The Denver teachers union and a caucus within the union are split over who to support in two competitive school board races that could determine the direction of the state’s largest school district.
The Denver Classroom Teachers Union this week announced endorsements for all four races in play this fall on the seven-member board.
The endorsements are significant because a small donor committee of the union is a major contributor to board candidates.
In two races, the DCTA endorsements align with earlier statements of support for candidates from the Caucus of Today’s Teachers, formed last year by a group of progressive, social justice-minded teachers that would like to see the union be more aggressive.
But in the two races that feature multiple challengers to incumbents, the union and its caucus diverge. In the at-large race, DCTA endorsed Robert Speth, a northwest Denver parent who nearly upset board member Happy Haynes two years ago, over one of its own — Julie Bañuelos, a former teacher who recently served on the DCTA board.
The caucus is supporting Bañuelos, citing her teaching experience and advocacy for communities of color. Speth and Bañuelos are trying to unseat Barbara O’Brien, the board vice president and former lieutenant governor, who is running again.
The union endorsed Jennifer Bacon, a former teacher who has had a leadership role with the advocacy group Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, for the northeast Denver seat now held by Rachele Espiritu, who is running for the first time since being appointed to the board in spring 2016.
The caucus is backing a different challenger: Tay Anderson, a 2017 graduate of Manual High School whose campaign has attracted national attention and endorsements from former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and education historian Diane Ravitch, a union ally.
Both DCTA president Henry Roman and caucus members downplayed the differences.
“We live in a democracy,” Roman said Friday. “We are speaking our voice.”
“We don’t look at it as anything that’s negative or divisive,” said Tommie Shimrock, a founding member of the caucus who sought to unseat Roman in union leadership elections this year. “It’s significant in that it’s yet another way for members of DCTA to have our voices heard, through the caucus.”
Of endorsing Speth over Bañuelos, Roman said, “We feel like this is not a vote against anyone. We feel he is a stronger candidate.”
The union and caucus are both supporting longtime educator Carrie Olson over incumbent Mike Johnson for a seat representing east and central Denver, and Denver Public Schools parent Xochitl “Sochi” Gaytan over former DPS teacher Angela Cobián for the southwest Denver seat. Cobián has been endorsed by incumbent Rosemary Rodriguez, who is not running for re-election.
The campaign is expected to feature big money, intense debates and attempts to link incumbents to school choice policies championed by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
All seven current board members support DPS’s nationally recognized school reforms, which include closing low-performing schools and promoting school choice through a mix of district-run schools, charter schools and innovation schools that operate with similar autonomy. None of the current board members support private school vouchers, a centerpiece of DeVos’s agenda.
Candidates in favor of DPS reforms historically have raised large sums from wealthy donors both from Colorado and out of state. Pro-reform candidates also have gotten backing from an independent expenditure committee affiliated with Democrats for Education Reform.
Adding another wrinkle, a nonprofit group called Our Denver Our Schools that is opposed to the current direction of the school district is offering its own endorsements — and they don’t match up exactly to either the union endorsements or the caucus’s statements of support.
Our Denver Our Schools is endorsing Speth, Anderson, Olson and Gaytan.
Speth is a founding member of Our Denver Our Schools, which formed last year. Scott Glipin, a co-founder of the group and Speth’s campaign manager two years ago, said Speth is not part of the group’s steering committee, which selected the candidate endorsements. Speth “went through the same process as every other candidate,” Gilpin said.