Chalkbeat

Huge homeschool enrichment program closes in Colorado, following stricter rules and demise of authorizer

2026-09-04T23:43:43+00:00

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A publicly funded homeschool enrichment program that last year enrolled nearly 2,800 Colorado students will cease operating after a turbulent summer in which its authorizer dissolved and the state launched a strict approval process for such programs.

Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, or CHE, sent an email informing families of the decision Thursday evening.

“We have recently become aware that there was no path forward for the state to approve our application,” wrote Renee Miller, the group’s CEO. “As a result, CHE will not operate this season.”

CHE’s demise is notable because over four years it had grown into one of Colorado’s largest publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs, last year receiving around $15 million in state dollars to operate dozens of campuses and microcampuses. The offerings varied widely by location, with some providing lessons in subjects like reading and science, and field trips to farms or zoos.

But other offerings illustrate the excesses that recently prompted lawmakers to crack down on homeschool enrichment programs. In addition to activities like skiing, taekwondo, and horseback riding, some campuses provided public funding for private school students.

CHE was authorized by a controversial public education group — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services — until the group dissolved in August. To continue operating, CHE would have had to quickly find a new authorizer, then get its application approved by the state.

This fall, in response to a recent law change, state education officials are drafting new rules for publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs. One version under consideration would require all such programs to be operated by public providers like school districts or charter schools. Another version would still allow private operators like CHE, but with some restrictions.

Miller said in the email to families that CHE will wait for the new rules before deciding whether to revive its operations next year.

“We encourage you to never relinquish your responsibility for your child’s education,” she wrote. “Children are an extraordinary gift from God, and the responsibility to raise and educate them is not something to take lightly.”

Miller said by email on Friday she’s not doing interviews at this time.

Homeschool enrichment programs typically offer six hours of class a week and are meant to give home-schooled students socialization opportunities or access to courses that are hard to provide at home. Some school districts and charter schools have long operated such programs but after the pandemic, ERBOCES fueled massive growth in homeschool programs that were publicly funded but privately operated.

Often that meant little public transparency about what was being offered to home-schoolers, who was offering it, and where the money went. ERBOCES officials repeatedly declined last spring to provide Chalkbeat a list of their more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs.

In addition, when Chalkbeat asked CHE in an open records request to provide contact information, enrollment numbers, and state funding by campus, Miller declined, saying the group’s lawyer had determined CHE is not subject to Colorado’s open records law.

“Thus, CHE will not provide the requested information,” she wrote.

But a trove of detailed information came out this summer when ERBOCES submitted 44 homeschool enrichment applications to the Colorado Department of Education as part of the state’s new approval process. The applications were for programs operating outside of ERBOCES’ one member school district in El Paso County.

According to application materials, CHE campuses together use 430 contractors and operate at about 1,300 locations around Colorado. These include private homes, rented classroom space, parks, and museums like History Colorado, and historic sites like Bent’s Old Fort.

But they also include less conventional destinations: indoor skydiving centers, trampoline parks, climbing gyms, skating rinks, batting cages, and ski resorts. In addition, some CHE groups visit pickleball complexes like Chicken N Pickle, indoor water parks like Great Wolf Lodge, and hotel resorts like Gaylord Rockies. One CHE campus offers a trip to a local whiskey, rye, and gin distillery — a business that offers some production process tours that don’t include alcohol tasting.

The CHE campus leader who listed the distillery as a location for her program in western Colorado did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for additional information about what students learn during the distillery visit.

Part of the law change passed last spring barred public funding for homeschool enrichment activities that are not generally available to public school students. Perhaps in response to this criteria, CHE leaders attempted to show how some activities are comparable to public school courses.

CHE’s application claims a trip to iFly, an indoor skydiving center in Lone Tree, supports instruction in the physics of flight, and compares to high school aviation or aerospace classes. A visit to Ouray Hot Springs supports instruction in earth science and geology, and compares to high school earth science or chemistry classes. A trip to the Aspen Snowmass ski resort supports instruction in snow sports and outdoor recreation and is similar to a high school class in adventure sports and leadership.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Judge dismisses conservative-leaning Colorado school districts’ lawsuit over transgender athlete policies

2026-08-27T22:37:53+00:00

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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by several Colorado school districts and charter schools over policies related to transgender student athletes.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Kane ruled Wednesday that the districts and schools don’t have standing to sue the state, in part because they aren’t facing clear harm. The ruling is a win for the state and a loss for the conservative-leaning districts and schools that had challenged the state’s non-discrimination law, specifically its gender identity protections.

Kane’s decision affirmed a January recommendation by a magistrate judge, a type of judge whose decisions can be reviewed by a full judge if one party objects.

The eight plaintiffs in the case — School District 49, Colorado Springs District 11, Academy District 20, Montezuma-Cortez School District, James Irwin Charter Schools, Monument Academy, the Classical Academy, and Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services — objected to the January decision by Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell.

It’s not clear what impact the ruling will have. The districts and charter schools that sued wanted the court to prevent Colorado officials from investigating, penalizing, or fining them for policies banning transgender athletes from joining school sports teams that match their gender identity. State officials so far have not penalized public schools that have such policies.

A second defendant in the lawsuit, the Colorado High School Activities Association, agreed not to penalize schools and districts that have such policies as part of a December 2025 settlement.

The association’s bylaws for years recognized the right of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity and said the group can review district decisions on such matters. But a spokesperson for the group, which governs high school sports in Colorado and is often called CHSAA, said at the time it had never penalized a school or district for policies on transgender athletes.

Some Colorado districts allow transgender students to play on teams that match their gender identity, some prohibit it, and some decide on a case-by-case basis.

Peter Hilts, the superintendent of District 49, which spearheaded the lawsuit, said of Wednesday’s decision in an emailed statement, “We respectfully disagree with the judge’s ruling, but given that we have already secured protections for our students and coaches via a settlement with CHSAA, we are considering how to proceed.”

The Colorado Attorney General’s office declined to comment on the ruling.

District 49 sued the state and CHSAA in May 2025, after its school board narrowly passed a controversial policy banning transgender middle and high school students from joining school teams that align with their gender identity. The policy, which applies to both transgender boys and transgender girls, was developed after President Trump’s executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that allows athletes assigned male at birth to participate in girls’ or women’s sports.

When District 49’s school board considered the new policy, the district’s lawyer speculated that it could lead to the district being sued. But instead of playing defense, the district filed its own lawsuit. The other seven districts and schools joined as plaintiffs a couple months later.

Kane’s 23-page ruling affirmed Dominguez Braswell’s January argument that the eight districts and schools didn’t have standing to sue the state on their own behalf or to sue on behalf of their students.

If a party has standing, that means they have a right to have their lawsuit heard in court. One criteria for standing is that the plaintiff is facing harm.

Kane found no proof of current or future harm. He said the districts and schools didn’t show evidence of a transgender student athlete who might take action because they believe they have faced discrimination as a result of the plaintiffs’ student athlete policies.

“I cannot infer a speculated lawsuit or enforcement action would arise, if no transgender student, who would be subjected to discrimination, exists,” wrote Kane.

Kane and Dominguez Braswell said the districts and schools don’t have standing to sue on behalf of all students because their students may have different opinions on whether transgender students should be allowed to play on teams that match their gender identity.

Kane noted that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to bar transgender athletes from playing on school teams that match their gender identity isn’t relevant to his ruling.

“The Supreme Court’s opinion does not alter the requirements for standing, and as such, does not impact the analysis here,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Open or closed? Some Colorado programs for homeschoolers remain in limbo after turbulent summer

2026-08-26T21:33:36+00:00

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As the school year begins, leaders at Denver’s Bluff Lake Nature Center are searching for a way to keep offering publicly funded enrichment classes that teach homeschooled students about water quality, wildlife tracking, shelter building, and foraging.

Space Academy, a Colorado Springs program that teaches homeschoolers about rocketry, is pausing its once-a-week classes this school year.

The contrasting decisions show how different homeschool enrichment providers are reacting to the sudden demise of the controversial group that had authorized their programs. That group — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES — is dissolving after a recent crackdown by the state.

The dissolution affects 44 state-funded homeschool enrichment programs and comes after a roller coaster year that brought intense scrutiny and strict rules to public homeschool enrichment offerings. If all 44 programs retained an authorizer and received approval, they could have served more than 6,000 Colorado homeschoolers this year at a cost of more than $35 million in state dollars.

But in all likelihood, the numbers will be much lower. That’s because some homeschool programs authorized by ERBOCES have already closed, and others, including Space Academy, are pausing in the hopes of relaunching under a new authorizer in fall 2027.

Authorizers handle certain administrative tasks and serve as a conduit for state funding.

Controversial group that opened ‘Colorado’s first public Christian school’ will close after 13 years

Some homeschool enrichment programs previously authorized by ERBOCES are scrambling to find a school district or charter school willing to authorize them so they can continue providing tuition-free classes this year.

It’s unclear how many of the 44 programs are seeking new authorizers and how many have closed their doors temporarily or permanently. Programs have until Sept. 4 to find new authorizers and inform the state.

“We are in conversations with numerous people about alternate paths to authorization for this school year prior to (the Colorado Department of Education’s) deadline in September,” Rachel Hutchens, executive director of Bluff Lake Nature Center, said in an email.

Last year, Bluff Lake’s program served about 35 homeschoolers.

Verónica Corral Flores, Space Academy’s program director, said in an email that her program won’t hold its usual weekly classes this year but will offer free monthly sessions where homeschooling families can build and launch their own rockets. Grant money will cover the cost of the rocket kits, she said.

New rules, more oversight for homeschool enrichment

A state law passed last spring put new guardrails on public education co-ops like ERBOCES, which had long been lightly regulated.

Since the pandemic, the Monument-based group had authorized a flood of homeschool enrichment programs across the state. Lawmakers grew alarmed over mounting state spending on homeschool enrichment and news that some programs subsidized private schools while others offered activities that public school families had to pay for, including horseback riding, skiing, and jiu-jitsu lessons.

The new guardrails include strict criteria for receiving state funding and a new layer of review for homeschool enrichment programs that operate outside the boundaries of the school district or BOCES that authorizes them.

ERBOCES authorized more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs last school year. Earlier this summer, it submitted applications on behalf of 44 of them to state reviewers. A few other authorizers — Aurora Public Schools and some charter schools — also submitted applications to the state for a handful of out-of-boundary homeschool programs.

By August, ERBOCES was on the brink of collapse because of defections by member institutions and a state crackdown over an improperly constituted board and misspent state money. Then, on Aug 17, its most critical member, School District 49, voted to dissolve the co-op.

That left the 44 homeschool enrichment programs in limbo. Complicating matters, the state had reviewed only half the applications submitted by ERBOCES, approving three, including Space Academy and Bluff Lake.

The state denied 18, several because homeschool enrichment funding would subsidize students attending private schools, reviewers said. A state spokesperson said denied programs could submit clarifying information and ask for a second review. Only a few have done that so far, they said.

A waiting game for families

Gran Via, a bilingual outdoor education program in metro Denver, is one former ERBOCES program that found a home with a new authorizer: an Aurora charter school called Wildflower Montessori. Bill Knous, executive director of Gran Via, said his group switched authorizers before ERBOCES was dissolved. Gran Via had long been in talks with Wildflower because both take a Montessori approach and have similar missions, Knous said.

But finding a new authorizer is only half the battle. Gran Via is still waiting for the state to decide on its application to operate at a park and library outside Aurora one day a week. Without state approval, Knous can’t officially enroll homeschool students or get state funding.

With the school year underway, that puts Gran Via families, including some with neurodivergent children who’ve struggled at traditional schools, in a bind, Knous said.

“They’re not focused on all the politics,” he said. ”They’re simply thinking about, ‘Is my kid going to be seen, valued, and known at school?’”

For now, Knous said Gran Via is visiting with families one on one to keep them connected to the program while it awaits a decision. He choked up as he shared some of the worries parents have about losing the program.

“It’s very hard for them, right?” Knous said. “Because they’re like, ‘What if this doesn’t happen? What do we do?’”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Controversial group that opened ‘Colorado’s first public Christian school’ will close after 13 years

2026-08-18T22:47:51+00:00

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An education group that last year authorized “Colorado’s first public Christian school” soon will dissolve, following a Monday night vote by a key member institution.

The school board in School District 49 unanimously approved the dissolution of Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES.

Monday’s vote represents a major turnabout from two months ago, when the District 49 board briefly considered dropping out of the co-op but opted to stay another year. After 13 years of existence, ERBOCES leaves a legacy of school choice advocacy and a long string of controversies.

The change of fortune for ERBOCES comes after growing scrutiny by state education officials, who this month cracked down on the co-op over what they said was an improperly constituted board, invalid contracts, and misspent state money.

In addition to launching the “public Christian school,” called Riverstone Academy, ERBOCES has created dozens of publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs in the last few years. The flood of programs, including some that paid for ski passes and sports camps and others that subsidized private schools, drew the ire of state lawmakers last spring.

ERBOCES is one of 21 such public education co-ops in Colorado. Most are composed of several school districts that band together to provide services such as special education. ERBOCES has operated differently, opening schools and programs that serve students across the state.

About a dozen parents, students, and homeschool program providers spoke at Monday’s meeting, with several urging the board to help homeschool enrichment programs that are now in limbo and prevent students from being “collateral damage.” Others said dissolving ERBOCES will help the district avoid reputational damage, legal fees, and fines that might come with staying in the co-op.

ERBOCES’ dissolution, which will take place over the coming school year, means the group can no longer authorize any schools or programs. During the wind-down process, the five-member District 49 board will take over as the co-op’s governing body and the district’s business office will assume financial oversight.

ERBOCES will no longer be led by an executive director as of Sept. 15, according to the resolution approved Monday.

In addition, District 49 will become the authorizer during the 2026-27 school year of six online schools previously authorized by ERBOCES: Williamsburg Academy, Pikes Peak Online School, Summit Connections Academy, and an elementary, middle, and high school all under the Colorado Preparatory Academy brand.

Less clear is the fate of ERBOCES’ homeschool enrichment programs, which last year enrolled more than 8,000 students, most in one-day-a-week classes. Some closed this summer but more than 40 are up for approval by the state.

According to Monday’s resolution, District 49 will not take on those programs. State officials are expected to release more information this week.

Different perspectives on ERBOCES

While District 49 board members all voted for the resolution Monday, they had different perspectives on what brought the problem to a head this summer.

Board member Mike Heil urged the audience to remember that ERBOCES officials were the decision-makers who were “testing the law and finally got caught at it.”

“We know for fact now, as more evidence has come forward, that some of these homeschool enrichment programs were essentially subsidizing private religious schools, and you can’t do that with public money,” he said.

Board President Marie LaVere-Wright said publicly funded homeschool enrichment has been “highly, highly, highly unregulated” in Colorado because the original law that allowed it was broad and vague.

“That doesn’t mean anybody … did something illegal necessarily because they operated in an unregulated environment,” she said.

LaVere-Wright, who helped start ERBOCES and previously served on its board, described the group’s dissolution as an awful situation, but said it’s the right thing to do.

Board member Lori Thompson, who recently joined the ERBOCES board, said the group has done incredible things.

“Was every step correct?” she said. “Anyone can be a Monday morning quarterback, but I am proud of ERBOCES.”

Constant controversies prompted state concerns

The demise of ERBOCES comes after a stream of controversies last school year. Those include revelations that the co-op launched Riverstone Academy at the behest of a conservative law firm to spark a lawsuit over the question of public funding for religious schools. ERBOCES filed a religious liberty lawsuit against the state in February, but the case fizzled when Riverstone closed permanently in June.

ERBOCES has also drawn criticism because, for years, some of its board members have been ineligible under state law. Also, the co-op has often used contractors and subcontractors that effectively shield its programs from state oversight and public scrutiny.

State lawmakers addressed some concerns about ERBOCES last spring by putting strict new limits on how and where such co-ops can authorize schools and programs. But the ongoing tumult seemed to be wearing on the group’s three members and it appeared member defections might tank ERBOCES this summer.

State law requires such co-ops to have at least two member institutions, and one must be a school district.

