Douglas County, with its general political orientation on a slide rule from conservative Democrat to ultra-conservative Republican, continues to juice up core controversies in the state. It’s on the brink of deciding whether to have a local control county government or hold to its current status as a statutory county. It’s also the center of some of the most important education controversies of the day.

Dougco will vote on June 24 in a special election on a resolution by its county commissioners to form a Home Rule Charter Commission. This week, the Colorado Charter School Institute board voted to authorize a controversial charter school for the newish housing development in Dougco’s Sterling Ranch development. The CSI board voted unanimously in favor of John Adams Academy, an eventual K-12 school offering a program based on the American Classical Education Lyceum model developed by Dr. Dean Forman, a certified financial planner from Roseville, California near Sacramento. 

Dr. Forman created this program based on epiphanies he experienced during a “Face to Face with Greatness” event on stories about the nation’s founding fathers. “It revealed to us that the history of freedom has been largely lost to our current educational system — and the rising generation.” He further explains: “We witnessed the hand of Providence working through us and others in the establishment of John Adams Academy.” His most ambitious claim states: “An American Classical Leadership Education as offered by John Adams Academy is the best prevention and the only hope that a ‘nation conceived in liberty… shall not perish from the earth.’” A bold claim indeed.

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Interestingly, he chose as his guide John Adams, second president of the United States, leader of the American Revolution and theorist for the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Adams was a precursor to the Boston Brahmins as he brought forward ideas about democracy and republicanism that formed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He led the Federalist Party that argued for a strong role for a central government with checks and balances and opposed Thomas Jefferson’s more decentralized, states’ rights orientation.

John Adams Academy uses these two models of educated men as a basis for its program, schooling children in Latin and western literature, leadership formation and traditional civic values of virtue and morality. The curriculum de-emphasizes contemporary education concerns with advances in science and technology, the visual arts and digital literacy. The good news of this education model is children will learn cursive writing skills so they can read the original Declaration of Independence. The worrying news is students may be unfamiliar with important developments and discoveries in science, technology and engineering or any philosophical principles, literature, or history from cultures outside western thought.

None of these limitations of the John Adams Academy model seemed to bother the Colorado Charter Institute board. The nine members did not address objections from some Sterling Ranch and other Dougco citizens to a curriculum they deem too narrow and ideological. They did not consider the effect of the school’s projected growth on how the district will develop and manage future public schools in the community. They did not question whether it’s appropriate to educate today’s children using learning concepts from the middle ages.

The CSI board is not elected like other school boards. It’s appointed by the governor and the state’s commissioner of education. For their own reasons, the Gov. Jared Polis and the commissioner have filled the board with individuals from the business and investment community, private-sector consultants and school-choice advocacy organizations.

As an example, Nick Hernandez, the next CSI board vice chair, leads Transform Education Now, a charter school advocacy organization focused on inserting charters in Denver Public Schools and Adams 14, districts with declining enrollment. His group persuaded the Colorado State Board of Education to de-authorize Adams 14 as a chartering district in 2023. Since that time, two CSI charters, University Prep and Be the Change, received authorization over the objections of the school district.

A board seat is currently up for renewal by the Colorado Department of Education commissioner, Susana Cordova. The open seat application was promoted using education organizations such as the Colorado Children’s Campaign, but it was not posted on the CDE website or on the Colorado Charter School Institute website. The CSI board voted unanimously to recommend the commissioner re-appoint the current sitting member, Ross Izard, a lobbyist for the charter school industry. This is insider stuff that’s difficult to square with proper oversight of the large amount of state tax dollars pumped into CSI-authorized schools.

About $350 million goes to these schools annually, with no matching money from local school districts. If John Adams Academy hits its 850 student target, that’s another $11.05 million. Dr. Dean Forman and Academica, the selected education management group, will benefit from that sum. A John Adams-type education choice for some Sterling Ranch students affects the ability of Douglas County Schools to fund other choices. The current Dougco board voted to give its authorization away to CSI for this school. That’s on them. Future elected boards will not get that authorization back or the money that goes with it.

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