School board recall vote in Colorado could have national implications
County election says a lot about larger political battles over educational choice, vouchers and curriculum control
Helen H. Richardson / The Denver Post / Getty Images
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — On a beautiful recent autumn Sunday afternoon, about 100 people are gathered in a hotel conference room in Lakewood to talk about schools.
At a summit sponsored by the Colorado chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), they discussed how to increase the number of charter schools in the state, pay teachers on the basis of performance and use government money for students in private or even home schools.
And they strategized how to win school board elections in Jefferson County and other school districts around the state on Nov. 3.
Meanwhile, activist parents like Jeff Kirk are walking neighborhoods in the county — by student population, the second-largest school district in the state. They’re trying to persuade voters to recall three of the five Jefferson County school board members and elect an entirely new board.
It’s a battle over how children should be educated in this small corner of Colorado, from the issue of school choice to vouchers to curriculum disputes.
But this battle has ramifications far outside the school district, and it’s drawing attention on a national scale. It is a battle pitting heavy hitters like AFP, the small-government advocacy group founded by billionaire businessmen Charles Koch and David Koch, against teachers’ unions and their supporters.
It’s a battle being closely watched by educators and political operatives across the U.S. because JeffCo is the ultimate swing county in the key swing state of Colorado. That means success — or defeat — there could be replicated across the U.S.
“It’s for the control of our future as a country,” state Sen. Tim Neville, who is running for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat for the state, told the AFP gathering. “It’s going to be relating to the presidential election.”
Low-turnout takeovers
Two years ago, about 33 percent of JeffCo voters turned out and elected three new school board members. The philosophy of the new board members was patterned after a 2009 school board takeover in nearby Douglas County, fueled by that county’s Republican Party.
The Douglas County board hired a new superintendent, ended bargaining with the teachers’ union and, perhaps School Board Recall Vote Divides Colorado County | Al Jazeera America:
