DENVER — It was a sweep for union-backed candidates in Denver’s school board race.
The high-stakes election saw four out of seven seats up for grabs.
“We saw Denver voters come out wholeheartedly in favor of candidates that were backed by our teachers and teacher-supported and community-supported,” said Robert Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
Gould said that despite the opposition spending between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, it all came down to issues like class size and district funding.
“One of the things that the City of Denver really showed this round was that they want our local politics and our local decision making to happen at the local level, and they didn't want to have that outside money, that outside influence coming in and pushing us into a direction or not,” said Gould.
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Other school board races across the state also showed similar themes. The Colorado Education Association told Denver7 that over 80 percent of the candidates it endorsed statewide are projected to win their respective races.
“I feel it was a very positive night last night,” said CEA president Kevin Vick.
Some of those races along the Front Range include school board elections in Aurora, Jeffco, and Brighton 27J.
Vick said it all boiled down to a shift in the issues that matter to voters.
“I think people have really grown weary with some of the extreme positions that have led to book bans in different districts or exclusions of certain students in certain districts, and I think people are just really wary of using our schools as political instruments to further their own agendas,” said Vick.
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Vick believes this will continue to set the direction of public education here in the Centennial State.
“I think what happened last night is a real opportunity for communities to begin really good, productive conversations about what they do want in their public schools,” he said.