The Elizabeth School District dropped out of ERBOCES in June. District 49 considered it but opted not to. The third member, Pikes Peak State College, announced that it would leave the group in mid-August.

As that deadline neared, Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova urged ERBOCES to dissolve. She also chastised the group over another emerging controversy: The co-op’s plan to lend a Woodland Park charter school $3 million.

But a week before Pikes Peak was set to withdraw, ERBOCES officials unearthed an old agreement that required more notice and the college agreed to stay till next summer.

For a few days it seemed that ERBOCES would be able to stay open. But on Aug. 13., Córdova threw the book at ERBOCES. In a second letter urging the co-op to dissolve, she suggested that Pikes Peak State College never legally joined and that many of the group’s contracts are void because its board has been improperly constituted for years.

She also ordered ERBOCES to immediately repay the state for funding provided to Riverstone Academy, citing a recent court decision.

That night, District 49 Superintendent Peter Hilts recommended to his school board that ERBOCES be dissolved and Monday’s vote was quickly scheduled.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

The end could be near for the Colorado education group that opened ‘public Christian school’

2026-08-14T21:40:55+00:00

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A controversial Colorado education group that launched a now-defunct “public Christian school” last year could soon dissolve after the state’s top education official urged the move this week and the group’s most crucial member considers leaving.

The 13-year-old group — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES — authorizes six online schools and a host of publicly funded programs for homeschool students. If the Monument-based co-op closes, some schools and programs might move to other authorizers, and some might permanently close.

In a Thursday letter to ERBOCES, Education Commissioner Susana Córdova pushed the group to dissolve, citing legal violations and questionable conduct. She suggested one of the group’s two member institutions never legally joined; that many of the group’s contracts are void because its board has been improperly constituted for years; and that it has misspent state money, including by funding private schools.

The 5-page letter represents the state’s most aggressive effort yet to hold ERBOCES accountable and reflects the extent to which the group has been a thorn in the education department’s side.

ERBOCES officials have long said their goal is to provide innovative education options to Colorado families, but critics argue that the co-op pushes the boundaries of — and in some cases breaks — state law.

Ken Witt, the executive director of ERBOCES, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

In her letter, Córdova ordered ERBOCES to repay the state by Tuesday for around $300,000 given to the “public Christian school,” Riverstone Academy, and provide the department with a host of documents. The demand for repayment is surprising because the state previously backpedaled on a suggestion that it could claw back the money given to Riverstone.

The rationale presented in the letter was a court ruling this week that invalidated a 2025 school board agreement that allowed Riverstone to open last summer.

Because the agreement “was null and void, ERBOCES was never authorized to submit” Riverstone students for state funding, Córdova wrote.

Riverstone received the state funding before it closed permanently in May.

Co-op has recently faced member defections

ERBOCES has spent much of the summer with its future in jeopardy — losing members and struggling to find new ones. State law requires such co-ops to have at least two member institutions, and one must be a school district.

Currently, ERBOCES’ two members are School District 49 in El Paso County and Pikes Peak State College. In June, the Elizabeth school district left the group. Pikes Peak announced around the same time that it would leave the group in mid-August, but as the exit date neared, college officials agreed to stay till next June.

The school board in District 49, which has been ERBOCES’ most stalwart member and its fiscal agent, also considered leaving ERBOCES this summer but opted to stay for another year.

That could change next week.

Superintendent Peter Hilts recommended the dissolution of ERBOCES to the school board Thursday evening, saying there’s no longer a legitimate, responsible path forward for the co-op.

He praised ERBOCES’ efforts to launch new schools and programs, then said, “but Icarus is coming back to Earth” — referring to a Greek myth in which a character flies too close to the sun and falls.

The board will hold a special meeting Monday to discuss the matter.

Board member Mike Heil, who led the charge to exit ERBOCES earlier this summer, said by email Friday that being part of ERBOCES is damaging the district’s reputation. He said the co-op has created some excellent programs, but that officials there have shown poor judgement.

He also noted ERBOCES’s inability to attract a new member this summer.

“I interpret the lack of suitors to be a collective, statewide referendum on ERBOCES, and their dissolution is therefore correct,” Heil said.

Board member Holly Withers said by phone she was stunned when Hilts suggested that ERBOCES should dissolve because he’s been a supporter of the group and because in June the board discussed the issue and decided to stay.

“I was willing to stay involved in ERBOCES on a probationary type level while they get their affairs in order,” she said.

Withers said she trusts Hilts’ recommendation that ERBOCES should dissolve, but she worries about the families that will be affected and hopes the co-op has a plan to help them.

Last year, ERBOCES online schools enrolled about 4,700 students and its homeschool enrichment programs enrolled more than 8,000 students. The future of many of those programs is up in the air due to state law changes.

Education chief’s letter cites numerous concerns

Córdova’s letter to ERBOCES cited numerous problems, some dating back years and some surfacing in the last month.

Among the concerns she cited are:

That Pikes Peak State College was never a legitimate member of ERBOCES because there’s no documentation showing its governing board approved its membership as required by law.
That ERBOCES’ board has not been properly constituted “for several years, possibly over a decade,” which means board decisions during that time are void.
ERBOCES’ plan to loan $3 million to a charter school in Woodland Park. She said there’s “no legal reason a loan for the benefit of another district’s constituents can plausibly be considered a reasonable and necessary expense,” and therefore is invalid.
ERBOCES’ payment of nearly $800,000 to a private Christian school last school year, which the department suspects is directly funding tuition for private school students.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school district rejects controversial reading curriculum because of errors, Texas focus

2026-08-14T00:00:39+00:00

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On Wednesday, elementary schools in a small southwestern Colorado district stopped using a controversial reading curriculum developed by the state of Texas.

It was the third day of school.

The sudden shift came a day after the Montezuma-Cortez school board voted 4-3 to reject the new curriculum, called Bluebonnet, and four days after the district’s superintendent pledged that Biblical material would be removed from lessons.

The controversy over Bluebonnet likely has staff at the district’s three elementary schools scrambling for replacement lessons this week. The debate has also raised questions about the number of errors in the curriculum, whether a Texas-built product is right for Colorado students, and how the curriculum was adopted with little notice over the summer.

Colorado school districts don’t have to use state-approved reading curriculum, but they must ensure their curriculum meets state academic standards.

Justin Schmitt, the district’s executive director of academic services, didn’t specify what reading curriculum the district’s elementary schools are using now.

He said by email that district leaders are working with school staff on next steps.

Board Vice President Laura DeWitt, who has a fifth grade daughter, said at Tuesday’s board meeting that she looked at some of the Bluebonnet materials on the first day of school and found what she described as “robot errors” — mistakes probably generated by AI.

A story about a Japanese man who visited Houston to plant rice in 1904 includes a map that shows Houston next to the Florida panhandle, instead of in Texas.

DeWitt showed a printout of the erroneous map at the meeting, drawing a chuckle from one person and a “wow” from someone else.

Such mistakes are in addition to thousands of mistakes in Bluebonnet that Texas is already paying $8 million to fix.

Board member Barbara Mate said when she visited classrooms on the first couple days of school, she saw reading lessons centered on Texas.

“I viewed a lot of stuff about Texas and Houston and San Antonio and migrant workers, and Texas and Texas,” she said. “I just wondered why we’re not representing our current demographic.”

The 2,200-student Montezuma-Cortez district in May adopted a school improvement model borrowed from the Houston school district. When that district, the largest in Texas, adopted Bluebonnet in late June, Montezuma-Cortez administrators soon followed suit.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Montezuma-Cortez board members raised concerns that Bluebonnet’s use was announced just weeks before the school year started with no analysis to ensure it meets Colorado academic standards, no public review process, and no school board vote.

While several board members were critical of Bluebonnet, most said they supported the school improvement model from Houston. It’s called the New Education System and is a highly structured system that includes fast-paced teacher-led instruction, daily monitoring of student progress, and immediate re-teaching for students who aren’t proficient.

Some board members asked Superintendent Eddie Ramirez pointed questions about mysterious changes to an agreement with the Houston school district the board approved in May. The original version didn’t mention Bluebonnet, but the one Ramirez signed in June did.

Ramirez assigned blame to district lawyers, and said he didn’t notice the change.

“What I am testifying to you and telling the board here tonight is that I had no knowledge that it said Bluebonnet,” he said. “I signed the document thinking that it was vetted by the lawyer, and that it was agreed upon.”

Some board members seemed skeptical of Ramirez’s explanation and suggested there are “integrity issues” at play, but said it was a matter to be addressed another day.

Board member Mike Lynch defended Ramirez.

“He’s trying to implement something for our district. The board’s job is the why, and the superintendent’s job is the how,” he said. “He was doing the how and the document was changed without his knowledge.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school board involved in ‘public Christian school’ drama violated open meetings law, judge rules

2026-08-12T21:04:41+00:00

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A Colorado school board violated the state’s open meetings law by concealing the true nature of a “public Christian school” the board allowed to open last year, a state judge ruled Tuesday.

In addition, the decision by Pueblo District Court Judge Michelle Chostner found an open meetings violation related to an appointment the school board made last winter.

Together, these findings represent a major — and potentially expensive — defeat for the Pueblo County School District 70 school board, the defendant in the lawsuit.

Chostner’s ruling invalidates the February appointment of Susie Carnes to a vacant seat on the Pueblo 70 school board, and requires a new meeting so the four other board members can vote to fill the seat. Tuesday’s ruling also invalidates a June 2025 agreement approved by the Pueblo 70 school board that allowed the launch of the “public Christian school.”

That school, Riverstone Academy, closed permanently in May, but the court ruling could open the way for the state to claw back around $300,000 in public funding given to the school

The Pueblo 70 school board must also pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees, the judge said.

The ruling is a win for Jonathan Lewis, Tara Stroesenreuther, and Adolph Vigil, the three school board candidates who brought the lawsuit in March after they were passed over for the vacant board seat.

The Pueblo 70 school board voted earlier this summer to authorize an immediate appeal if the ruling ordered the removal of a board member or a meeting to fill a board vacancy. As of mid–day Wednesday, no appeal paperwork had been filed with the court.

A Pueblo 70 spokesperson said by email Wednesday the district doesn’t comment on active litigation.

Although in their lawsuit the plaintiffs sought a vote to fill the vacant seat that Carnes filled, they wanted it to happen under slightly different conditions than what the ruling prescribed. That is, with voting only by the three board members who remained at a Feb. 10 meeting after one member had a seizure and departed. That scenario, which the judge did not require, would potentially yield a vote for one of the plaintiffs, not Carnes.

Asked about whether the state would seek to recover public dollars it previously gave to Riverstone Academy, a Colorado Department of Education spokesman said by email Wednesday that, “We are reviewing the decision to determine whether it will impact funding.”

Last fall, department officials suggested they could claw back Riverstone’s funding following an audit, but subsequently backpedaled on that.

The 30-student school, which used Christian curriculum and offered students a “Christian foundation,” was intended to spark a lawsuit over the question of public funding for religious schools that would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. That lawsuit was filed last winter, but fizzled when the school closed.

Chostner invalidated the Riverstone agreement approved by the Pueblo 70 board because the board did not reveal Riverstone’s religious character or its purpose in two meeting agendas or meetings. The district’s lawyer, who helped launch Riverstone, had shared that information in a private letter to the board.

“Riverstone’s true nature should have been made clear both to the public, and to the voting board members, by way of the agendas,” Chostner wrote.

Chostner noted that some board members seemed to be in the dark about Riverstone, even as they voted to approve the agreement in June 2025. Two board members testified in court that they hadn’t read the email from the lawyer, Brad Miller, prior to either meeting where the board considered the Riverstone agreement.

Two others “did read the email but nonetheless during their testimony questioned whether they fully understood the import of the email,” she wrote.

A.J. Wilson, the board’s vice president, said during the June trial that he’d read the email and thought the idea of pursuing a test case was “kind of stupid” because “you should never go looking for a lawsuit.”

But that belief didn’t play into his vote to approve the Riverstone agreement, he said, “because that was kind of their prerogative, and if they wanted to pursue that, then it shouldn’t have affected the district at all.”

Riverstone’s opening led to a tumultuous year in the 12,000-student district, contributing to the sudden resignation of a board member, numerous tense public meetings, and the lawsuit against the school board.

Board president’s secret appointment violated Colorado law

Tuesday’s ruling said Susie Carnes’ selection to the Pueblo 70 board was a violation of Colorado’s open meetings law because the school board president, Ann Bennett, made the appointment over email without providing public notice.

“The appointment was done in secret: precisely the type of formal action the (Colorado Open Meetings Law) prohibits,” Chostner wrote.

Although the plaintiffs had argued that two February school board meetings around the time of Carnes’ appointment violated the open meetings law, the judge didn’t agree. She said both meetings were properly noticed.

Even so, Chostner found fault with Bennett’s decision at one meeting to break quorum and leave unannounced. That happened on Feb. 10, when the board deadlocked on picking a board member with repeated 2-2 ties. Then Wilson had a seizure and left the meeting. Bennett, who had sided with Wilson in the vacancy votes, never returned from the 10-minute recess she’d called or adjourned the meeting.

Chostner said there’s no evidence Bennett needed to end the meeting, because “the other board members were present and were ready to continue voting,” she wrote.

Six days after the unadjourned meeting, Bennett announced that she’d appointed Carnes to the vacant seat. Under Colorado law, school board presidents can appoint a new member if the board can’t agree on a candidate after 60 days.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

A controversial Colorado education group was in danger of dissolving. A 2013 agreement just saved it.

2026-08-12T00:36:56+00:00

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A controversial Colorado education group will continue to exist for at least 10 more months after a clause in a 13-year-old agreement prevented one member from exiting.

Until late last week, the group, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, appeared to be on the brink of collapse because Pikes Peak State College was set to withdraw Aug. 15.

Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova sent ERBOCES a letter on Friday suggesting the co-op should start dissolving, since it would soon have a single member, School District 49 in El Paso County. State law requires two.

But a lawyer for ERBOCES responded, saying a 2013 agreement required Pikes Peak to give a year’s notice before withdrawing. The college isn’t fighting the requirement.

“There was an agreement signed in 2013 that I feel compelled to honor,” said Lance Bolton, the president of Pikes Peak. “I think it’s just a matter of integrity.”

The decision represents a win for supporters of ERBOCES, which authorizes several online schools and dozens of publicly funded programs for homeschoolers. It’s a setback for opponents who argue that ERBOCES often operates in the gray areas of state law.

Ken Witt, ERBOCES executive director, said by email Monday, “We are grateful that Pikes Peak State College committed in their membership MOU to one year’s notice before withdrawal.”

ERBOCES has recently been at the center of two major controversies: the creation of a now defunct “public Christian school” and the launch of homeschool programs that used state money to pay for sports camps, horseback riding, and skiing.

Colorado lawmakers cracked down last spring, limiting the group’s ability to authorize public schools and homeschool programs. The Colorado Department of Education has also recently taken a harder line on ERBOCES.

Bolton said the Pikes Peak State College announced it would withdraw from ERBOCES in June not because it had an opinion on the “Christian public school” or homeschool enrichment programs.

“We’re not against them. We’re not for them.” he said. “They’re just not what we’re here for.”

He said the college originally joined in hopes of collaborating on concurrent enrollment efforts, which has been a small part of ERBOCES’ work. As a member of ERBOCES, Pikes Peak gets to have a representative on the co-op’s board. Bolton said the college’s previous board representative has too much on her plate, and a new one will be selected.

In June, when Pikes Peak announced it would withdraw from ERBOCES on Aug. 15, Witt put out a cordial statement saying members occasionally choose to leave and expressing appreciation for members past and present. The effort to enforce the 2013 agreement just days before Pikes Peak was set to depart suggests ERBOCES is having trouble recruiting new members.

Córdova, in her letter to Witt on Friday, wrote, “in the absence of an eligible partner, by August 16, ERBOCES will no longer be eligible to exist as a BOCES, operate schools and programs, or receive state funding.”

She also wrote, “Recent actions from the ERBOCES board have not demonstrated the reasonable and necessary use of public funds.”

She warned the co-op not to go through with a planned $3 million loan to a Woodland Park charter school, indicating that ERBOCES does not have the legal authority to make the loan.

