A sign supports Cherry Creek candidates Scott Graves and Steve McKenna Oct. The fissures have only deepened amid clashes over how schools should address gender identity and race. Disagreements over mask mandates and extensions of remote learning in particular drove a wedge between communities, setting the stage for broader fights once pandemic restrictions eased. The disputes have increasingly taken on a partisan tone, beginning with sharp political divides over how schools handled students’ health and safety during the pandemic, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposing mask mandates and school closures and Democrats broadly supporting them. The buzz around school board elections in many districts coincides with a sense of national political division that has trickled down to the local level and seeped into many school board rooms, with tensions between board members and parents erupting into loud shouting matches and igniting protests. A 2022 law limits individuals to $2,500 donations to candidates and small donor groups to $25,000 per candidate. But this is the first year candidates cannot take unlimited donations. 11, slightly less than the $2.2 million raised during a similar period two years ago. This year, nearly 600 school board candidates have filed with the Secretary of State’s Office, compared with only about 100 four years ago.Ī Colorado Sun analysis identified nearly $2 million in candidate fundraising statewide through Oct. Struggles even finding candidates to run in some communities coupled with low voter turnout made contests almost an afterthought in many parts of the state.īut a surge of school board candidates in many Colorado districts this year, together with a flood of spending on races, have put school board elections into hot contention, often fueled by hyperpartisan battles over lesson plans, library offerings and how schools address gender and race. School board races in Colorado and across the country - particularly during off-year elections - have for many years been among the quietest. Those hot-button issues have defined an increasingly contentious race in Colorado Springs School District 11, where 10 candidates are battling for four seats, including opposing slates of candidates that generally break down along partisan lines. “is not systemically and fundamentally racist,” according to her responses in a voter guide from Transform Colorado, a group that says it “unites Christian leaders to restore biblical values in the public square.” In her view, that means teachers should choose which pronouns to use with students that transgender female students be banned from girls sports that sex education be abstinence-based and that students learn the U.S. Meet Colorado’s Congressional delegationĪs a first-time candidate for school board in Colorado Springs, longtime teacher Jill Haffley says she wants “political agendas” out of schools.Influx of candidates, cash fuel contention in Colorado school board races Close
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