Off-year elections don’t tend to get too much notice or generate much interest. This year’s school board election in the city of Denver is an exception. Driving through town, one cannot help but notice the signs peppering front yards and easements, proudly pronouncing support for one or the other candidate. This might be because — contrary to Mark Twain’s view that “In the first place G-d made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards” — school board elections in the metro area have become hot buttons in recent years.
There are four seats up for grabs in this year’s election, out of a total of seven seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. That arithmetic makes this election a potential game changer.
Naturally, nonprofits and PACs, locally and even nationally, have taken notice. Money is funneling into this local election from all kinds of sources, pro-union, pro-charter, trying to win votes. Some of it has gotten nasty — no doubt some of you have seen the unsavory mailers besmirching candidates. Much of it has remained above the fray, however, with each candidate touting their track records and ideas.
There are real issues at play in this election. Charter schools. Teachers’ unions. Data-driven decision-making. School closures in less affluent, lower performing neighborhoods. If you care about the future of public education in this city, this election matters — no matter which philosophy you may support. Many, including the Denver Post, have painted incumbent candidates as pro-reform, implying that their opponents are anti-reform. It’s not that simple. It’s about what kind of reforms — what kind of school system — you want to see.
This school board election is a referendum on how DPS is currently run and its strategy for the future. If you support that, you want to vote to make sure that vision is maintained and strengthened. If you want to see a change, it will only happen if new voices are voted in.
Either way, your vote matters.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