“We are unaware of any statutory authority for such an intergovernmental loan and see no basis for concluding that a loan for the benefit of another district’s constituents can plausibly be considered a reasonable and necessary expense of the BOCES,” Córdova wrote.

At the ERBOCES board meeting in late July, Witt sounded optimistic about recruiting new members.

He acknowledged Pikes Peak’s plan to withdraw and talked of a “live conversation” with a potential new member he didn’t name. He also talked about starting a program to pay institutions that agree to join ERBOCES.

“Because we are actively recruiting new members, and we really need some incentive beyond just participate for the dialogue, we want to offer … a stipend for member districts that choose to join,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado district will eliminate Bible-based content in new reading curriculum, officials say

2026-08-10T23:32:52+00:00

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A small southwestern Colorado school district will remove or modify any biblically infused content in its new elementary reading curriculum, a district official wrote in an open letter Saturday.

“Our schools will not use the curriculum as a vehicle for religious instruction,” wrote Eddie Ramirez, superintendent of the Montezuma-Cortez district, in a letter addressed to parents, elementary staff, and community members.

The announcement came two days after a Chalkbeat story about the district’s plan to use the Bluebonnet reading curriculum, which was developed by the state of Texas, aligns with Texas academic standards, and contains some lessons based on the Bible.

Also on Saturday, Montezuma-Cortez officials scheduled a special school board meeting for Tuesday to adopt the Bluebonnet curriculum. Although administrators announced in July the district would use the reading curriculum this year, the school board never voted on it.

Monday was the district’s first day of school.

Saturday’s four-page letter was an unusual effort to explain why the 2,200-student district adopted the Texas-centric curriculum and reassure parents and the public that reading instruction will match Colorado academic standards and avoid religious content.

This Colorado school district is using Biblically infused reading curriculum made for Texas students

Montezuma-Cortez administrators picked Bluebonnet because the district in May adopted a school improvement model borrowed from the Houston school district, which switched to Bluebonnet in June. The model, spearheaded by Houston Superintendent Mike Miles, a former charter school founder in Colorado, is called the New Education System.

Justin Schmitt, Montezuma-Cortez’s executive director of academic success, said in a phone interview Friday that using the same curriculum materials as Houston will help his district implement Houston’s improvement model.

“We don’t want to piecemeal the model,” he said. “We wanted to embrace the model in its entirety.”

The model is highly structured and includes teacher-led instruction, a focus on student engagement, and training for teachers and principals. Students in Houston schools using the New Education System made significant gains on state tests in the last few years.

In Montezuma-Cortez, two district-run elementary schools perform far below the Colorado average on state math and literacy tests. A third one, the 128-student Lewis-Arriola Elementary, performs far better.

The Bluebonnet curriculum has drawn criticism from advocates of church-state separation and some parents and religious scholars since it was unveiled in Texas two years ago. Among their critiques are that Bluebonnet mischaracterizes some Bible stories, presents some too literalistically, and gives scant attention to religious traditions outside of Christianity.

A kindergarten lesson discusses the days of Creation in the Book of Genesis, a first grade lesson contains the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and a two-lesson second grade sequence shares a Bible story about Queen Esther. A 14-lesson fifth grade unit discusses Biblical allegories in the “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis.

Schmitt said Houston repackages the Bluebonnet curriculum into slide decks and other materials that are ready for use in the classroom, which will take some of the load off Montezuma-Cortez teachers.

“We don’t have capacity in our district to build that,” he said of the specially tailored curriculum materials.

Schmitt said Montezuma-Cortez is paying for copying costs and some book purchases, but Houston isn’t charging the district to use the New Education System model or for the repackaged Bluebonnet curriculum.

Ramirez’s letter doesn’t mention the name Bluebonnet, but said the district “carefully reviewed” the new reading curricular resources and found “approximately 95% alignment with the applicable Colorado standards.”

Schmitt said Monday that Ramirez wasn’t referring to a district review of the curriculum, but rather an estimate by district officials that Texas and Colorado academic standards are about 95% the same.

Bluebonnet isn’t a Colorado-approved reading curriculum, but it was derived from a state-approved curriculum called Core Knowledge Language Arts. A spokesperson for the company that publishes Core Knowledge Language Arts said the two reading programs are different, and Core Knowledge’s state approval doesn’t guarantee Bluebonnet would win approval too. Colorado school districts don’t have to use state-approved reading curriculum, but they must ensure their curriculum meets state academic standards.

Ramirez wrote in the open letter, “Any content that is inconsistent with the district’s educational purpose, Colorado Academic Standards, or our expectations for a public-school instructional program will be reviewed and, where appropriate, removed or modified.”

Schmitt said the Houston team has provided Montezuma-Cortez with four weeks of reading curriculum materials so far and told district staff there are no faith-based teachings in that content.

“We’re going to trust that, but we’re also going to verify it on our own,” he said.

Teachers and principals will provide further checks to ensure religious content is removed, he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado school district is using Biblically infused reading curriculum made for Texas students

2026-08-06T21:06:58+00:00

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Officials in Montezuma-Cortez, a small school district in southwestern Colorado, could have chosen a new elementary reading curriculum from more than 20 state-approved options.

Instead, with little public discussion this summer, they picked one called Bluebonnet. It’s described as being “built for Texas students” and has drawn fierce criticism from some Texans for containing Biblically infused lessons.

Kindergartners learn about the days of Creation in the Book of Genesis. First graders learn about the Parable of the Prodigal Son and fifth graders learn about Biblical allegories in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” by C.S. Lewis.

The curriculum adoption in Montezuma-Cortez is the latest chapter in an ongoing debate about what kind of religious content belongs in American public schools. It also raises questions about why a low-performing district is using a controversial reading curriculum that wasn’t vetted by state evaluators and didn’t go through a public review process or school board vote.

Montezuma-Cortez leaders picked Bluebonnet because the district recently adopted a school reform model from the Houston school district, which approved Bluebonnet this summer.

Houston Superintendent Mike Miles, a former Colorado charter school founder, created the school improvement model Montezuma-Cortez is using. Called “New Education System,” it emphasizes explicit teacher-led instruction, keeping students engaged, and training for teachers and principals. With the help of consultants, Montezuma-Cortez will use the reform strategy at its three elementary schools starting this fall.

Colorado is a local control state and school districts don’t have to use state-approved reading programs, but most do. A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Education said districts that don’t use state-approved curriculum must ensure the programs are evidence-based and meet state academic standards.

Superintendent Eddie Ramirez and six of seven Montezuma-Cortez school board members didn’t respond to requests for comment about Bluebonnet. Justin Schmitt, the district’s executive director of academic services, offered to talk by phone on Tuesday, but didn’t respond to follow-up emails to schedule the interview.

Board member Mike Lynch said by email Tuesday that the district is following Houston’s lead on curriculum because of that district’s “rapid and phenomenal turnaround history.”

“I want that outcome for my district,” he said.

Students in Houston schools that are part of the New Education System made significant gains on state tests in the last few years.

Lynch said he doesn’t know if Bluebonnet is evidence-based or how well it matches Colorado standards.

“In my opinion, we need to concentrate on teaching our kids how to read and do math,” he said. “Then we can worry more about matching the Colorado standards.”

Lynch also said he didn’t have enough information to form an opinion about Bluebonnet’s Biblically infused lessons.

“There is a difference between containing references from the Bible and teaching the Bible. There is also … number of occurrences, or degree of infusion,” he said. “I don’t know about those facts yet.”

Controversial from the beginning

The State of Texas developed Bluebonnet a few years ago by adapting an existing reading curriculum from the company Amplify. Despite criticism from religious scholars and advocates for church-state separation, Bluebonnet was narrowly approved by the Texas State Board of Education in 2024.

Texas districts aren’t required to adopt it, but they get financial incentives from the state if they do.

Mark Chancey, a religious studies professor at Southern Methodist University, said the problem with Bluebonnet is not that it includes religion but that its treatment of religion is not well done. It mischaracterizes some Bible stories, presents some too literalistically, and gives scant attention to religious traditions outside of Christianity, he said.

A second grade lesson on Esther, a Persian queen from the Bible, suggests she acted based on her faith in God and portrays her as a champion of non-violence for helping save the Jews. But Chancey said the Book of Esther famously doesn’t mention God and that Bluebonnet fails to mention that Esther promotes killing enemies of the Jews at the end of the Bible story.

Chancey said some Biblical content in Bluebonnet is not appropriate for the grade where it’s introduced.

“Is a 5-year-old going to say, ‘I’m so thankful that we’re learning about a creation story from Genesis for the sake of cultural literacy, but I understand that people interpret this differently, and not everybody accepts that it’s scientifically and historically accurate,’” he said.

“I don’t think many 5-year-olds are going to think that way,” he said.

Brent Strawn, a religion and law professor at Duke University, said knowing Bible stories and passages can give students a more nuanced understanding of everything from Shakespeare’s plays to pop music to common idioms, like “the apple of my eye.”

“You could make a case that reading the Bible, having some familiarity with the Bible, could help you as a kind of interpreter of cultural references,” said Strawn.

But he also worries that this rationale can be used to bring Biblical content into public schools when the real goal is to instill children with Christian values and beliefs.

“I’m … in favor of all Christian values. I’m an ordained minister,” he said, “But the question is whether that’s legal, and most people would say that’s not legal according to the establishment clause of the Constitution.”

That clause bars the government from promoting or prescribing one religion over others.

Strawn has not reviewed the Bluebonnet curriculum.

A sudden pivot, little public discussion

When officials in the 2,200-student Montezuma-Cortez district adopted Houston’s school improvement model last spring, the goal was to improve elementary students’ academic performance. One of three district-run elementary schools performs well above the state average on state literacy and math tests, but the other two perform far below.

District leaders originally planned to use a Colorado-approved reading curriculum as part of the improvement effort: Core Knowledge Language Arts. The school board approved a curriculum-use agreement with the Houston district in May that referenced that program.

But when Houston opted, despite opposition from some parents and faith leaders, to switch to Bluebonnet in June, Montezuma-Cortez officials quickly followed suit with no school board vote.

The two curriculums are related but not the same.

Bluebonnet was developed from Core Knowledge Language Arts as its foundation but has been adapted over time, said Kristine Frech-Barstow, senior vice president of corporate communications at Amplify, by email.

As a result, the curriculums are different and Colorado’s approval of Core Knowledge Language Arts doesn’t ensure Bluebonnet would also be approved, she said.

Ericka Burns, a consultant from the Colorado Springs-based firm Education Partners, said during a July 21 Montezuma-Cortez school board meeting that using the same curriculum as Houston makes it easier to use Houston’s school improvement model, but that it’s not necessary.

“We implement the instructional model regardless of curriculum,” she said.

Education Partners will receive $300,000 to help Montezuma-Cortez with the school improvement effort.

Bluebonnet materials include numerous mentions of Texas history and civics. For example, kindergarten lessons talk about the Texas flag, the Texas state capital building, the Texas Pledge of Allegiance, and famous Texans like Sam Houston.

In June, the Texas Education Agency announced it’s spending $8 million to fix thousands of errors in the curriculum, including typos, formatting problems, and copyright violations.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s preschool program is reaching lots of kids but needs to focus on quality, new evaluation says

2026-07-30T23:05:29+00:00

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Colorado’s free preschool program has been popular with families since it launched three years ago, but state leaders need to raise the bar on quality.

That finding from a state-mandated evaluation of the $349 million program echoes concerns long raised by advocates that universal preschool started with minimal standards on class size, curriculum, and teacher training, among other things.

The evaluation, conducted by Child Trends and released in early July, provides the first comprehensive look at what’s gone well and what hasn’t in the universal preschool program’s initial two years. One of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives, the program provides 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to about 70% of the state’s 4-year-olds.

State officials rushed to roll out the preschool program in 2023, shortly after the state’s new Department of Early Childhood was created. The tight timeline meant more than 40,000 children were soon getting half- or full-day preschool for free — a relief for many families. But the fast pace contributed to some initial problems cited by the evaluation.

Those include confusion about enrollment processes, frustration over how state officials communicated about the program, and concern that the state didn’t prioritize quality.

The evaluation says the concern about quality is exacerbated by a report from the National Institute for Early Education Research showing that Colorado’s universal preschool program meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to promote preschool quality.

“The optics of it are not good,” said Heather Tritten, president and CEO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a Denver-based advocacy group. “You see the two out of 10, and you think, ‘Oh my gosh, that must not be a good program.’”

But the reality is more complicated, she said. That’s because some of the research institute’s benchmarks may not attainable or desirable in Colorado — for example, one that requires a bachelor’s degree for lead preschool teachers.

Other benchmarks include class size caps of 20 students, teacher-student ratios of 1 to 10, and a requirement that assistant teachers have a widely recognized credential called a Child Development Associate or the equivalent.

Tritten said state officials should spell out the quality standards they strive to hit.

“Without having our own set of standards or defining it within (the research institute’s) standards, we’re not communicating why our universal pre-K program is high quality,” she said. “I think that might be the biggest problem.”

Dawn Odean, Colorado’s universal preschool director, said the state is focusing on preschool quality, with several changes set to take effect in the next couple years.

They include requirements that universal preschool providers use either a state-vetted curriculum or an approach that meets certain state standards. They’ll also have to use an observation-based assessment to monitor preschool students’ skills and progress.

State officials will begin piloting a tool this coming year that will assess teacher-student relationships and interactions during in-person visits, Odean said.

Alma Wiley, who runs an in-home child care business in El Paso County and participates in universal preschool, likes that idea.

“From centers to family child care homes to school districts, having those relationships is what children thrive on,” she said. “If we don’t have those bonding relationships in the first five years, we’re just not building the foundation for them.”

But Wiley, who cares for nine children including two children in the state-funded preschool program, thinks the program should require lower class sizes and teacher-student ratios. She unsuccessfully pushed for that as a member of a state council that advises the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Under state rules, universal preschool classrooms can have up to 22 students and a teacher-student ratio of 1 to 11 if providers have a Level 1 or Level 2 rating, the lowest two of five state ratings in the state’s Colorado Shine’s system. Providers with higher ratings can have up to 24 preschoolers and teacher student ratios of 1 to 12.

“They need one-on-one with the caregiver … to build those relationships, to build that foundation,” said Wiley, whom the children call Miss Alma. “So, having 12 kids in one classroom to a teacher, I don’t think is beneficial to a child at this age level.”

Of the more than 2,000 preschool providers in the state-funded program, 54% have the lowest two state ratings, according to the evaluation.

Odean said the state will unveil a five-year strategic plan for universal preschool in November.

“We have to show child outcomes,” she said. “That’s the point of this program. It isn’t just a subsidy,”

Odean said she expects the state’s preschool program to meet several of the 10 benchmarks recommended by the National Institute for Early Education Research in the coming years.

“Are we specifically, intentionally trying to hit a 10?” she said. “Not necessarily.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

After closed-door meeting, Denver superintendent, school board agree to keep working on relationship

2026-07-27T22:43:55+00:00

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Having spent months at odds over their working relationship, the Denver school board and Superintendent Alex Marrero emerged from a three-hour closed-door meeting Monday striking a more conciliatory tone.

Marrero and board members said they were committed to continuing discussions about how to work together and manage district governance.

“I appreciate the conversation,” said Marrero. “I’ll see it as a start towards seeking clarity and perhaps a frame for moving forward with positivity and hope for the district.”

Monday’s special board meeting was called to address concerns raised by Marrero in a June email in which he alleged the board is overstepping its authority and that “the current trajectory” has become “increasingly untenable.” A day after he sent the letter, he informed the board he was vying for the superintendent job in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a position he didn’t get.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero to school board: ‘I can no longer ignore these concerns’

Policy governance is at the center of the tension between Marrero and the board. The framework is meant to set clear expectations for both sides. Marrero’s contract says the board sets district goals but “will avoid telling the Superintendent or staff what to do or how to do it.”

Marrero, who’s led the district for five years, earned $346,529 this past school year.

Monday’s closed session was to get legal advice about Marrero’s contract and to discuss the board-superintendent relationship with Marrero, according to the meeting agenda.

It’s not clear what specifics the board and Marrero covered during the session, but there seemed to be a bit of detente during the short public discussion afterwards.

