It isn’t often that the Koch brothers’ political advocacy group gets involved in a local school board race.
But this fall, Americans for Prosperity is spending big in the wealthy suburbs south of Denver to influence voters in the Douglas County School District, which has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise.
The conservatives who control the board have neutered the teachers union, prodded neighborhood elementary schools to compete with one another for market share, directed tax money to pay for religious education and imposed a novel pay scale that values teachers by their subjects, so a young man teaching algebra to eighth graders can make $20,000 a year more than a colleague teaching world history down the hall.
Conservatives across the U.S. see Douglas County as a model for transforming public schools everywhere. But with four of seven seats on the board up for grabs in Tuesday’s election, reformers find themselves fending off a spirited challenge from a coalition of angry parents and well-funded teachers unions. The race has been nasty and pricey, too; spending from all parties is likely to hit at least $800,000.
 
		 
 


 The Trump administration is going to restrict the number of refugees it admits into the United...
The Trump administration is going to restrict the number of refugees it admits into the United... Christine Faltz Grassman was stunned when she received a layoff notice from the Department of Education...
Christine Faltz Grassman was stunned when she received a layoff notice from the Department of Education... President Donald Trump demanded that former Special Counsel Jack Smith be hauled off to jail amid...
President Donald Trump demanded that former Special Counsel Jack Smith be hauled off to jail amid... The White House has fired six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the independent...
The White House has fired six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the independent...











































