Intra-GOP politics intrudes in Dougco board races

October 12, 3:45 PMColorado Education ExaminerTodd Engdahl

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Colorado Education Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Republicans already outnumber Democrats on the Douglas County Board of Education 6-1 – not that that’s ever mattered before since school board elections have traditionally been non-partisan.

But county Republican party officials broke that custom this summer when they endorsed four candidates for the four seats up for election in November, in an all-mail-in-ballot election. And the four GOP-favored candidates just happen to be the ones NOT endorsed by the Douglas County teachers’ union, the Douglas County Teachers Federation.

Dan Gerken,  Doug Benevento, Meghann Silverthorn and incumbent John Carson are running together as a conservative bloc, under the banner of more parental choice, more charter schools, more transparency in district spending and less autonomy for district administrators. This has a lot of folks nervous, and wondering just what changes such a bloc would bring to county schools should they all win.

Read the full story on Education News Colorado