Some board members said adjustments might be needed to the policy governance model but expressed general support for the approach.

Board President Xóchitl Gaytán said she’s open to having conversations at the board’s August retreat about changes to or flexibility in the model.

Board member Marlene De La Rosa said, “I’m fully committed to trying to do better as my part on this whole.”

Board member Kimberlee Sia suggested the board should do a self-assessment at an upcoming board work session.

Marrero said that he’s looking forward to seeing how the board assesses itself and that he’s willing to entertain changes to how the board governs the district.

“Organizations evolve and agreements evolve,” he said. “If that’s a desire and the will of the board, then that’s what shall happen, and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Monday’s board meeting was bumpy at the start, with Marrero questioning whether information would be kept private with some members attending remotely.

The meeting was advertised as a virtual meeting, and none of the members or Marrero appeared on the video during the public portion together, though some were in the same building.

Vice President Monica Hunter said it was ableist to assume every board member could be present in person, especially because July is the month when the board does not usually hold any meetings.

“I just want to caution that tone of just like saying we’re not present,” she said. “Everyone is here. Everyone made it on the call.”

Gaytán, who has been supportive of the superintendent, thanked Marrero for making the effort to attend in person, saying, “I know he dropped everything he was doing. You know, left his family and his kids to be here with us today.”

When she started to apologize “on behalf of the whole board that we’re not all here together in person,” board member DJ Torres jumped in, saying repeatedly “Point of order.”

“You are the president. You do not speak on behalf of everybody,” Torres said. “Do not apologize on my behalf.”

Board member Amy Klein Molk said it should be respected that some people can meet in person and some can’t.

“We are here to make sure that we are doing the very best thing for our kids,” she said. “And time and again, we get pulled into these other conversations and I am tired of it.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado officials knew ‘public Christian school’ was religious before it opened. They didn’t stop it.

2026-07-24T21:21:54+00:00

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When the leaders of a new elementary school applied for a four-digit public school code from the Colorado Department of Education last summer, they didn’t mention a key detail: The school would be religious.

Instead, they said Riverstone Academy would offer traditional academics and trade-themed electives. But education department officials soon learned that the 30-student school in Pueblo County would also be run by a Christian group and use some Christian curriculum.

Several department employees raised red flags internally and escalated the issue to state lawyers, according to emails obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request. Still, Riverstone got its school code, and the department didn’t confront the school’s authorizer until months later, after the group’s director publicly announced that Riverstone was “Colorado’s first public Christian school.”

That’s when the department cited the Colorado constitution’s ban on teaching religious tenets in public schools and warned that Riverstone students might not be eligible for public funding. But that didn’t stop hundreds of thousands of dollars from flowing to the school last year.

A department spokesperson told Chalkbeat that the state legislature hasn’t given the department “any clear authority” to enforce the state constitution’s ban on religious public schools or the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The clause prohibits the government from endorsing any religion.

“Compliance with the First Amendment has historically been enforced through the courts, not by state agencies,” Colorado Department of Education Chief External Relations Officer Emma Garrett-Nelson said in an email.

Riverstone’s story shows Colorado lacks any clear procedure to keep religious schools out of the public school ecosystem. The school closed permanently in May, but not because it was religious. Instead, state lawmakers imposed strict new limits on the group that authorized it.

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

As conservative activists around the country chip away at church-state separation in education, that leaves a key question unanswered: Can Colorado stop a religious school from being recognized and funded as a public school?

Steven Green, a law professor at Willamette University who specializes in church-state issues, said that state officials could have and should have stopped Riverstone from opening. He disagreed with the idea that enforcing the state constitution is an issue for the courts and not state agencies.

“As a state official, however far down it is, they’re still bound by the Constitution,” he said. “It’s not that you wait till litigation occurs.”

Department staff raise questions about Riverstone

Chalkbeat reviewed scores of emails exchanged among more than two dozen Colorado Department of Education employees over two weeks last summer as they pondered whether to give Riverstone a public school code, which is required for data-tracking purposes.

Riverstone’s school code application arrived June 27, 2025. It was shared with more than a dozen members of a committee that reviews such requests.

On July 2, Jessica Tribbett, a data specialist for the department, emailed committee members that the Christian contractor that would run Riverstone, Forging Education, “operates a network of private school campuses committed to academic excellence and spiritual formation.”

Janyce Skalla, a senior policy consultant in the department’s schools of choice unit, replied, saying that Riverstone’s website mentioned faith-based science and social studies curriculums, Masterbooks and Berean Builders.

“The school claims to be public but has some private school elements that are worth flagging,” she wrote.

That afternoon Tribbett emailed four higher-level department employees. She wrote that an internet search revealed that Riverstone would offer “a faith-based education” and should be assigned a private school code instead of a public school one.

“Are there guidelines or legislation stating that faith-based curriculum cannot be used if accepting public funding?” Tribbett wrote.

One of the recipients, DJ Loerzel, executive director of data operations, emailed another group of department leaders the next morning.

“This is the first time we encountered a situation like this,” he wrote. “Are there specific statutes/policies noting public funds for schools that potentially have a religious curriculum?”

A lawyer meeting, then a decision

By the time the July 4 holiday weekend started, emails show employees from across the education department had been looped into the Riverstone conversation, including executive directors, managers, policy advisors, and an assistant commissioner.

The next step was a meeting with Joe Peters, an assistant state attorney general.

On July 8, after Tribbett and a few others met with Peters, Tribbett sent a brief email to seven higher-ups indicating a decision had been made.

Two days later, Riverstone got its code: 7294.

Ken Haptonstall, who heads the Colorado BOCES Association, a group for public education co-ops like the one that started Riverstone, said a school code provides a kind of legitimacy.

“To me, once you give a school code, it’s almost like you’re giving permission in a way,” he said.

It’s not clear from the public records what legal advice the assistant attorney general gave the education department. The department withheld some emails from Chalkbeat based on attorney-client privilege.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Attorney General’s office declined to answer questions about whether state law gives the education department the power to prevent a public religious school from opening.

Garrett-Nelson, the education department spokesperson, described the school code review committee’s job as an administrative process and said it wasn’t the place to “litigate this important issue.”

“Based on the current U.S. Supreme Court caselaw, the department likely would have lost a lawsuit challenging the denial of a school code solely based on the religious status” of Forging Education, Riverstone’s contractor, she wrote in an email.

A 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said government benefits can’t be withheld from an organization solely because of its religious status.

But department employees knew more than Forging Education’s religious affiliation. They knew the school planned to teach students using two different Christian curriculums.

Asked why that didn’t allow the department to take action, Garrett-Nelson said, “We were working closely with our legal counsel as more information was coming to light. Due to the high-stakes nature of litigation in this area, we wanted to ensure we were on stable ground before actively questioning the use of public funds on religious instruction.”

Green, the Willamette law professor, likened the approach to an ostrich putting its head in the sand, particularly because conservative legal groups have consistently pushed for publicly funded religious education in recent years.

“For any knowledgeable assistant attorney general to think, oh, if we give them just a little bit, or maybe it won’t manifest itself in the way we think it will … or maybe it will just go away, that’s pie in the sky.”

A delayed confrontation

State education leaders confronted Riverstone’s authorizer — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES — in October, three months after the school code decision and two months after Riverstone opened.

These co-ops are meant to support school districts. This one started Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school.’

They’d already begun getting questions as word of the school spread, emails obtained through a public records request show. In early October, Scott Smith, the chief financial and operating officer for the Cherry Creek School District, sent screenshots of Riverstone’s website to two top department officials and said, “I’m wondering how this school can qualify for public funds?”

The department addressed the issue directly on Oct. 10 — the day after Ken Witt, the executive director of ERBOCES, called Riverstone “Colorado’s first public Christian school.”

Jennifer Okes, district operations special advisor, wrote to Witt, saying the department “recently became aware” of the school’s opening. She said that public schools are generally required to be nonsectarian — meaning non-religious — and that Riverstone students might not be eligible for public funding.

In the weeks following Witt’s headline-making announcement, department officials didn’t acknowledge they’d known that Riverstone would be a religious school from the start and that its school code had sparked a dayslong debate.

When Chalkbeat asked in late October whether a school that was clearly religious would be given a school code, department spokesperson Jeremy Meyer said by email, “If that hypothetical event were to occur, we would consult with our legal counsel on the appropriate course of action.”

A threat, but no action

Department officials never cracked down on Riverstone.

In January, they selected ERBOCES for a state audit, a lengthy process the department’s earlier letter had implied might provide them ammunition for withholding Riverstone’s funding.

But in February — the same day Riverstone and ERBOCES filed a religious liberty lawsuit against the state — department officials sent a letter to Witt saying the department’s audit wouldn’t consider religion.

Garrett-Nelson said the department changed course because religion wasn’t mentioned in its audit guide, which is a set of instructions for school districts. Officials “decided not to rely on this untested approach to claw back funding” because it would have “led straight back into the heart of the litigation risk,” she said.

Today, Riverstone is closed for good, the religious liberty lawsuit is dead, and ERBOCES no longer has the power to hand over school operations to a contractor. But it remains unclear if the education department can or will stop a religious public school, either through bureaucratic steps on the front end or the power of the purse on the back end.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Second public school closes following Colorado law change aimed at controversial education group

2026-07-23T20:25:36+00:00

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A second school has closed permanently because of a law change aimed at a group some Colorado lawmakers believed was exploiting legal loopholes to authorize public schools and programs statewide.

Pueblo Classical Academy, which enrolled 260 K-12 students, won’t reopen in August, school leaders announced on social media in mid-July, after declining for weeks to comment on the school’s fate. Another school, Riverstone Academy, which backers called “Colorado’s first public Christian school,” closed in May.

Both schools were authorized by a Monument-based group called Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES. Such co-ops are allowed to authorize schools, but most don’t.

Colorado officials knew ‘public Christian school’ was religious before it opened. They didn’t stop it.

It’s not often a state law change prompts such swift school closures, but lawmakers felt a sense of urgency in reining in ERBOCES because of controversy surrounding Riverstone and the many publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs the co-op authorized in recent years.

State lawmakers passed strict limits on the authorizing power of such co-ops in the last days of the legislative session. The decision meant Pueblo Classical School, Riverstone, and one other school, Ascend College Prep, had to find new authorizers to stay open.

Only Ascend, a small school for students in grades 10 to 12, was successful, becoming a charter school authorized by the Charter School Institute, a statewide charter authorizer.

Pueblo Classical sought to become a charter school authorized by Pueblo School District 60, but the district’s school board voted it down. The school has a history of switching authorizers, flip-flopping between being a BOCES-authorized school and a charter school.

It opened in 2021 with ERBOCES as its authorizer. In 2022, it became a charter school authorized by District 70. But in 2024, the district revoked its charter because of financial breaches and its failure to report an employee’s arrest, among other concerns. At that point, the school returned to ERBOCES.

Pueblo Classical was part of a three-school network in Pueblo County. The other two schools are charters authorized by the Pueblo 60 district and will remain open. Fulton Heights Charter Academy has about 200 K-8 students, Jones Charter Academy has about 370 K-8 students.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

2 conservative law firms join defense team in Elizabeth school district’s book ban lawsuit

2026-07-21T23:32:26+00:00

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Two high-profile conservative law firms, including one that has many wins before the U.S. Supreme Court, are helping to defend a Colorado school district in a book banning lawsuit.

Lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation filed paperwork to join the legal team representing the Elizabeth School District, which was sued after removing 18 books from its school libraries. The additional legal firepower comes about five months before a December jury trial is set to begin in federal district court.

It’s not clear why the district brought on lawyers from the Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom at this point in the case. A statement provided by a district spokesman said that Alliance Defending Freedom has a 20-win record before the U.S. Supreme Court. It also said that the district is the first client of Heritage’s new Legal Action Center, which was created for cases like the library book lawsuit.

“The District has assembled this legal team to mount a vigorous, well-resourced defense of its policies on the merits,” the statement said.

The three lawyers join the book removal case at a tumultuous time for the district. In May, the previous superintendent was forced out and a new superintendent was hired. The district is also facing a financial crisis caused by overspending, leading to staff layoffs and other cuts this summer.

The district has been soliciting donations for its legal defense in the book removal case since last summer. In May, district leaders took steps to create Friends of Elizabeth Schools, a group intended to fundraise for legal costs.

The Elizabeth district spokesperson said he did not have information about how much the district has spent on the library book lawsuit so far or whether Heritage and Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys will charge the district for their work. The additional lawyers will join at least two other firms already representing Elizabeth in the case.

The controversy over the books, which are back on school library shelves while the case is pending, began in the fall of 2024 when the district in conservative-leaning Elbert County decided to pull 19 titles from school libraries because of content school board members deemed not age appropriate, overly graphic, or highly sensitive. One of the books was not actually removed because it had been checked out and was never returned.

The removed books are primarily by or about LGBTQ people, people of color, or both. They include “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved,” both by Toni Morrison; “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini; and “It’s Your World — If You Don’t Like It, Change It” by Mikki Halpin.

In December 2024, two students, a chapter of the NAACP, and an authors group, all represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, sued the Elizabeth district over the book removals. They alleged that the removals violate students’ rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to access information and ideas and authors’ rights to communicate those ideas to students.

Lawyers for the district rebutted those claims in a 2025 legal filing, saying “a school library’s curation decisions are government speech immune from First Amendment scrutiny.”

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative public policy group that produced Project 2025, a playbook for the second Trump administration. The document’s introduction says,“Children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries.”

Heritage’s Legal Action Center launched in July and described its goals on social media as defending “free speech, religious liberty, election integrity, parental rights, medical freedom, the right to life, and the constitutional principles that safeguard liberty.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an Arizona-based conservative law firm and legal advocacy group that describes its mission as “grounded in the historic Christian tradition.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

A trip to Scotland with 75 teenagers: This Colorado theater teacher wants to make memories

2026-07-20T19:16:41+00:00

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In August, theater teacher Shawn Hann will accompany 75 Denver high school students to a massive theater festival in Scotland called the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. When they’re not putting on the musical Legally Blonde, Jr, they’ll be soaking in performances from around the world.

“I truly believe in curating experiences and life memories,” she said. “The Fringe is exactly that.”

Hann, who teaches sixth- through 12th-graders at the prestigious Denver School of the Arts, said the trip is such a big deal that students and their families start saving up four years in advance and school fundraisers start two years ahead.

Hann was recently named the 2026 Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year by the Educational Theatre Foundation and the ASCAP Foundation, which promotes music education. The award is named for the Broadway veteran who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin, among others.

Hann talked to Chalkbeat about what she looks for when students audition for a spot at Denver School of the Arts, why she teaches the physical acting method of Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski, and how a student’s devoted mother inspired her.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

I remember the exact moment. I was finishing my freshman year at Cottey College, a small two-year women’s school in Missouri. I was looking at the University of Northern Iowa’s course book as I was deciding to transfer. I was thinking about all the general education courses I had taken that year: Which ones were easy, what did I enjoy? Theatre, speech, psychology. I flipped through that course book and landed on the Theatre/Communication Education major. I wanted to take every single course that was listed.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

Several years ago, I got to participate in a two-week course in New York City about the physical theatre methods of Jerzy Grotowski. Most high school acting approaches are based in the Stanislavski tradition of method acting, where students analyze the intellectual side of a character. You leave your own problems and desires outside the rehearsal room and immerse yourself mentally in the character’s life.

Not many high school students get to learn about Grotowski’s methods, but I teach a unit on them to my upperclassmen. I love how it makes students who approach theatre intellectually all of a sudden flip to approaching a character physically. The question we ask is, “What is your already?” Then, through a series of physical exercises, which remind many people of yoga, students explore where in their bodies certain emotions live. They are given permission to play like children, unjudged and uninhibited, to find true emotions in their own lives and then transfer those feelings into a character’s world.

When students audition for a spot at Denver School of the Arts, what do you look for?

Potential and positivity. We have students who audition who have Broadway credits, and we have students who have only done a historical “play” in fifth grade. I want to see a spark in a student who wants to learn as much as they can. I will always prefer a student who works hard and tries versus someone who feels they already know it all. And kindness. Kindness above all else.

