Confusion is the game’s name when it comes to school board elections in 2025. With outside, dark money pouring into the Denver Public Schools (DPS) race and others around the state, it’s easy for voters to get turned around.

According to Clarence Burton of ironically named Denver Families for Public Schools (DFPS) along with his dark-money campaign committee Denver Families Action (DFA), the current DPS school board is “historically unfavorable” from his point of view. He asks, “Will we move toward a board that is more transparent…?”

Burton’s definition of transparency is the confusing part. His organization and campaign finance committee are as inscrutably opaque as a dense December tule fog in California’s central valley.

So far, DFA and friends have contributed about $640,000 in support of its four candidates: Mariana del Hierro for District 2, Caron Blanke for District 3, Timiya Jackson for District 4, and Alex Magaña for at-large. Another $50,000 came in from other charter school supporters. The donations range from $25,000 to $250,000 in chunks. How many Denver families and others in the state have that kind of cash to give to school board elections?

On the other side, the Colorado Education Association (CEA) has pitched just more than $500,000 to races across the state. Another $200,000 from Denver Classroom Teachers Association is directed at the Denver race. We know exactly where these funds come from: teachers making $40,000 to $100,000 in salary depending on their years on the job and their location. That’s roughly 40,000 families with at least one teacher or other public education support person across the state who works to build children’s learning capacity and social skills.

Evidence indicates DFPS’ slate of candidates cannot fulfill Burton’s transparency wish in Denver, anyway. Its four aspirants would have to turn on their most financially powerful supporters to make that happen.

Here’s the setup: The publicly elected DPS board holds at least two meetings per month in district locations starting at 4:30 p.m., with public comment at its once-a-month workshop meeting. Every meeting is videotaped. Meeting subjects are thoroughly documented along with public votes. That is, if there’s a report on academic achievement among middle school students, the district posts the data on its website for public review.

Further, the district budget and its expenses are posted on the district’s website reflecting dollars in and out. The public can view the entirety of how much money goes to schools, administration, transportation and every other nook and cranny.

The DSST charter school network with Denver’s elite on its board, on the other hand, runs in the opposite direction. Every board member is appointed. Not one has children attending DSST. The board meets roughly six times a year at inconvenient times for parents and generally not at one of the campuses. The meetings are not videotaped. Minutes for their meetings in 2025 have yet to be posted on the network’s website. In the 2024-2025 school year, a DPS representative attended one meeting. That’s as much oversight of the board’s activities as formally occurred.

No parent at any of the DSST schools is recorded as attending any of the board meetings. Issues are discussed with no detail included in sketchy minutes. Their budget reporting does not reveal the large incoming dollars from various millionaire contributors who top up DSST’s bank accounts.

KIPP charter schools are among the most segregated in the DPS district. Its 15-member board is similar to DSST’s — appointed, elite, and no parents. Pat Donovan, a leader of DFPS, and Katy Anthes, Colorado’s former education commissioner, are on the KIPP board. The board had six scheduled meetings in 2024-2025 with no public comment at any of them. The minutes indicate academic and financial subjects covered with no documentation. No videotapes are available of board meetings. Budget accountability documents do not show additional philanthropic dollars that support KIPP’s programs.

Rocky Mountain Prep is another large charter chain in Denver’s array of schools. It averages more than 80% of students on free/reduced lunch and minority status, indicating it primarily markets to low-income minority families. Its board comprises five members including one parent representative.

Pat Donovan, KIPP board member, is now chair of Rocky Mountain Prep’s board. He recently announced the departure of the network’s chief executive, Tricia Noyola. Other than best wishes all around, neither Noyola nor Donovan commented on the reasons or circumstances of her July resignation. The board also had significant turnover in 2025, with members from the Strive charter school network that merged with Rocky Mountain Prep in 2023 departing.

Imagine how these circumstances would play out on the Denver Public Schools’ elected board. If several board members resigned and the superintendent departed, a “best wishes and no comment” would not suffice.

Other charters in Denver may operate somewhat differently, but the paucity of information and lack of openness among these three dominant chains should leave the public incredulous. Denver Families for Public Schools has spent almost a million dollars to protect these charter chains’ opaque methods. DFPS’s leaders are gaslighting voters when they cry out for transparency. Candidates who reject charter school opacity make the right call.

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