champion for the choice schools’ tidal wave. She stopped her campaign. Why? What does this decision say about the election?

Hansen is the spouse of State Sen. Chris Hansen who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Denver. Some might call them a Denver power couple driving Colorado policy in education (Ulcca) and energy (Chris). Though Ulcca Hansen grew up in Tanzania, she finished her education with a Ph.D from Oxford and a JD from Harvard. She has made her living consulting with super wealthy philanthropists who are working industriously to take over public schools across the U.S., with Denver as the current target. She is the author of “The Future of Smart,” a pretentious title for a storyline promoting whole-child education, a long-time education strategy of progressive educators.

Hansen built up her formidable pot of money from donors including current legislators, lobbyists and even from Auon’tai Anderson, a vociferous and contentious member of the Denver school board. She would have been a logical choice for Denver Families Action PAC and its recent supply of $1.75 million from Netflix billionaire Reed Hastings and others. Unfortunately for Hansen, a problem cropped up.

Hansen is on the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone Board of Directors which had four schools under management. This zone has seen many problems. Northfield High School teachers voted to withdraw from the zone. More recently, former McAuliffe International principal Kurt Dennis was fired when he went to the press concerning the East High shooting tragedy and revealed some personal information about a student, violating DPS policy. Then a whistleblower revealed Dennis placed unruly special education students into a seclusion room and locked the door, leaving the children unattended inside the room. This action also violated DPS policy.

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In her website, Hansen places school security as a top-rank priority. She also states, “We must disrupt troubling patterns of over-disciplining and over-punishing subgroups of students, including young people of color, boys, and students with learning differences.” Principal Dennis apparently didn’t get that message.

Hansen and her unelected co-board members may be painted unfairly for the problems at McAuliffe. It’s unclear how the responsibilities of the unelected NDIZ board and the elected DPS school board divide up. That’s a core problem of the innovation zone concept and the administration of charters. Who gets sprayed when bad stuff hits the fan – unelected boards or the elected officials whose authority over the offending parties has been degraded by education policy and statute?

Hansen withdrew from the school board race with a mournful letter to her supporters. Here is the most important statement in her message: “Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that this race will be dominated by the soft side, with soft-side spending outpacing campaign spending by 10 to 1. Having that support is crucial to winning this race. Last week, it became clear that I would not have that soft-side support. After careful consideration and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from the current race.”

What words can better clarify the attack on the public in public education than hers? Ulcca Hansen sought “soft money,” otherwise known as “dark money,” from Denver Families Action PAC. She didn’t get that support, and without it, she knew she couldn’t win.

These dark-money donors are the billionaires who, along with the Walton Family of Broncos fame, Bill and Melinda Gates, and MacKenzie Scott of Bezos fame, have systematically attacked Denver’s neighborhood schools and comprehensive high schools with their multi-million donations to charters and similar entities.

The DPS charter schools favored by these soft-money donors, such as Strive Prep, Rocky Mountain Prep, University Prep and the Denver Kipp charter chain where another DPS board candidate Kimberlee Sia was CEO, use funds from Colorado’s taxpayers to run their schools. The philanthropists then donate additional millions, with amounts only revealed through tax returns, to pursue their free-market, capitalist goals of privatizing public education. These donors then take an income tax deduction for their “charitable works.” It’s a great deal for them and bad for Colorado’s taxpayers.

Can it get any more obvious the super-wealthy and the wealthy-backed are working together to take over Denver Public Schools? To hell with the poor neighborhood families who want their children to attend schools in their neighborhoods so they can have community. To hell with the neighborhood schools recently closed or facing the same because charters have poached their students ostensibly to provide “better education.” To hell with the public investment in infrastructure in neighborhoods where the schools serve neighborhood kids.

Strive Prep, RMP and Kipp 2022-23 standardized test results show very few of their students “meet expectations” based on standardized tests. Same with most DSST middle school students, despite hyped messaging and ample extra funds. RMP and Strive have recently merged to salvage their programs. Both RMP and Kipp have received large chunks of bail-out money from billionaires.

Former East High School principal John Youngquist won the at-large candidate endorsement from the billionaire-backed Denver Families Action PAC along with Sia from Kipp charters and Marlene Delarosa, a school volunteer. The money will pay for so-called “actioneers” who will cold-call and knock on doors of voters all over Denver in support of these billionaire-backed “big three” candidates. If previous school board elections are prelude, Denver Families money will far exceed any bucks the Colorado Education Association or Denver Classroom Teachers Association can drum up.

It’s self-evident the former KIPP charter CEO Sia would accept the big bucks. She’s done that before. What have Youngquist and Delarosa committed to for the money? Every Denver voter and Colorado taxpayer needs to know what the billionaires’ cherry-picked candidates are up to.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.