You’ve brought students to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe several times. Tell us about it.

The Fringe festival is such a large undertaking I only do it once every four years so that all the students in the seven-year program get a shot at going during high school.

This summer, I am taking 65 acting majors and 10 stagecraft/design majors. We’ll be part of the American High School Theatre Festival alongside 30 other U.S. schools that were selected to participate.

The Fringe is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Students get to go to as many shows as they possibly can over two weeks and see world theatre: a dance show from Poland, a physical theatre troupe from France, comedy from Italy. British humor, Scottish humor, and food. They see how the United States is viewed internationally as well. This summer we have two alumni who traveled there with me in 2008, returning with their own original shows.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

In my second year of teaching, I had a student who was somewhat shy. Her mom was the No. 1 volunteer and adamant about her daughter being in plays. Not being the star, just being a part of them.

As time went on I realized why: Her child had a health condition where she was only supposed to live to 14 and had to survive by plugging into an IV every night for nutrition. The mom was trying to build extraordinary memories as fast as she could since the clock was ticking.

I changed my approach by trying to truly know my students, their circumstances, and their families so I could help curate life memories no matter what. The way my student’s mom showed up for her daughter was beyond inspiring. She became a lifelong friend until she unexpectedly passed a year ago. Her daughter is now in her mid-40’s. I credit her mother for teaching her how to survive and manage so well.

What is a common misconception about your job as an educator?

That we get the summers off. I revise my curriculum for weeks every summer. I also take my students to a national theatre conference for a week. This summer, I took two weeks in June to direct the show that we are taking to the Fringe Festival, then will spend three days getting the show ready in July before taking 75 students to Scotland for two weeks in August. That is also unpaid. In fact, it will cost me money as I will spend my own money to go to shows with students as a chaperone. It is MY choice to do these trips, but it is because I believe in how it will shape my students’ lives.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I live 40 miles from my school; that equates to about two and a half hours a day commuting. So I listen to books on tape or TV shows in the car. I just finished re-”listening” to West Wing. So great.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

State scrutinizes homeschool enrichment proposals from controversial education group

2026-07-10T23:22:29+00:00

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Responding to recent changes in state law, Colorado officials are scrutinizing 42 homeschool enrichment program applications submitted by a controversial education group whose past practices spurred the changes.

The Colorado Department of Education on Thursday sent a four-page letter to the group — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES — requesting additional details so a six-member review team can determine if the enrichment programs comply with the new rules.

The department’s letter provides a glimpse into the state’s new harder line on publicly funded programming for home-school students. It also illustrates ERBOCES’ effort to maintain its stable of enrichment programs around Colorado in the face of state efforts to crack down on the group.

Homeschool enrichment programs typically offer six hours of class a week and are meant to give home-schooled students socialization opportunities or access to courses that are hard to offer at home.

The state’s tougher stance on homeschool enrichment comes after lawmakers passed strict limits this spring, aiming to curb rapid growth fueled by ERBOCES, increase transparency, and bar certain kinds of offerings, such as ski passes, karate lessons, and sports camps. Last year, the state spent around $100 million on homeschool enrichment programs.

The law change requires homeschool enrichment authorizers like ERBOCES to get approval from the state or a local school district if they want to continue operating an enrichment program outside their boundaries. As of Thursday, the education department had received 45 applications for out-of-boundary enrichment programs, according to a department spokesperson.

Forty-two of the applications came from ERBOCES for programs operating outside the group’s only member school district, District 49 in northeast Colorado Springs. One application came from the Aurora school district and two came from charter schools: Ascent Classical Academy of Northern Denver and Colorado Military Academy in Colorado Springs.

ERBOCES does not have to get state or school district approval for homeschool enrichment programs operating within District 49.

Ken Witt, executive director of ERBOCES, said by email on Friday that the education department’s review of his group’s 42 applications “encompasses a significant number of our wildly popular programs.”

He said the review will require some back and forth with the department, and he expects it to be completed in the next few weeks.

During the 2025-26 school year, ERBOCES had more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs around the state. Some offered math, reading, and electives like music and physical education. Others had a specific focus: outdoor adventure, career training, aviation, golf, or horsemanship.

Witt has declined to provide Chalkbeat a full list of its homeschool enrichment programs, some of which have dozens of sub-campuses and subcontractors.

In Thursday’s letter, education department officials warned ERBOCES that its 42 applications were incomplete and would need to be resubmitted.

Items missing include:

Information on whether homeschool enrichment applicants are located on private school campuses. Such co-locations are no longer permitted.
Information on whether homeschool enrichment applicants are located at the same place as private fee-based programs. Such co-locations may not be permitted because the new rules bar the state from subsidizing private activities or purchases for home-schoolers.
A full list of sub-campuses or subprograms operated by a single applicant.

In the letter, education department officials cited specific problems with some applications. For example, it noted that Enrich Colorado, a homeschool enrichment program based in Pueblo, had not included information on a contractor operating in 28 locations around the state. That contractor is Forging Education, a group that operated a now defunct “public Christian school” that created a storm of controversy last school year.

The letter also cites discrepancies in application paperwork for a program called Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, with one form saying the group has 68 campuses across Colorado and another form saying the number is 75.

In June, ERBOCES provided a partial list of Colorado Homeschool Enrichment campuses to Chalkbeat. Most of the 30 items on the list simply say “Micro-Campus” with an individual’s name next to the entry. Others have names like St. Stephen Catholic School, Global Ex Academy, and Adventure Learning.

Several homeschool enrichment programs that last year operated under the ERBOCES umbrella have discontinued their offerings in Colorado, according to their websites. They include programs such as Front Range Construction Academy, Alpine International Prep Academy, and Colorado Agribusiness and Equine Sciences Academy.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what happened to 3 Colorado schools when state lawmakers reined in a controversial education group

2026-07-02T20:12:17+00:00

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A recent law change aimed at what some Colorado lawmakers saw as a rogue school authorizing group quickly changed the trajectory of three public schools this spring.

One closed, one will stay open, and the fate of the third is a mystery.

The new law put strict limits on the school-authorizing power of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES. It passed quickly in the last days of this spring’s legislative session, a sign of the urgency lawmakers felt in their bid to rein in one particular BOCES: Education reEnvisioned.

The Monument-based group, often called ERBOCES, started a controversial “public Christian school” last August and fueled explosive growth in homeschool enrichment programs that cost the state tens of millions of dollars.

The law forced ERBOCES’ three brick-and-mortar schools to find a new path forward or shut down.

Riverstone Academy, the public Christian school, closed at the end of the school year. It had about 30 elementary students.

Ascend College Prep became a charter school after winning authorization last month from the Charter School Institute, a statewide charter authorizer. Last year, the Colorado Springs school served 116 students in grades 10 through 12.

After a year of controversy, the leader of a shuttered ‘public Christian school’ is pitching a new venture

It’s not clear what will happen to the third school, the 260-student Pueblo Classical Academy. School leaders were unsuccessful in their recent effort to become a charter school authorized by Pueblo School District 60. They haven’t responded to questions about whether the school will close or obtain a new arrangement that will allow it to stay open.

The new law bars BOCES from authorizing schools outside their member school districts and from having brick-and-mortar schools entirely run by contractors. Since Riverstone, Ascend, and Pueblo Classical were outside ERBOCES’ member school districts and run by contractors, they didn’t meet the new law’s requirements.

Riverstone’s leader, Quin Friberg, didn’t respond to a request for comment about why he didn’t seek a new authorizer for the school.

Riverstone had been forced out of its original building midway through the school year because of safety concerns and hadn’t completed the required improvements to move back in.

After the law change, Ascend officials rushed to convert it to a charter school under the umbrella of the Charter School Institute, a move that also required approval from Academy District 20, where the school is located. Both tasks had to be finished in about six weeks.

Ascend Principal Karin McWhorter said her team was blindsided by the abrupt law change.

“Ascend has done everything right for five years,” she said. “We keep meticulous records, we have a 100% graduation rate, we follow every single law and regulation to the letter, and so … my initial thought was, it felt very unfair.”

McWhorter said becoming a charter school will also bring benefits, including access to certain kinds of capital project funding for schools.

McWhorter opened Ascend in 2021 after teaching at the Air Force Academy and finding that some students arrived unprepared for college-level work. She started the school with high school juniors and seniors, then added sophomores in its third year so there would be enough students to receive a state rating. The school, housed in leased office space, caps classes at 16 students and enrollment at 125.

Pueblo Classical Academy has recently posted school supply lists and enrollment forms for the 2026-27 year, but it’s not clear how the school will open without a new authorizer.

Pueblo Classical has a history of switching authorizers. It opened in 2021 with ERBOCES as its authorizer. In 2022, it became a charter school authorized by District 70. But in 2024, the district revoked its charter because of financial breaches and its failure to report an employee’s arrest, among other concerns. At that point, the school returned to ERBOCES.

Spokespeople for Pueblo County District 70, where the school is located, and the Charter School Institute said Pueblo Classical had not applied to them for authorization. Ken Witt, ERBOCES’ executive director, said by email Wednesday he doesn’t know if Pueblo Classical has found a new authorizer.

Dave Martin, the head of the three-school network that includes Pueblo Classical, didn’t respond to repeated email and phone messages asking about the school’s plans for the coming year.

Martin did speak to Chalkbeat just before the June 23 vote by the Pueblo 60 school board on whether to authorize Pueblo Classical as a charter school.

He expressed frustration over the sudden law change, saying his students were getting caught in the political crossfire.

“Shame on those folks who swing to the right, and shame on those folks who swing to the left, because at the end of the day, not one of those 260 families that we serve had anything to do with either side,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Another defection hits group that launched ‘Colorado’s first public Christian school’

2026-06-24T22:55:51+00:00

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A controversial public education co-op that spearheaded a “public Christian school” in southern Colorado last year will lose a member in August, putting its existence in jeopardy for the second time this summer.

Pikes Peak State College will withdraw from the co-op — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services or ERBOCES — effective Aug. 15, Matt Radcliffe, a spokesperson for the college, said by email on Tuesday.

“We do not have anything further to add,” he wrote.

The Elizabeth School District withdrew from ERBOCES in early June. The only other school district member — District 49 in El Paso County — also considered dropping out this month but ultimately opted not to.

Colorado group that started controversial ‘public Christian school’ loses member support

State law requires co-ops like ERBOCES to have at least two members, either two school districts or a school district and a college. Once Pikes Peak State College leaves the co-op, ERBOCES would need another member to keep operating in accordance with the law.

ERBOCES has been at the center of two major controversies over the past year, and both its members and state lawmakers have taken notice. Last summer, the co-op authorized Riverstone Academy, a tiny school in Pueblo County that emails show was created at the behest of a conservative law firm that wanted to spark a religious liberty lawsuit that would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. ERBOCES has also fueled massive growth in publicly funded home-school enrichment programs across the state, using private contractors and subcontractors that keep many details hidden from the public.

In May, Colorado lawmakers sharply curtailed the power of such co-ops to operate schools or programs outside their member districts. The changes prompted the permanent closure of Riverstone and could lead to the closure of other schools and some home-school enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES.

Asked how ERBOCES will continue operating once Pikes Peak drops out, Ken Witt, the group’s executive director, was vague.

“We routinely welcome new members, just as we understand when political and administrative changes lead to affiliation changes,” he said by email Wednesday. “We will continue to do all in our power to ensure parents have access to the programs and schools they want for their children.”

ERBOCES authorizes several schools, most of them online schools. It also has dozens of home-school enrichment programs, which typically provide six hours a week of tuition-free classes or activities.

When the District 49 school board, which is ERBOCES’ fiscal agent, discussed whether to drop out of the co-op in early June, board members were divided. Some, like Mike Heil, who drafted a presentation highlighting his concerns, questioned the “reputational impact” of District 49 being associated with the co-op.

Board member Lori Thompson, who recently joined the ERBOCES board, said Heil’s presentation told an incomplete story.

School Board President Marie LaVere-Wright, who used to be a member of the ERBOCES board, urged the District 49 board to stick with the co-op for another year at a minimum.

“If we leave, because their funding flows through us, too, that creates a structural problem for them,” she said. “And you have a whole set of families that are depending on this who would immediately lose something.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

After a year of controversy, the leader of a shuttered ‘public Christian school’ is pitching a new venture

2026-06-24T20:34:53+00:00

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Just weeks after the permanent closure of a controversial “public Christian school” in southern Colorado, its leader is pitching a new venture that involves public funding for students who opt out of public schools: overseeing homeschool enrichment programs.

On Tuesday, Quin Friberg, former executive director of Riverstone Academy, asked the Pueblo County District 70 school board to consider contracting with a nonprofit he created last month called Keystone Education Services. His new pursuit comes after recent state law changes that will require some publicly funded enrichment programs to seek new authorizers. The changes also forced Riverstone, which was located in District 70, to close last month.

“We created this organization to partner with school districts or charters to help monitor compliance around home school enrichment programs,” Friberg told the school board.

But after months of community pushback and legal problems related to Riverstone, the District 70 school board was divided on Friberg’s latest proposal.

“We have just been through hell on account of Pastor Friberg,” board member Mark Emery said.

“I’m not sure what that’s a reference to, but continue,” Friberg said.

“Your school,” Emery said.

“My school. Oh!” said Friberg, sounding surprised.

Board President Ann Bennett spoke in favor of the Keystone proposal, saying it would create new educational choices for local families.

Bennett said opposition to the proposal “is because there’s a chip on people’s shoulder because of Quin and because of Brad (Miller), and I’m not willing to sacrifice the 70 homeschool students for a vendetta.”

A leaked email written by Miller, a Colorado education lawyer, revealed last fall that Riverstone was started at the behest of a conservative law firm hoping to spark a religious liberty case that would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. In May, the case fizzled when it became clear the school would close for good.

One District 70 board member, Susie Carnes, is also on the board of Keystone Education Services. She said little during Tuesday’s discussion, and it’s unclear if she’d recuse herself from a vote on Keystone, which could take place later this summer.

Contracting with Keystone Education Services could demand a leap of faith for Colorado districts given the history of Friberg’s now-defunct school. During its 10-month existence, Riverstone was involved in lawsuits against the county and the state, was forced to vacate its building because of safety concerns, and its authorizer settled with the family of a Riverstone student for $20,000.

The 10,000-student District 70 district is also coming off a tumultuous year peppered with conflicts over Riverstone. The school board faced infighting over a controversial school board vacancy appointment and accusations that some board members failed to recuse themselves from key votes in which they had conflicts of interest. The board is also embroiled in a lawsuit over open meeting violations stemming from Riverstone’s launch.

Colorado lawmakers this spring put strict new limits on the authorizing power of the state’s 21 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services or BOCES. It was largely a response to Education reEnvisioned BOCES, the Monument-based co-op that authorized Riverstone and scores of homeschool enrichment programs across the state.

The law change bars the co-ops from authorizing schools or enrichment programs outside their member districts and means that dozens of homeschool enrichment programs previously authorized by Education reEnvisioned will no longer get public funding unless they get approval from a local district or charter school.

According to Friberg’s presentation, Keystone would serve as a sort of middleman between school districts and any homeschool enrichment program they authorize. Such publicly funded programs typically offer about six hours a week of tuition-free classes to homeschoolers. Some include math, reading, and electives such as art, music, and physical education. Others fill a specific niche: forest schools, aviation classes, or performing arts programming.

It’s not clear how many students in Pueblo 70 would participate in Keystone-supervised enrichment programs. Superintendent Ronda Rein, who’s retiring this month, estimated there are about 70 homeschoolers currently known to the district. Friberg suggested the number could eventually be hundreds.

Keystone would get a 6.5% cut of the state money that flows to enrichment programs in exchange for vetting new enrichment programs for school districts and providing oversight once they start. Districts would get to keep another 6.5% of the state money, Friberg said.

On average, the state pays about $6,000 per homeschool enrichment student.

Rein said a contract with Keystone would put a new burden on district administrators and expose the district to liability if something went wrong.

Friberg told the District 70 board he’s shopping his Keystone proposal to districts across Colorado, with upcoming meetings in Westcliffe and Grand Junction. He said he’s also reached out to every BOCES in the state.

