Anatomy of a School Board Election: When Big Money Wins, Kids Lose
“Reformers” in Denver are claiming victory, and to some extent they should. They have been successful in buying a 7-0 school board. Following is the story of how the last seat was purchased on November 3 and how the big money was able to hold on to the two “reform” seats up for re-election.
Should you not wish to read all of my analysis here are the headlines:
District 1: The incumbent was going be difficult to beat, for while voting for all things “reform,” she has managed to keep most of “reform” out of her mostly affluent, mostly white district.
District 5: There was no way “reformers” were going to lose this seat. This was the only remaining obstacle to a unanimous board, the only thing standing between public dialogue and silent acquiescence to all staff proposals.
At large: Had the election been held on Friday, October 28, 2015, the challenger, Robert Speth, parent not politician, would have defeated Board President Allegra “Happy” Haynes.
Now on to the details.
While anti-reformers locally and nationally are celebrating the victories in Colorado’s Jefferson County (Jeffco) and Douglas County (Dougco), we in Denver are left with a unanimous board devoted to continuing the destruction of public education in Denver Public Schools. Those of you unfamiliar with Colorado, briefly, Jeffco and Dougco are suburban Denver counties. They are more affluent and less diverse than Denver. The issues in both counties differ greatly from the “reform” happening in Denver. Dougco and Jeffco boards were overtly arrogant in their power grabs. Not so in Denver, so while I take my hat off to them and while I am very envious of their victories, Denver is a completely different ball game. Koch brothers’ money along with money from Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and some from the Colorado Education Association (CEA) flowed into Jeffco; Koch brothers’ money flowed into Dougco; unlimited and unknown amounts of money from (DFER) and Stand for Children money flowed into Denver. Democrats in Denver undoing public education. Who ever would have thought that possible?
Denver is well down the “reform” road. Ten years. National attention has been showered on Denver Public Schools for its success in implementing the business model in spite of data showing snails’ paced academic improvements. (See here and here). And while national “reform” publications and institutions try to tell you Denver is a success story, the recent data tell you something completely different.(Center on Reinventing Public Education, Council of Great City Schools, National Assessment of Educational Progress ). Implementing “reform” is one thing; getting results a completely different thing. Test and punish should be the mantra of this District as our students, communities, families, and teachers, suffer. And, ironically, on election day the New York Times published an analysis of a new report which strongly suggests American schools are not failing students. American society is. Schools cannot and should not be held responsible for poverty and its consequences. Society can and should be. Also, on Thursday, November 5, 2015 the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against part of the state’s punitive teacher evaluation bill SB 10-191. And on the same day the DPS Board of Education had a staff presentation making school closures more institutionalized, including providing the board with predetermined questions! Now, if you are one of seven elected Board members and you need the District staff to provide you with questions to ask, I Anatomy of a School Board Election: When Big Money Wins, Kids Lose | Kaplan for Kids:
