Colorado’s 2023 school board contests have turned contentious with an influx of candidates, money in many races
As a first-time candidate for school board in Colorado Springs, longtime teacher Jill Haffley says she wants “political agendas” out of schools.
In her view, that means teachers should choose which pronouns to use with students; that transgender female students be banned from girls sports; that sex education be abstinence-based; and that students learn the U.S. “is not systemically and fundamentally racist,” according to her responses in a voter guide from Transform Colorado, a group that says it “unites Christian leaders to restore biblical values in the public square.”
Those hot-button issues have defined an increasingly contentious race in Colorado Springs School District 11, where 10 candidates are battling for four seats, including opposing slates of candidates that generally break down along partisan lines.
School board races in Colorado and across the country — particularly during off-year elections — have for many years been among the quietest. Struggles even finding candidates to run in some communities coupled with low voter turnout made contests almost an afterthought in many parts of the state.
But a surge of school board candidates in many Colorado districts this year, together with a flood of spending on races, have put school board elections into hot contention, often fueled by hyperpartisan battles over lesson plans, library offerings and how schools address gender and race. This year, nearly 600 school board candidates have filed with the Secretary of State’s Office, compared with only about 100 four years ago.