A handful of community members spoke about the Keystone proposal Tuesday evening.

Jennifer Holderman, who homeschools two of her children, said the district should support homeschool families with enrichment programming because they are part of the district too.

“We live here, we raise our children here, we volunteer here … Choosing a different educational model does not mean choosing to leave the community.”

Another district parent, Hannah McDowell, was sharply critical of Friberg’s proposal.

“Keystone Education Services is literally a brand new, made-up entity dabbling in messy legal technicalities, much like Riverstone Academy was,” she said. “And look how all that turned out: lawsuits, safety violations, damaged reputations, and outrageous amounts of money wasted.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Tighter rules, more oversight now govern homeschool enrichment in Colorado

2026-06-11T23:05:03+00:00

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No ski passes, soccer club fees, or museum memberships.

These are just a few of the new rules governing state-funded homeschool enrichment the Colorado Department of Education unveiled this week.

Prompted by law changes in late May, the rules aim to close loopholes that in recent years allowed a controversial public education co-op in Monument to authorize a flood of new homeschool enrichment programs. The group’s enrichment programs cost the state tens of millions of dollars and drew intense scrutiny from lawmakers who raised alarms about funding abuses and lack of transparency. The State Board of Education will draft additional rules for homeschool enrichment programs over the next several months.

This summer marks the start of a new stricter era for state-funded programs serving homeschool students. The goal is to ensure that enrichment programs operate under the wings of local school districts or charter schools, not faraway authorizers, and that offerings mirror what’s available to public school students. In other words, not horseback riding, sports camps, or martial arts classes.

Colorado lawmakers seek to limit group fueling growth in publicly funded homeschool enrichment

In addition, private schools can no longer designate a portion of their school day or week as homeschool enrichment time and get state funding for the students who attend. Michelle Berge, first assistant attorney general in the K-12 education unit, said during a State Board of Education meeting Thursday that such practices essentially meant public funding was subsidizing private schools or giving private school families tuition breaks.

To root out that practice, the state will now bar private school programs and homeschool enrichment programs that serve the same students from being co-located at the same site.

While all state-funded homeschool enrichment programs must adhere to the new parameters in Colorado law, some programs will have to take an additional step this summer: applying for approval from the state or their local district. This could affect potentially dozens of the more than 50 enrichment programs authorized by the Monument-based co-op Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES. That’s because such groups are now barred from operating schools and programs outside their member school districts.

ERBOCES, whose only member district is District 49, operated homeschool enrichment programs all over the state during the 2025-26 school year. The exact number is unclear because co-op officials have refused to release a full list and the state hasn’t tracked it.

Out-of-boundary homeschool enrichment programs that existed last school year can apply to the state or their local district for approval starting June 15. State officials say they’ll make a decision within 30 days of receiving applications.

School districts will have to use the same application materials the state requires, but the timeline for decisions isn’t clear, since many local school boards meet less frequently over the summer.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado group that started controversial ‘public Christian school’ faces member defections

2026-06-10T18:22:03+00:00

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A public education co-op that launched a controversial ‘public Christian school’ in southern Colorado last year is losing support among its members.

One of the group’s two member school districts, Elizabeth School District, withdrew from the co-op Tuesday. The second one, District 49, is expected to decide whether to withdraw later in June. If it does, Pikes Peak State College would be the only member.

State law requires such co-ops to have at least one school district member. If District 49’s school board decides to exit, the co-op could recruit one or more districts to replace it. But failing that, it’s not clear how the group would survive with only the college as a member.

The membership churn for Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, signals an uncertain future for the co-op as well as its eight schools and dozens of publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs. The upheaval also suggests ERBOCES has lost the faith of key education officials whose districts enable it to exist.

The defection of member school districts isn’t the only problem facing the Monument-based ERBOCES. In May, Colorado lawmakers sharply curtailed the power of such co-ops to operate schools or programs outside their member districts. The changes prompted the permanent closure of Riverstone Academy, the public Christian school, and could lead to the closure of other schools and some homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES.

In late push, Colorado lawmakers seek limits on homeschool enrichment and group fueling its growth

Ken Witt, executive director of ERBOCES, said by email that districts choose to join and leave the co-op occasionally, often in conjunction with district leadership or school board changes.

“We understand when political and administrative changes lead to affiliation changes,” he said.

ERBOCES is one of 21 such co-ops in Colorado. The groups were formed to make it easier for school districts to band together and offer services like special education they couldn’t afford to provide on their own. But ERBOCES has drawn scrutiny and irritation from some state and local education officials because it acts more like a statewide school authorizer.

The Elizabeth district’s decision to leave ERBOCES — formalized by a 4-0 school board vote Tuesday — is surprising given the district joined the group just four months ago. But the 2,700-student district southeast of Denver is going through big changes. Superintendent Dan Snowberger, who’d previously worked for ERBOCES, retired from the district this month, a year earlier than he’d planned.

Ted Knight, Elizabeth’s new superintendent, said in an emailed statement that he recommended the board drop out of ERBOCES.

He said the co-op provides offerings that “may be a good fit for some districts,” including homeschool enrichment programs and contract school models, but that “Elizabeth is well-positioned with its existing portfolio of schools.”

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Board President Rhonda Olsen said the withdrawal was because membership in the co-op was not providing sufficient benefit, and it’s ”time for a fresh start and a new approach.” She said the move was not because of social media commentary, political pressure, or outside influence.

Both Knight and the school board acknowledged Tuesday the district is facing financial problems. It’s also embroiled in at least two lawsuits — one over 19 books removed from school libraries and one alleging a middle school dean was wrongfully fired for objecting to the book removals.

The board also voted unanimously Tuesday to cut ties with its law firm, Miller Farmer Carlson Law. The firm is led by Brad Miller, who also represents ERBOCES and helped start Riverstone Academy at the request of a conservative law firm that sought a Supreme Court test case on the question of public funding for religious education. Another former ERBOCES member, the Montezuma-Cortez district in southwestern Colorado, also recently dropped Miller’s firm.

District 49’s school board will discuss its membership in ERBOCES Thursday and vote on staying or withdrawing later in June. If the district drops out, it would represent a big — possibly catastrophic — hit for ERBOCES. The 26,000-student district is a founding member of the co-op and its fiscal agent.

Some District 49 board members have become increasingly skeptical of ERBOCES.

In a presentation he drafted for Thursday’s board meeting, school board member Mike Heil highlighted a series of recent controversies entangling ERBOCES and questioned the “reputational impact” of District 49 being associated with the co-op.

He suggested ERBOCES is an “irresponsible authorizer,” in part because it approved Riverstone Academy even though school officials skipped routine steps when they opened the school and within months were ordered to vacate their building over health and safety problems.

The presentation also notes a problem that state lawyers recently cited: Some of ERBOCES’ board members are ineligible to serve on the board. A court document filed by the state in a lawsuit brought by Riverstone and ERBOCES argued that decisions made by the co-op’s improperly constituted board are void.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Trump education department investigates Cherry Creek district over alleged racial discrimination

2026-06-08T23:40:57+00:00

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The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights announced Monday that it is investigating the Cherry Creek district over allegations that the district considers race in a variety of programs in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

In a press release announcing the investigation, the department alleged that the district sponsors clubs that exclude students based on race and that the district requires teachers to consider race when assigning students to classes or deciding what level of academic support to provide. The release gave no examples of student clubs that exclude members based on race or of incidents where teachers used race in making class assignments or academic support decisions.

The investigation into Cherry Creek, a 52,000-student district in the Denver suburbs, is part of a broader Trump administration effort to root out policies that support students of color or LGBTQ students. Many of these investigations have focused on school districts in blue cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Over the past 18 months, the administration also investigated the Denver district for converting a girls restroom into an all-gender restroom and the Jeffco district for policies on sleeping arrangements for transgender students on overnight field trips.

A Cherry Creek district spokesperson said by email Monday, “We strongly disagree with the characterization of District programming. The District has not yet received a copy of the complaint. Without the complaint, we are not in a position to respond further.”

When asked for more information about the complaints that prompted the investigation, U.S. Department of Education officials said they don’t comment on open investigations.

But Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for education, did comment in the press release.

“Federal law prohibits racial discrimination, which means that race cannot be a factor in how the school educates its students or trains its teachers. Despite this, the District seems to be basing decisions about how to support students, teachers and parents solely on race,” she said.

In addition to alleging race-based discrimination in student clubs and class assignments, the Office of Civil Rights press release said the department is also investigating a district committee and a multi-day training for educators.

The district’s Voices of Color Committee “reportedly grants preferential access and participation based solely on race,” the release said. The district’s website describes the committee’s goal as fostering an “inclusive and safe environment to support the success of students of color.“ It says the committee is composed of parents, district staff, and community members and links to a registration form for people who want to join the committee’s contact list. The form doesn’t ask for the potential participant’s race or ethnicity.

About 56% of Cherry Creek students are students of color.

The press release said the district promotes a training called “Transformational Equity Experience: To Be Seen. To Belong. To Be Whole,” which teaches that the United States was founded on “white supremacy” and categorizes individuals as “oppressors” and “oppressed.”

A webpage from a 2024 Cherry Creek conference with that name features a list of sessions offered over four days, including “School Leadership — Approaching All Systems with Equity,” “All Are Welcome: Creating LGBTQ+ Affirming Spaces in our Schools,” and “What Happened to Denver’s Chinatown & How to Incorporate Local History to Teach ‘Ethnic Studies’ in the Classroom.”

The three emcees of the event were a current Cherry Creek student and two recent graduates.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Denver school board appears likely to adopt bell-to-bell cellphone ban for all grades

2026-06-04T23:48:27+00:00

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The Denver school board appears poised to adopt a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for elementary, middle, and high school students districtwide.

The policy would take effect when school starts in August and require cellphones to be off and out of sight when students are in school buildings. It wouldn’t be in effect off-campus, for example when high school students leave school to go to lunch or to an internship.

Board members discussed and fine-tuned the proposed policy at a work session Thursday. They’ll vote on a final version Monday.

Multiple board members said many Denver parents urgently want school cellphone limits.

“We’re a year behind a lot of districts in the state of Colorado with this decision-making and with this implementation,” said board member John Youngquist. “Our parents have been yearning for this.”

The board’s discussion mirrors a broader debate unfolding across Colorado as districts work to meet a July 1 deadline to adopt policies on student cellphone use. Many parents and educators want to sharply curtail cellphone use during school hours to reduce device addiction and encourage in-person social connection. But others say students need cellphones in case of emergencies, to communicate with employers or relatives, or to address health or mental health problems.

A 2025 Colorado law requires school districts and charter schools to adopt cellphone policies, but doesn’t require a ban. Many school districts have already settled on such policies, most of which will take effect in the fall. This spring, the 62,000-student Douglas County district and 34,000-student Aurora district adopted a bell-to-bell bans for elementary and middle school students, but those policies only ban cellphones during class for high schoolers, not other parts of the school day.

Several districts, including Boulder Valley, Mesa County Valley 51, and Westminster, have adopted bell-to-bell bans for students in all grades.

Denver’s proposed policy mirrors recommendations made by a 17-member district advisory committee in April.

A recent survey by the district shows that even for older students, most people agree with the away-for-the-day approach to cellphones and devices like smart watches.

Of more than 7,000 survey respondents, 64% supported a bell-to-bell ban for middle and high school students. Students respondents were the outliers though — 97% of more than 600 surveyed opposed a bell-to-bell ban for middle and high schoolers.

Sarah Almy Moore, a Denver parent and a member of the advisory committee, urged support for the proposed policy despite student opposition.

“Kids are telling you they cannot be without their phones because many have never learned how,” she said. “We must prepare students to have a healthy relationship with technology, and to know they can, at times, function without it.”

Multiple parents warned against a cellphone policy that would allow high schoolers to use phones at school when they’re not in class, an idea the board discussed in May.

“We know partial policies don’t actually work when phones are allowed during lunch or passing periods,” said Natalie Perez, a parent and organizer with the advocacy group Stand for Children Colorado. “Those distractions don’t stay there, they just come back into the classroom and teachers lose valuable learning time managing devices instead of teaching.”

No students spoke about the cellphone policy during the public comment period Thursday.

The district’s proposed policy would include a ban on smartphones, smartwatches, earbuds, and other technology not issued by schools. It would allow exceptions for students who need their phones for medical reasons or as part of a special education plan or disability accommodation.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ closes permanently

2026-06-02T18:10:24+00:00

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A controversial “public Christian school” in southern Colorado has closed permanently after changes in Colorado law cut off state funding, its executive director wrote in a legal filing.

Backers opened the 30-student Riverstone Academy in Pueblo County nine months ago with hopes of sparking a religious liberty lawsuit that would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Instead, the school faced setbacks — including safety problems that forced it to move and a $20,000 settlement with the parents of a young student — and the legal effort fizzled.

Citing the new provisions in state law, Riverstone Executive Director Quin Friberg wrote in a legal document that the school’s efforts “will be directed to winding up its operations and shutting down” after the last day of school last week.

The filing signed by Friberg on Thursday is part of a lawsuit brought by three school board candidates against the Pueblo 70 school board alleging open meetings violations related to Riverstone’s launch.

Another lawsuit — the one backers hoped would go to the Supreme Court — came in February when Riverstone and its authorizer sued the state for religious discrimination, citing the possibility that the state could eventually claw back the school’s public funding.

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat show the school was created at the behest of a conservative law firm to spark such a lawsuit after the Supreme Court deadlocked on a similar case out of Oklahoma last spring. The firm, Alliance Defending Freedom, asked an education lawyer named Brad Miller if he could “find a way for a parallel case to be initiated out of Colorado.”

The case was short-lived. The school and its authorizer, a public education co-op based in Monument, dropped the lawsuit in May.

The death knell for Riverstone was a pair of amendments lawmakers passed in the last few days of this spring’s legislative session. One bars co-ops like the one that authorized Riverstone from starting schools or programs outside their member school districts. The other bars school districts or co-ops from having brick and mortar schools that are entirely run by contractors.

The new limits effectively put Riverstone’s authorizer — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services or ERBOCES — at odds with state law, making Riverstone ineligible for state funding. That’s because Riverstone is located outside of ERBOCES’ two member school districts and is run by a contractor.

Riverstone opened quietly last summer in a former office in an industrial area in Pueblo County. It described itself as a public elementary school that offered a Christian foundation, but its religious affiliation wasn’t widely known until October. That’s when Ken Witt, the executive director of ERBOCES, announced at a public meeting that Riverstone was Colorado’s first public Christian school, surprising members of the public and some government officials.

The fallout included the abrupt resignation in December of Pueblo 70 school board member Anne Ochs after a district parent criticized her for her role in bringing Riverstone into the district and for failing to disclose a conflict of interest.

Friberg and Witt did not respond to requests for comment about Riverstone’s closure.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

These Colorado counties have very different politics. Both now offer tax relief to childcare providers.

2026-05-29T19:01:10+00:00

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Two Colorado counties on opposite sides of the political spectrum are the first to use a recent state law to provide property tax relief to childcare businesses, in an effort to help stabilize the industry.

Adams County commissioners, who are all Democrats, and Douglas County commissioners, who are all Republicans, approved their respective property tax rebate plans this spring. The initiatives, which give extra incentives to childcare providers serving infants and toddlers, will send hundreds of dollars to the smallest providers and thousands to the largest ones starting in the second half of 2026.

Lisa Jansen Thompson, who leads the Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County, likened the rebates to one piece in a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

“Every little piece helps,” she said “And the more that we’re able to put together pieces, the closer we get to making childcare affordable for families as well as for providers, and making sure there’s enough.”

The new property tax rebate programs are the latest example of efforts by local governments around Colorado to offer financial help to childcare providers, and in turn support the families they serve. In the last few years, voters in more than a dozen cities or counties, including Larimer County and several mountain resort communities, have approved sales or lodging taxes that generate funding for childcare.

Such efforts have expanded as childcare providers face increasing financial headwinds: the end of COVID stimulus money, rising costs, and enrollment drops caused by freezes on childcare aid for low-income families.

