Colorado voters render mixed verdicts in school board races statewide

Voters delivered different messages in Colorado's school board elections across Tuesday, with candidates backed by teachers unions sweeping in multiple districts across the state even as conservatives and reformers picked up sizable wins.

"There were a lot of mixed messages," said Republican political consultant Tyler Sandberg. "In some places, there were some real clear narrative — voters spoke clearly — but in other areas, they were a little more mealy mouthed, if you will, in their messages to politicians."

If there was a consistent theme, he added, it was a desire by voters to throw out the incumbents in districts whose boards have been dominated by controversy and chaos.

Sandberg pointed to results in two metro-area districts, where voters ousted incumbents, with progressives sweeping in heavily Republican Douglas County and more reform-minded candidates winning in Democratic-dominated Denver.

"Douglas is becoming a swing county to some degree," Sandberg said. "There was a lot of chaos around the superintendent firing, and voters always hate chaos. They hated it in Denver, and they pushed back against that."

The state's largest teachers union, the Colorado Education Association, celebrated the results as a victory for students and public schools, while conceding losses in several larger Front Range districts, including Denver Public Schools, Colorado Springs District 11 and Academy 20.

"In most districts, voters recognized the threat to student learning and voted for candidates who want to strengthen our public schools rather than tear them down," the CEA said in a release touting "big wins" in districts ranging from Adams 12 and Aurora Public Schools to Cherry Creek and Greeley.

“The victories in school board races, mill and bond initiatives, and the unwavering support from the community send a resounding message: public education is a top priority," said CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert in a statement.

The three candidates running in Douglas County under the progressive-leaning "Community Voice, Community Choice" banner — including one incumbent seeking reelection — easily won their races, marking a swing from two years ago when the conservative "Best DCSD" candidates took control of the suburban district, though Tuesday's winners constitute a minority on the seven-member board.

"Douglas County has been a pendulum going back and forth," Sandberg said. "So, this time, the union liberals won, and last time the conservative reformers won."

The opposite happened in Denver, where three candidates backed by education reformers defeated the union-backed candidates by wide margins, defeating two incumbents and winning an open seat.

In many school board races, however, the distinctions between candidates don't always fall along familiar ideological fault lines, noted Sandberg, a co-founder of the education reform advocacy group Ready Colorado, which promotes school choice and greater accountability.

"I don't like the liberal-conservative framework," he said. "In Denver, the topics of debate were not charter (schools) vs. unions. It was more like competency, safety. This was not a mandate to pass a million reform policies, as much as I wish it was. It was a mandate to be adults and be competent and get back to the basics."

Describing the candidates who won seats on the DPS board — at-large member-elect John Youngquist and district representatives-elect Marlene De La Rosa and Kimberlee Sia — he added: "These aren't all dyed-in-the-wool reformers to a T. They came in from a variety of perspectives, but they do have a mandate to be adults. They do have a mandate to end the dysfunction."

Daniel Aschkinasi, the Democratic consultant who helmed Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, the big-spending independent expenditure organization that backed the three winning DPS candidates, offered a similar perspective.

"They are three candidates who represent a really wide ideological background as it relates to school policy," he said. "We didn't go into this election saying it’s us vs. them. I think that people agree on 98% of education policy, and the 2% is what they're willing to fight over and what these battle lines are drawn on. These candidates represented that part of the Venn diagram."

Aschkinasi, who said he was pleasantly surprised the candidates his group supported won by such convincing margins, credited endorsements by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a former school principal and prominent figure in the state's education reform movement, with helping make the choice clear.

"Voters are always looking for a signal-maker in these low-information races, and Mayor Mike Johnston is about as big of an indicator for where Denverites want to see the city as there is right now," he said. "This is a big victory for the mayor. And it’s a mandate. It’s saying, 'We’re tired of this dysfunction on the board.'"

Sandberg said he was encouraged to see conservative-leaning candidates prevail in the two large El Paso County districts.

"(District) 11 has been in place where liberal unions have won the district for generations, and it's not going well," he said. "Kids there are failed at historic levels, and there was some good growth since conservatives took over, in test scores. And so I think (District) 11 and (District) 20 are real shining examples of what's possible."

Sandberg stressed that traditional divides can be counterproductive, adding that he's supported liberal candidates if they were on the side of education reforms. 

"When it comes to school boards, I don't like the liberal-conservative framework, but unfortunately people are always trying to drive that," he said. "I'm more about, vote for the candidates who can actually raise test scores and focus on helping kids, because we're not having abortions in school nurse's clinics, and all the cultural fights that happen in partisan politics."