I have run out of ideas about the Denver school board. As anyone who knows me will tell you, that is rare.
The board’s public conduct has become comical when it isn’t simply sad. Its members are AWOL on managing the superintendent’s contract and have no idea how to set meaningful goals for the district. And even if they attempted either of those basic tasks, they would be too busy calling one another names and demanding investigations, at taxpayer expense, of what each of them said. It is embarrassing for all of us.
Meanwhile the district sleepwalks, while 90,000 students come and go. Some students go to some of the best public schools in Colorado but far too many attend terrible schools where students have less than a 20 percent chance of reading at grade level.
Maybe it is time for all of us to say NO to the board’s request for a $44 million mill levy tax increase. I am torn. Denver’s teachers need to be paid more. But I do not see how Denver will ever do better by most of its students without a clear plan, transparency, honest discussion of progress, and real accountability for student success — none of which this board has offered.
What is it going to take for voters to wake up and insist that the board set a course that improves outcomes for Denver’s kids, particularly those from low-income families?
I find it hard to disagree with much of a recent Denver Post editorial. I had some hope for the new board. Over the last several months I’ve come to realize it cannot manage its way out of the proverbial paper bag.
I’ve watched DPS for more than 30 years, and I don’t expect positive change until things get far worse. Is it possible that a failed request for more money is what finally wakes up the business community and our civic leadership?
So I keep coming back to the ballot. Telling DPS no is the only instrument voters have, and I know it carries real costs for teachers. I am curious what others think.
What’s your argument: yes or no on raising taxes for Denver’s schools?