Divine Klutsey, president and CEO of Purple Moon Early Learning Center in Northglenn, said he and his wife have considered closing their center, which enrolls about 80 children, because of barely-there profit margins. One Friday this spring, he was on the phone with a plumber whose visit to fix a leaking sink was going to cost $300.

“There’s always something that is not working well,” he said.

This year, Purple Moon’s property tax bill is $36,000, Klutsey said. Typically, he takes out a high-interest loan to pay the bill, and then makes weekly payments.

“I am still paying the one from last year,” he said.

Klutsey doesn’t know exactly how big of a rebate he’ll get back through Adams County’s new program, but said if it covered half his county property taxes it would be a relief.

“Then I don’t have to close the business a year or two down the road,” he said.

The rebate programs in Adams and Douglas counties are possible because of a 2024 state law that allowed counties to offer tax credits or rebates to address local challenges such as housing, childcare, job training, or renewable energy.

Only childcare businesses that pay property taxes or who rent from landlords that pay property taxes are eligible for the rebates. Childcare programs in public schools and churches aren’t eligible because those institutions don’t typically pay property taxes.

Diane Smith, executive director of the Douglas County Early Childhood Council, said private providers tell her the rebates will help level the playing field by cutting some of the overhead costs that other childcare programs don’t have.

Adams and Douglas counties will offer 100% rebates on county property taxes for two categories of providers: home-based programs and those that have infant and toddler spots. Providers outside of those two categories will get 50% rebates in Adams County and 75% rebates in Douglas County.

About 167 providers in Douglas County and 176 providers in Adams County will be eligible for the rebates directly, or through their landlords. Both counties will offer the rebates for one year and county commissioners will consider renewing them next year.

Julie Duran Mullica, chair of the Adams County Board of Commissioners, said approving the rebates was an easy decision for the five-member board even though it could mean a loss of $700,000 in property tax dollars.

“You budget what you value,” she said. “We know how much of a struggle [childcare] is in Adams County.”

At the end of the pilot year, Duran Mullica said she’ll want to see data on how many childcare closures the rebates helped and how many seats providers added.

Mark Arbitrio, who owns Ivybrook Academy in Castle Rock and paid about $20,000 in property taxes last year, said he’ll use a portion of the rebate he hopes to receive to subdivide one of his four classrooms, so that a portion of the space can be used for a new toddler classroom. That room will create around 18 new half-day toddler spots.

Some of the rebate could also go toward retention bonuses for teachers.

“They are the glue to everything that we do,” Arbitrio said. “I mean, I love our curriculum, our school’s beautiful and all that, but they are the glue, right?”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Julie Duran Mullica’s title. She is the chair of the Adams County Board of Commissioners.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ drops religious discrimination lawsuit against state

2026-05-26T21:26:07+00:00

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A southern Colorado elementary school that backers have called “Colorado’s first public Christian school” has dropped its religious discrimination lawsuit against the state less than four months after filing it.

Riverstone Academy, along with its authorizer, a public education co-op that’s also a plaintiff in the case, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Friday. The case was terminated by a federal district court Monday.

Michael Francisco, a lawyer representing the co-op, said by email Monday that changes to state law made the case moot. Earlier this month, Colorado lawmakers put limits on how and where public education co-ops can run schools. Riverstone no longer fits within those parameters, which means the school could be forced to close.

The lawsuit termination marks the end of what the school’s backers originally hoped would be a high profile case that could eventually be heard by the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court and pave the way for religious schools in the public education system. Similar legal efforts continue to unfold in other states, including one involving a proposed Jewish charter school in Oklahoma.

Riverstone received state funding this year, but the Colorado Department of Education warned last fall that the school might not be eligible for public education funding because of its religious nature. The department is currently conducting an audit of Riverstone’s authorizer — Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES — and could eventually claw back funding given to Riverstone.

The school argued in its lawsuit that the possible clawback violated the First Amendment’s free exercise clause by forcing Riverstone to choose between exercising its religious beliefs and continuing as a publicly funded school.

The lawsuit’s end comes after a tumultuous year for Riverstone, which bills itself as a public elementary school that offers a Christian foundation.The 30-student school opened quietly last August in an industrial area of Pueblo County. It burst into public view two months later when the leader of the group that authorized the school described it as “Colorado’s first public Christian school” at an October school board meeting.

Soon after, county officials cited the school for numerous health and safety violations after learning that school officials had skipped routine steps when opening the building. By late January, the county ordered the school to vacate its building and Riverstone officials complied, moving students to a local church. Two weeks later, in mid-February, Riverstone and ERBOCES sued the state.

State officials responded to the lawsuit by saying it was filed prematurely and that the plaintiffs face no “imminent harm.” They said the state won’t make a final decision about recovering the money until they finish the audit of ERBOCES in 2027.

These co-ops are meant to support school districts. This one started Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school.’

The state also argued that Riverstone Academy doesn’t have a valid contract with ERBOCES — and therefore no standing to sue — because the five-member ERBOCES board was not properly constituted when it approved the Riverstone contract last summer. Under state law, such co-op boards are required to have board members or administrators from each BOCES member institution. But last summer, ERBOCES had only one board member from one of its three member institutions.

The ongoing controversy over Riverstone, along with the explosion of homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES, spurred lawmakers to put new guardrails on such co-ops in the last days of the legislative session this month. They allow the co-ops to authorize schools and programs only in their member school districts and clarify that school districts and BOCES can’t authorize brick and mortar schools that are entirely run by contractors.

The new limits will effectively put ERBOCES at odds with state law. That’s because Riverstone is located outside of ERBOCES’ two member school districts and is run by a contractor.

Quin Friberg, the executive director of Riverstone Academy and its contractor, Forging Education, did not respond to questions about whether the school will close. The school’s website appears to have been taken down, but its Facebook page is still up.

When asked if Riverstone will be forced to close this summer, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education said by email Monday that officials are reviewing the implementation and implications of the state law changes.

At least one lawsuit revolving around Riverstone is ongoing. That one, filed in Pueblo County District Court by three school board candidates in March, alleges a pattern of open meetings violations that started last summer when the Pueblo 70 school board voted to allow Riverstone to open within district boundaries.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado isn’t cutting the amount it pays for homeschool enrichment students. Here’s why.

2026-05-19T23:19:13+00:00

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This spring, state lawmakers considered cutting funding for homeschool enrichment students as a way to bring down costs in a growing but mostly unregulated corner of Colorado’s publicly funded education system.

But in the last days of the legislative session, they opted instead to rein in funding in a different way: by putting guardrails on the group fueling most of the growth. The move will save the state tens of millions of dollars by eliminating some homeschool enrichment programs authorized by the Monument-based group Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES.

The homeschool enrichment debate flared as lawmakers grappled with a $1.5 billion budget hole and revelations emerged that some homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES fund activities such as sports camps, martial arts lessons, and even ski passes. While many school districts and charter schools also offer enrichment programs to homeschoolers, their offerings tend to be more similar to public school classes such as art, music, physical education, and sometimes academics.

The state spends more than $100 million a year on part-time students, a group that consists mostly of homeschool enrichment participants. The rest are private school students who take classes at public schools that their schools aren’t able to offer.

For now, the state will continue paying the current part-time per-pupil rate for homeschool enrichment programs — about $6,000 a year on average, typically for one day a week of classes. That rate is half the full-time rate for public K-12 students, who attend classes four or five days a week.

Lawmakers may reconsider cutting that rate in future years.

“I definitely think that that is still going to be an important conversation going forward,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who is chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee.

She said with continued budget shortfalls expected in the next couple years, lawmakers will need to look everywhere for savings.

Sirota said the Joint Budget Committee pivoted away from cutting the homeschool enrichment funding rate this year in part because the proposed change didn’t address the root problem: that one authorizer, ERBOCES, was responsible for the explosion of new programs.

The co-op has more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs scattered across the state, most created in the last few years. All are operated by private contractors.

Sirota said stopping the spread of homeschool enrichment programs that provide activities outside the bounds of what is normally considered public education was the first priority.

Simply halving the homeschool enrichment rate would have hurt school district enrichment programs that are operating appropriately, “but wouldn’t have stopped the horseback riding lessons and ski pass programs,” she said. “Those probably would have proliferated even further.”

The legislature curtailed the power of co-ops like ERBOCES to authorize schools and programs outside their member school districts through an amendment to the School Finance Act. ERBOCES has only two member districts: District 49 in El Paso County and the Elizabeth School District in Elbert County.

The amendment would bar homeschool enrichment programs from providing activities not generally available to students attending public schools. It would also ban publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs from enrolling private school students. Some of the homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES provide one day of free programming a week to students who attend private school the rest of the week.

State estimates indicate the changes will save about $21 million next year and about $30 million the following year, though the amounts could vary based on several factors.

Even with the changes to the School Finance Act, some existing homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES will be allowed to continue operating even if they are outside its territory. They’ll have to meet certain conditions, including approval by the school district where the program is located, or starting in 2027-28, approval by the State Board of Education. They won’t be allowed to enroll more students next year than they have this year.

The new restrictions mean that some homeschool enrichment programs in the pipeline will not open. ERBOCES, which is overseen by a five-member board, was slated to launch at least two dozen enrichment programs next fall, according to board documents and meeting audio recordings. They included a forest school in Lakewood, an arts program in Pueblo, and classes on Japanese language and culture in the Denver area. Since they are new and outside ERBOCES’ two member districts, they wouldn’t be eligible for public funding next school year.

ERBOCES officials have declined to provide Chalkbeat a list of the group’s current and planned homeschool enrichment programs.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

More than 19,000 Colorado childcare workers benefit from new state tax credit in first year

2026-05-18T22:53:39+00:00

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More than 19,000 Colorado childcare teachers and staff have taken advantage of a new $1,200 state tax credit for workers who support young children, older adults, or people with disabilities.

The Care Worker Tax Credit was created by a 2024 state law and became available for the first time this spring when Coloradans filed returns for the 2025 tax year. It’s available to single filers who earn an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less and joint filers who earn $100,000 or less.

The income tax credit represents an effort by Colorado lawmakers to help early childhood educators, whose average pay is lower than many fast food and retail workers. It also takes a more expansive view of the workforce than some other initiatives by including people who care for young children outside of state-licensed facilities, often called family, friend, and neighbor caregivers.

About 17,500 childcare workers providing state-licensed care, and 1,800 providing family, friend, and neighbor care sought the new tax credit this year, according to preliminary state data. That’s about $23 million worth of tax relief.

“For too long, early childhood and direct care professionals have been undercompensated, despite the essential role they play in our communities and economy,” Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said in a press release.

“The Care Worker Tax Credit represents a meaningful step toward greater financial stability for these professionals who nurture Colorado’s children, support families, and strengthen communities every day,” she said.

State officials said they won’t have numbers showing how many workers caring for older adults and people with disabilities took advantage of the tax credit until the fall.

The care workers tax credit is a refundable tax credit, which means that eligible filers will get money back from the credit even if their tax bill is less than $1,200. For example, if their tax bill is $1,000, the tax credit will cover the bill, and the remaining $200 will be sent to the filer as a refund.

Colorado has another tax credit available to some childcare workers, but it’s expiring after the 2025 tax year. Created by a 2022 state law to encourage early childhood educators to increase their credentials, the Early Childhood Educator Tax Credit provides credits between $872 and $1,743 depending on credential level.

Child care workers who already filed their taxes but did not seek the Care Worker Tax Credit can still do so by amending their tax returns and filing the appropriate paperwork by Oct. 15.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado 2026 legislative roundup: The preschool, K-12, and higher education bills that passed and failed

2026-05-14T20:10:30+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers avoided cuts to the core of public education funding this legislative session despite facing a significant budget shortfall. But with more financial challenges likely in the years ahead, it’s now on voters to decide whether public schools deserve more dollars than the status quo.

A November ballot measure referred by lawmakers in Senate Bill 135 will ask voters if the state can keep part of their tax refund to fund K-12 schools. The state could also spend the extra money on key services such as healthcare and higher education.

Colorado lawmakers avoid big cuts to public education

Lawmakers referred the ballot measure to voters after a second year of needing to cut more than $1.2 billion from the state budget. That made it difficult to approve bills that required state spending. Despite the fiscal constraints, lawmakers did approve numerous education-related bills during the 120 day session. Many bills still require the governor’s signature.

Among them is a new law to allow colleges and K-12 schools to request someone’s guns be temporarily confiscated, a new bilingualism endorsement for high school graduates, and a bill to create a new Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.

Legislators also approved a bill to allow the Colorado Department of Education to begin hearing 504 plan violations after parents complained that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ process has lagged under the second Trump administration.

Lawmakers also passed another bill regarding the state’s ability to hear civil rights issues in schools, although the bill was significantly scaled back.

House Bill 1141 will expand educational discrimination definitions, such as making pregnancy or being a parent protected statuses. The bill also encourages but doesn’t require the state’s Civil Rights Division to hear school discrimination complaints.

Here’s a roundup of other education bills that passed and failed this legislative session, which ended Wednesday.

The education legislation approved

How do the state’s most effecitve schools help students succeed? That’s the question Senate Bill 170 will require a task force to explore and report back on by next year. The bill was sponsored by Senate President James Coleman after pushback on an “education deserts” bill that would have allowed the state to authorize charter schools in communities with low-performing schools and without local school board agreement.

House and Senate lawmakers approved two somewhat similar bills that would require social media companies to acknowledge a law enforcement warrant and give them a time period to comply. Lawmakers introduced the bills after two students were wounded in a shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County. The shooter, a 16-year-old student who took his own life, had made suspicious social media posts before the shooting.

Senate Bill 11 requires social media companies to acknowledge a warrant within eight hours but gives them 72 hours to comply. The more strict Senate Bill 1255, which Gov. Jared Polis has threatened to veto, also requires social media companies to acknowledge a search warrant within eight hours, but gives an operator only 24 hours to comply under certain conditions.

As part of the budget process, lawmakers filed the state’s School Finance Act in January, which was much earlier than in past years. Senate Bill 23 sets district and state funding levels at $10.2 billion in the 2026-27 school year. Two amendments added to the bill late in the legislative session will dramatically curtail the power of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, also called BOCES, to authorize bricks and mortar schools or homeschool enrichment programs outside their member school districts.

The powerful Joint Budget Committee also filed House Bill 1428 to require the Colorado Department of Education to provide a variety of information on publicly funded online learning and enrichment programming by Nov. 1.

Due to budgetary constraints, lawmakers decided to phase out a program that extends high school so students can earn college credits toward a teaching degree. House Bill 1357 would allow one more group of high school students to enroll before it ends.

And Colorado lawmakers cut back on how often school districts must administer the state’s Colorado Measures of Academic Success social studies test. Starting next year, only 7th graders will take it, per House Bill 1353.

House Bill 80 creates a Cradle to Career grant program within the Colorado Department of Human Services that would provide educational, extracurricular and social services support to children in poverty. The bill does not provide state funding for the grants. Instead, their availability will depend on charitable contributions from private groups, the federal government, or local governments.

Teachers won’t have to disclose misdemeanor convictions that occurred in the last seven years if they don’t involve a student or at-risk adult under House Bill 1090.

Lawmakers also approved Senate Bill 103 requiring districts to share information on how they help at-risk students in their schools.

Districts will also have an updated process to involve charter schools in local construction ballot measures after the passage of Senate Bill 145.

House Bill 1004 extends an existing tax credit for contributions to child care facilities for 10 more years. The law provides a tax credit of 50% of the value of the donation, up to $100,000.

Municipalities could designate a roadway next to a school as a “school street” that’s closed to traffic or where the speed limit is 10 miles per hour under House Bill 1318, which was inspired by a Littleton middle schooler who was fatally hit by a car while biking to school.

Employees of Colorado’s facility schools, which serve some of the state’s most vulnerable students with the highest needs, will be able to get pension benefits through the state’s Public Employees Retirement Association under House Bill 1146.

Teachers will no longer have to create individualized readiness plans for kindergarten students who score proficiently on readiness tests under House Bill 1050. Instead, the plans will be optional. The bill also requires the state to publicly report kindergarten readiness test scores disaggregated by school district, school, gender, race, and more.

