It’s the final weekend before Election Day in Colorado and thousands of voters in the Denver-metro area have big choices to make about their local school boards.
For months, Chalkbeat has been covering key races that carry implications for traditionally underserved students and for education policy in Colorado.
Interest groups are on pace to spend more than $2 million to influence your vote. So yeah, a lot is riding on your vote.
Many people wait to vote, so we thought it’d be helpful to put our most essential coverage of races in Denver all in one place. That includes surveys candidates answered in response to questions from Chalkbeat. There are similar roundups of coverage in Denver, Aurora and Jefferson County.
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Conservative education advocates across the country are closely watching the Douglas County school board race. At stake in the state’s third largest school district — in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties — is a first-of-its-kind private school voucher program.
Back in 2011, the school board developed a program that would allow up to 500 students to use tax dollars earmarked for their education at private schools.
The district has been a political hotbed ever since. And this year, with four seats up, huge sums of money from voucher supporters and opponents have bankrolled two groups of candidates. One group wants to continue to defend the voucher program that has been caught up in the court system, the other wants to put an to it.
Here’s a closer look at why the race is drawing national attention and a look at where the candidates stand on more local issues.
Finally, check out Chalkbeat’s latest reporting on campaign contributions and expenditures.