Tuesday Churn: Vouchers up again

What’s churning:

Residents in Douglas County get a second chance tonight to be heard on whether they would support vouchers in the affluent district south of Denver.

Tonight’s school board meeting isn’t likely to be as feisty or lengthy as last month’s one-minute-each marathon of 42 speakers. After 4 p.m. yesterday, only 18 people had signed up for public comment – though school board members last month allowed others to talk as well.

The board meeting starts at 5 p.m. at district headquarters, 620 Wilcox St. in Castle Rock. Public comment on the voucher proposal starts at 7 p.m. There’s also a board vote on a choice resolution – read it here – essentially directing Superintendent Liz Celania-Fagen to develop program recommendations for vouchers, also known as option certificates.

The recommendations, along with similar program recommendations for other choice options such as home-schooling and contract schools, are to be rolled into a “Blueprint for School Choice in Douglas County” to be presented to the board at a later date.

The board meets again Dec. 21 but it’s unclear whether a voucher vote could come that early. See tonight’s agenda here.

If you’ve somehow missed the background on vouchers in Dougco, you can read a legal primer here and see coverage of last month’s meeting here.

Two more voucher-related meetings are slated this week:

Thursday is the next meeting of the DCSD Choice Task Force. It begins at 7 p.m. and will take place at Wilcox administrative building. The meeting is open to the public.

Friday, a community group called the Wickerdale Walkers is hosting a public forum on school choice and school finance at the Phillip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock. The meeting will start promptly at 6 p.m. with seating opening at 5:30 p.m., according to the Facebook page, Involved Douglas County Teachers and Citizens, which has a lively running dialogue on these topics. Those interested in speaking at Friday’s meeting can email group leaders at wickerdalewalkers@yahoo.com.

What’s on tap:

Also, the Aurora board meets and starts with an executive session on budget and negotiations issues at 5 p.m. in the Educational Services Center at 1085 Peoria St. in Aurora. The regular board meeting starts at 6 p.m. Here’s the agenda.

Good reads from elsewhere: