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Less than a week from Election Day, spending by candidates and outside groups in the Denver school board election has topped $1.6 million, campaign finance reports show.
That’s higher than the nearly $1.4 million that had been spent at this point in 2023, which was the last time Denver school board seats were up for election. In 2023, three of the board’s seven seats were up for grabs. This year, four seats are on the ballot.
The election is high stakes, with political control of the school board of Colorado’s largest district at play. Teachers union-backed board members have controlled the board for the past six years. But members who support charter schools and other education reform strategies gained a bigger foothold in 2023 and could flip the board majority in this year’s election.
As in the past, outside groups have been the biggest spenders this year. Pro-charter groups are outspending teachers unions by more than 2 to 1.
An independent expenditure committee called Better Leaders, Stronger Schools has spent the most: more than $1 million on mailers, digital ads, and TV ads as of Monday, according to campaign finance reports. The committee is largely funded by an advocacy group called Denver Families Action that has ties to local charter schools.
An independent expenditure committee called Colorado Families for Great Schools that’s funded by the Colorado League of Charter Schools and a pro-charter national organization called 50CAN has spent $81,900 on mailers and digital ads.
An independent expenditure committee funded by teachers unions called Students Deserve Better has spent about $286,000 on mailers and digital ads, according to the reports. Teachers unions have also contributed more than $200,000 to Denver candidates directly.
The 11 candidates themselves have spent far less. Candidate Donald “DJ” Torres, who is running for a seat representing central-east Denver’s District 3, had spent the most as of Monday at just over $65,000. Incumbent Michelle Quattlebaum, who’s running to keep her seat in northeast Denver’s District 4, had spent the least at about $7,700.
Pro-charter group has more individual donors this year
All of the spending by Better Leaders, Stronger Schools has been to support the four candidates endorsed by Denver Families Action: Alex Magaña for an at-large seat representing the entire city, Mariana del Hierro in southwest Denver’s District 2, Caron Blanke in central-east Denver’s District 3, and Timiya Jackson in northeast Denver’s District 4.
Denver Families Action is the political arm of the organization Denver Families for Public Schools. The group was founded in 2021 to elevate the voices of charter school families in DPS, and its board of directors includes leaders with ties to charter schools. Its current platform is to push the district on issues that affect all students, such as safety and mental health.
Independent expenditure committees cannot coordinate with the candidates. They are also more likely to send out attack ads about their preferred candidates’ opponents. This year, that includes ads by Better Leaders, Stronger Schools claiming that at-large candidate Amy Klein Molk replaced teachers with AI at her former company. Klein Molk said it’s not true.
Independent expenditure committees are sometimes referred to as “dark money.” That’s because some of the organizations that fund them don’t have to disclose their donors.
Denver Families Action has contributed $895,000 to Better Leaders, Stronger Schools this year, campaign finance records show. Critics, including Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Rob Gould, paint those dollars as coming from “out-of-state billionaires.”
Tax filings show Denver Families Action has received funding from an organization called the City Fund, which has in the past been funded by Netflix founder Reed Hastings and Texas philanthropist John Arnold, both of whom sit on the City Fund board.
Local donors have also given money to Better Leaders, Stronger Schools this year, campaign finance records show. Billionaire Phil Anschutz gave $40,000. David Younggren, a former oil and gas executive, gave $15,000. Kent Thiry, the multimillionaire former CEO of dialysis provider DaVita, contributed $350,000 in 2023 but hasn’t given this year.
Dan Aschkinasi, the registered agent for Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, said the committee attracted donations from more individual donors this year than in 2023. However, campaign finance records show most of this year’s donations are smaller.
“A lot of people are rooting for us to set a marker in these education races,” Aschkinasi said. “This is kids’ education we’re talking about here. If you can do that through getting new leadership in and the right leaders, it’s worth every penny.”
Other unions are giving to Denver and vice versa
The spending by Students Deserve Better has been in support of the four candidates endorsed by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association: Klein Molk for the at-large seat, Xóchitl Gaytán in District 2, Torres in District 3, and Monica Hunter in District 4. The committee has also run attack ads against Magaña in the at-large race and del Hierro in the District 2 race.
Students Deserve Better gets its money from the statewide Colorado Education Association and spends it in school board races across Colorado, including in Denver. The statewide union and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association also give money directly to the candidates.
DCTA has given about $25,000 to each of the four candidates it endorsed. So has CEA.
The unions’ money comes from teachers’ dues, Gould said. Teachers can request that their dues not go toward political causes, but Gould said he expects fewer than 100 of the Denver union’s more than 3,800 members to do so this year. That number includes teachers who are not U.S. citizens; the union doesn’t use their dues for political causes, he said.
This year, other local teachers unions have also given money to the Denver candidates. The teachers unions in Jeffco Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Cherry Creek School District, and St. Vrain Valley Schools gave between $1,000 and $2,000 to all or some of the union-endorsed candidates in Denver, records show.
Gould said it’s a new strategy born out of monthly meetings with the presidents of the metro teachers unions to fight back against out-of-state money trying to “infiltrate” local elections.
“The same fight here in Denver is the same fight in Colorado Springs, in Woodland Park, in Jefferson County,” Gould said.
Denver is doing it, too. The Denver teachers union gave $4,000 each to two union-endorsed candidates in Jeffco, $2,500 each to two candidates in Cherry Creek, $2,000 each to two candidates in Adams 12, $2,000 to a candidate in Littleton, $1,000 to a candidate in 27J Schools in Brighton, and $400 each to two candidates in Pueblo School District 60.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
