Colorado State Board of Education at crossroads after contentious run
The item was not even on the agenda. The Colorado State Board of Education was supposed to spend the morning recognizing award-winning teachers and digesting a routine school-finance update.
But sitting to the right of the board chairwoman, an impatient new member with a reputation as a whip-smart, ruthlessly effective lobbyist and lawmaker wasted little time showing a new era had begun.
On that January day, Colorado Springs Republican Steve Durham sprung the first of many surprises that would shake the state's education establishment, prevailing in a vote to allow school districts to skip a portion of new state tests required by federal law.
The drama stretched out for months, with 30 districts seeking the waiver; the state Attorney General concluding that the board had overstepped its authority; decisions being delayed; then finally the board backing off — weeks after the tests had already been given.
This is the 2015 state board of education in microcosm — unpredictable, contentious and pushing the boundaries of its limited power at a time of angst over testing, accountability and other issues.
The board has taken controversial stands or engaged in long debates about a student health survey, parents opting their children out of state tests and a disputed scoring system for high school science and social studies tests.
"There are lots of things I appreciate about what they are trying to do — efforts to hold back the overabundance of state statutes and regulations that have put additional strains and pressure on local schools," said Jason Glass, superintendent of the Eagle County School District. "But they have sort of been in this reality distortion field where they are trying to ignore restraints and do whatever they want."
Tensions spilled over last month when Republican board chairwoman Marcia Neal of Grand Junction resigned, citing board dysfunction and the exodus of top Department of Education staff headlined by education commissioner Robert Hammond, who retired in June.
The board now sits at a crossroads. A Republican vacancy committee on Aug. 8 will select from among nine candidates to replace Neal as representative of the 3rd District — potentially shaking up the board dynamic again — and the next few months will be consumed with finding a new commissioner, a key board responsibility.
The board is expected to push contractors to adopt stronger safeguards for handling student data and again challenge the status quo by questioning the role private foundations play in funding education.
Testing reform legislation signed into law this spring brings the possibility of districts proposinglocally developed alternative assessments through a pilot program created by the bill.
The state board's role is narrowly defined; its responsibilities include regulating teacher licensing, hearing charter school appeals and granting waivers to Colorado education law and regulations.
Durham, who filled a seat vacated when Paul Lundeen was elected to the state House, has emerged as a force.
While a member of the state House, Durham was a member of "House Crazies," hard-core conservatives who dominated the General Assembly in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Durham also served in the state Senate, including a four-year stint on the Senate Education Committee in the 1980s when battles raged over school choice and conflicts with teachers unions.
As a lobbyist for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, he championed Colorado's 2010 educator effectiveness law, Senate Bill 191.
"In terms of tempo, I think Steve's personal expectations and his habits are to crank it up," said Bob Schaffer, a Republican former board chairman and legislator who leads a Fort Collins charter Colorado State Board of Education at crossroads after contentious run - The Denver Post: