Vouchers divide Dougco board candidates

HIGHLANDS RANCH – The hottest seat at Thursday night’s school board candidate debate at Mountain Ridge Middle School belonged to Justin Williams, an incumbent facing a crowd obviously displeased with the district’s voucher initiative.
“I know how you guys feel about it,” Williams conceded at one point, after many of the 60 audience members loudly applauded the frequent anti-voucher comments made by other candidates.

Douglas County’s voucher pilot may be stalled on appeal but it is alive and well as a key issue separating the seven candidates vying for three seats on the affluent county’s school board Nov. 1.

Two of the three races feature one pro-voucher candidate and one anti-voucher candidate. The third race features one pro-voucher incumbent and two anti-voucher challengers.

“I am mad. I am very angry,” candidate Gail Frances said of her decision to run for office. “It was the voucher situation that really instilled the fire in me.”

Candidate Susan Meek called the voucher pilot “a huge distraction,” noting the district’s proposed tax increases for operating and building dollars – ballot measures 3A and 3B – weren’t included in the questions submitted by community members.

“We have 3A and 3B out there and we don’t even have a question on that, which I think is pretty sad,” Meek said. “If 3A does not pass, the board is going to be faced with trying to cut $26 million next year.”

The moderator added a question about the ballot measures after her remarks.

Even if the three seats go to anti-voucher candidates, the board would likely retain a pro-voucher majority. All board votes on the voucher pilot in the past year have been 7-0.

And a sweep by anti-voucher candidates would be no easy feat, despite the tenor of Thursday’s debate.

While school board races are non-partisan, the three pro-voucher candidates are backed by the county Republican Party. It’s a formidable force in a county where – as of Tuesday – registered Republicans outnumbered Democrats 2-to-1. A third of voters classified themselves as other parties or unaffiliated.

Williams bore the brunt of the displeasure Thursday because the two other pro-voucher candidates were absent. Kevin Larsen had a previously scheduled trip and incumbent Craig Richardson was called away for a personal emergency.

Another key issue, the district’s proposed tax measures, divides the candidates along different lines.

Williams was on the losing side of a rare 5-2 board split to seek a $20 million operating increase or mill-levy override and a $200 million bond issue. Richardson voted for the tax increases and Larsen supports them.

“My vote was not, ‘No, we don’t need the money.’ We need the money,” Williams said. “My vote was that the community was in worse shape than the school district.”

Among the anti-voucher candidates, Meek, Frances and Susan McMahon support the tax increases – with some concerns.

For example, the $20 million operating increases is partly intended to fund a pay-for-performance program to teachers. But some said the plan lacks details.

Meek described the plan is “long on rhetoric, short on details” while Frances said, “Nobody is convinced that pay-for-performance is going to work.”

“Why are we not educating the community about the importance of the investment?” asked McMahon, questioning the district’s campaign for the ballot measures. “We need the resources.”

Candidate Kevin Reilly said the district “desperately needs funds” but he found it difficult to support the pay-for-performance plan and “they haven’t taken vouchers off the table.” Douglas County is appealing a Denver judge’s ruling that the pilot is unconstitutional.

“I see a poison pill that has been wrapped in chocolate,” Reilly said of the $20 million tax increase. “I don’t believe I can vote for it now.”

Douglas County school board candidates and key positions

District A, Northwest

District C, North and Central

District F, Northeast

Next Up In Politics & Policy

Back to top ↑