Colorado lawmakers revamped the state’s higher education funding formula in House Bill 1345. The bill received pushback from private colleges after lawmakers cut $14.1 million from private student aid. Private college leaders said the cut, meant to be in effect for just one year, could open the door to a permanent loss of that funding.

Colorado students taking college classes while in high school have only been able to take classes at four-year universities if they take the classes on the college campus. House Bill 1078 would allow high school students to take college-level courses offsite.

Federal cuts have left universities that enroll high percentages of students of color without federal grant funding to support students. House Bill 1006 doesn’t include funding. But lawmakers hope that designating certain colleges as “thriving institutions” will show students of color that those campuses are a welcoming place.

Most Colorado universities will now need to stock abortion medication at on-site health clinics under House Bill 1335, which received final approval on the last day of session.

House Bill 1142 gives civil immunity to board members, staff members, and volunteers at child advocacy groups if these individuals acted reasonably and in good faith in disclosing information about a child or during investigations of child maltreatment.

Education bills that didn’t move forward

Senate Bill 68, designed to study how to reduce CMAS testing time, failed to advance.

After facing concerns from Polis, lawmakers decided to indefinitely postpone House Bill 1292, which would have required Colorado to place nondiscrimination rules on its use of a federal education tax credit program.

Senate Bill 180 would have created a new investment authority that could seek higher returns on certain pots of state money than what state investments typically produce. Tens of millions of dollars from the higher yield investments would have been earmarked to help low-income families pay for childcare. But the bill faced opposition from Colorado’s state treasurer and other groups who said it was risky and possibly violated the state constitution.

Lawmakers decided not to pursue the Building Excellent Teacher and Employee Residences Program in House Bill 139. The $40 million pot of money would have provided financial assistance to districts for workforce housing projects.

Lawmakers rejected a bill that would have raised money for public schools by subjecting microtransactions in online games to a 5% fee. House Bill 1148 was a wide-ranging bill aimed at enhancing data privacy for children on gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft. But lawmakers did pass a similar bill, House Bill 1418, that will put the proceeds of the 5% fee toward youth mental health services.

Colorado lawmakers rejected an attempt to change how school board members are elected. Instead of electing school board members at large, Senate Bill 57 would have restricted the pool of voters to those who live in the neighborhoods that the candidate would represent, similar to how Colorado elects its state representatives and congresspeople.

A bill aimed at saving Colorado families money on back-to-school supplies failed to advance. House Bill 1048 would have made children’s clothing and school supplies exempt from the state’s 2.9% sales tax for one weekend in July. A similar bill also failed to advance in 2024.

Lawmakers shelved Senate Bill 166, which would have disqualified candidates from running for school board if they had a recent conviction for certain violent crimes or felony drug offenses.

Colorado lawmakers rejected a bill to cut back on teacher evaluations. House Bill 1291 would have allowed teachers who are rated effective and who have Colorado’s version of tenure to be evaluated every three years instead of annually.

A Denver lawmaker hoped to replicate a city program that gives students a free pass to recreational, museum, and cultural facilities. But House Bill 1055 didn’t advance. The bill, backed by Colorado students, would have allowed for the pilot program to give My Colorado Cards to grades 6-12 students in a limited number of communities.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Some students need online classes. Here’s how this Colorado school district does it.

2026-05-14T17:56:08+00:00

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Gracie, a junior at Roosevelt High School in Johnstown, missed lots of school last year. Gossip and drama were stressing her out.

“It was giving me a lot of anxiety,” she said. “It got to the point where I hadn’t shown up so much that I was scared to show up.”

This year, Gracie is one of 97 high schoolers in the online program in her small northern Colorado district — Weld RE-5J — taking a mix of online and in-person classes. She likes the freedom to work at her own pace some days, tapping out history, English, and Spanish assignments at her kitchen table.

As more Colorado districts look to add online offerings to blunt the impact of declining enrollment, Weld RE-5J’s longstanding online program is an example of what’s possible. Although the 4,200-student district doesn’t actively advertise the program, there’s been a waitlist for more than a year. In December, district leaders hired a second teacher to help oversee their online students. Next year, they plan to pilot an online program for up to five middle schoolers and expand the online high school program to 120 students — about 10% of the district’s high school enrollment.

“It’s really important to us to grow slowly enough that we grow well,” said Alexandra Ham, the district’s online administrator.

Weld RE-5J provides online classes primarily through Colorado Digital Learning Solutions, a state-supported nonprofit that offers a large menu of asynchronous online classes taught by Colorado licensed teachers.

Ham said most students in her district’s online program have at least one state-designated risk factor, often anxiety, depression, or health issues that make a full load of in-person classes challenging. About 15% of the program’s students take all their classes online. The rest, like Gracie, have hybrid schedules, with about half in-person and half online classes.

That set-up is ideal, Ham said, because it often addresses the problems students are facing while giving them in-person social opportunities and access to electives and hands-on career preparation classes at the high school.

Dan Morris, co-executive director of Colorado Digital Learning Solutions, described Weld RE-5J as a showcase for its online program.

“It’s my belief … that if a district will offer more hybrid options, fewer kids are going to want to leave for the full-time online,” he said.

Online schools with statewide reach are growing in Colorado. School districts want their students back.

Often, such full-time online offerings are provided by what Colorado calls multi-district online schools, public schools that enroll students from two or more school districts. Statewide, more than 30,000 students attend such schools. The big names include Astravo, GOAL, and Colorado Connections Academy. Some of them have optional in-person components, others operate fully online.

Over the last year, Morris’ group has worked with dozens of Colorado districts interested in launching their own online programs, in part to help win back students who’ve left for multi-district online schools or to keep them from leaving in the first place.

Weld RE-5J, which has run its online program for more than a decade, is in the enviable position of being among a small number of growing school districts in a state full of shrinking districts.

But Ham and her team still want to keep students local while satisfying the growing demand for online learning. The district has used other online class vendors over the years — Edgenuity and Florida Virtual School, for example. With Florida Virtual, it was trickier to get assistance because of the time zone difference. For some platforms, the rigor wasn’t there: Students were passive, showing knowledge through basic multiple choice assignments. Sometimes they completed semester-long classes in days or weeks.

All of Weld RE-5J’s online students — both hybrid and fully online — have a modest in-school requirement: three hours a week either at Roosevelt High or a freshly refurbished portable classroom in Milliken, on the east side of the district. That’s when the district’s two online teachers check in with students about their progress and grades.

Gracie, left, and Briley are part of the Weld-RE-5J school district's online program. They take half their classes online and half in person.

“It makes sure that we have eyes on the students, especially with how much mental health stuff there is going on,” said Ham. “If they miss a meeting, they’re not ignored.”

Gracie, who hopes to be a realtor, attended a recent in-person session with three classmates in a second-floor room at Roosevelt High School. She looked over a chemistry assignment on her tablet, while her tablemate Briley worked on a digital vision board about her aspirations for a job in healthcare, maybe phlebotomy.

Briley, a junior, joined the online program in January. She’s not a morning person and regularly overslept last semester, causing lots of absences and frequent fights with her mom. When she did attend school, she struggled to sit through 90-minute classes when she knew could get the work done more quickly on her own, she said.

Now Briley takes English, history, and physical education in person, while doing math, chemistry, Spanish, and social and emotional learning online.

“It’s definitely been the best change ever,” she said. “My mental health, first of all, is 10 times better, and my grades have honestly never been this good.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Online schools with statewide reach are growing in Colorado. School districts want their students back.

2026-05-13T18:10:30+00:00

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Kurt Clay, assistant superintendent in the Delta County school district, was alarmed last year to learn that 138 students had left his western Colorado district for public online schools. With them went $1.6 million in state education dollars.

“That’s just funding that goes somewhere else,” Clay said. “It’s not staying here local.“

It wasn’t just about the money though. Clay and other district leaders believed they could offer something better: The flexible online classes students wanted with the added benefit of keeping them connected to district staff, school clubs, and special events like prom. That’s how the district’s online program — Empower Online — came to be last fall.

Delta County is among the dozens of Colorado districts that have recently started their own online programs or plan to soon, competing for students at a time when enrollment is declining statewide. Such school districts, which are contending with budget cuts and even school closures, are particularly wary of multi-district online schools, which they say draw students and state funding to districts hundreds of miles away.

Colorado has 44 multi-district online schools serving more than 30,000 students statewide. About half the schools get 90% or more of their students from outside their authorizing district, according to data from the Colorado Department of Education. Just a few entities authorize many of the schools.

More multi-district online schools could be on the way. While the State Board of Education unanimously rejected one in March, it will consider three more proposals on Thursday.

This group helps districts with online programs

Over the past year, a state-supported nonprofit called Colorado Digital Learning Solutions has helped many districts launch or plan new online programs. The group is not an online school. Rather, it provides asynchronous online classes taught by Colorado-licensed teachers to school districts and charter schools. Some of its teachers still teach in-person classes, and others are retired from Colorado classrooms.

The Weld RE-5J district in northern Colorado has used Colorado Digital Learning Solutions courses for years in its online program. Emma, a junior in the district, is taking algebra, English, and world history online through the group, plus four in-person classes at her high school in Johnstown.

Emma, who hopes to graduate a semester early, said she found all in-person classes a struggle because she has ADHD.

“I just have a really hard time focusing in class and being my whole present self,” she said.

“I chose hybrid because it still gives me a social aspect, but it also gives me that flexible aspect.”

Colorado Digital Learning Solutions was selected to provide online classes to Colorado schools after the passage of a 2016 state law that required increased investment in supplemental online courses. The law sought to ensure digital equity by providing assistance to school districts and charter schools that didn’t have the capacity to build their own online offerings.

Emma, a junior at Roosevelt High School in Johnstown in northern Colorado, joined her district's online program last fall.

Colorado Digital Learning Solutions receives about 20% of its budget from the state. Generally, school districts pay the group $250 per student per semester-long class.

About half of Colorado’s 180 school districts use the nonprofit to offer online classes — sometimes a full menu and sometimes a single course. For example, the small Lamar district on the Eastern Plains contracts with the group to provide a Latin class, taught by a Boulder teacher, to one student.

As more school districts seek to win students back from multi-district online schools — or prevent students from leaving in the first place — things have become contentious at times. Some multi-district online schools are pushing back against Colorado Digital Learning Solutions.

Some students need online classes. Here’s how this Colorado district does it.

In a February letter on behalf of some multi-district online schools, attorney Brad Miller accused the group of causing “reputational harm” to the schools. He said the group’s promotional materials highlight the online schools’ low graduation rates without noting that their students tend to be highly mobile and behind academically.

Dan Morris, co-executive director of Colorado Digital Learning Solutions, said his group was reporting publicly available data.

Miller, who’s been involved in several high-profile lawsuits on behalf of conservative-leaning school districts, did not respond to requests for comment or to clarify which online schools he represents.

The online program pitch

Seventeen Colorado districts, most of them small and rural, started online programs in 2025. Colorado Digital Learning Solutions is working with 25-30 additional districts that want to start online programs next school year, Morris said.

Unlike multi-district online schools, online programs must have fewer than 100 full-time online students and no more than 10 from outside the district.

A key part of Morris’ pitch to districts is data. It’s in the presentation he’s given at state conferences: “Stop the Enrollment Drain: Build a Local Online Program that keeps students in-district.” He also shares detailed spreadsheets his team has compiled showing how many students school districts are losing to multi-district online schools.

That’s what convinced officials in the Durango district in southwestern Colorado to start an online program next year. They learned they’d lost more than 400 students — and about $5 million in state funding — to multi-district online schools.

Robert Aspen, Durango High School’s intervention coordinator, said they’ll start with up to 50 students, with plans to grow long term. The goal is to attract students who enrolled in multi-district online schools back to their home school.

While there are 44 multi-district onlines in Colorado, state data shows that most students are leaving their local districts for a few big names, authorized by just a few entities and often run by for-profit companies located out of state.

Byers Superintendent Tom Turrell, whose district authorizes eight multi-district online charter schools, said it’s no surprise that more districts are starting online options.

“We don’t view district on-line programs as competition,” he said by email. “Like Byers, other districts are innovating to better serve students and that’s great, that’s their job.”

Online learning is popular, not all options created equal

Educators say families seek online options for many reasons, including because students suffer from anxiety, have medical challenges, have experienced bullying, or have jobs or household responsibilities that conflict with a traditional school schedule. Competitive athletes also like the flexibility of online courses.

“I have a rodeo girl,” said Delaine Hudson, a former principal who runs the new online program in Delta County. “She spends her morning doing school work and then she’s either practicing or … she’s somewhere in the state doing rodeo.”

Forty students, mostly high schoolers, are enrolled in Delta County’s online program this semester, taking courses through Colorado Digital Learning Solutions with other students around the state. They take core classes, like English and science, and less common offerings like “History of the Holocaust.”

Hudson likes that there’s a real teacher available to message when students hit roadblocks. She checks in with students weekly, too, by phone, email, or text.

Most students are thrilled with the online program so far, she said. “And it’s rigorous. I don’t feel like we’re just pushing them through.”

Critics of some multi-district online schools question their quality. At 20 of the schools, so few students take state tests that state officials can’t calculate ratings, leaving the public in the dark about how they’re doing.

In addition, some of the biggest multi-district online schools routinely post low graduation rates. For example, the 2,600-student Astravo Academy Online High School, which is authorized by the Byers district, has a four-year graduation rate of 44%. At District 49’s GOAL High School, it’s 49%. The state average is about 86%, according to state data.

Supporters say the some multi-district online schools are helping at-risk students who’ve faced educational and personal challenges.

“We’ve taken on all of the kids who needed second and third and fourth and fifth chances in GOAL from the entire state,” said District 49 school board member Marie LaVere-Wright at a board meeting last June.

While GOAL is classified by the state as an “alternative education campus” — schools designed to serve high-risk students — more than 90 other Colorado schools, including many bricks and mortar schools, have the same designation.

District 49 officials declined to comment for this story.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

In late push, Colorado lawmakers seek limits on homeschool enrichment and group fueling its growth

2026-05-12T01:50:07+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers want to dramatically curtail the power of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services to authorize certain kinds of public schools and homeschool enrichment programs located outside of their member school districts.

With just a few days left in the state’s legislative session, the State House on Monday passed two amendments to Colorado’s School Finance Act that create new guardrails on the public education co-ops. There are still a few more steps before the Finance Act will become law, including a third reading of the bill and meetings to hammer out differences between the House and Senate versions, but the amendments face a good chance of survival.

The two amendments represent the culmination of months of frustration by some state lawmakers over a Monument-based co-op they say has exploited loopholes in state law to open public schools and dozens of homeschool enrichment programs all over the state. Together, the enrichment programs cost the state tens of millions of dollars at a time when Colorado is facing a huge budget hole.

The co-op that will be most impacted by the two amendments is called Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES. Last fall, the group quietly opened what its leader called Colorado’s “first public Christian school” and six months later sued the state, alleging religious discrimination. ERBOCES also has more than 50 enrichment programs, most created in the last few years, that offer tuition-free activities to homeschoolers, including martial arts classes and sports camps.

One of the amendments passed Monday, Amendment 42, mirrors provisions of a bill the powerful Joint Budget Committee ordered to be drafted in April, but never introduced. It would limit the geographical reach of co-ops like ERBOCES, allowing them to authorize schools and programs only in their member school districts. The amendment would not impact the ability of public education co-ops to authorize online schools that enroll students from multiple school districts.

ERBOCES has only two member districts: District 49 and the Elizabeth School District. The amendment would allow some existing homeschool enrichment programs to continue operating outside of their authorizers’ territory on a temporary basis if they meet certain conditions.

Amendment 42 would also limit homeschool enrichment programs that can be approved by any kind of authorizer — a school district, charter school, or public education co-op. For example, programs wouldn’t be allowed to provide activities not generally available to students attending public schools.

Finally, the amendment would bar publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs from enrolling private school students. Some of the homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES provide one day of free programming a week — Lego-building, music and art, for example — to students who attend private school the rest of the week.

When Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat, introduced Amendment 42 on Monday, she said audits by the state education department “have shown that public school dollars are paying for home school and private school students to receive all sorts of things like private ski lessons, private horseback riding, private music lessons, club sports … private jiu jitsu classes and more.”

“And these are all things that families who have full time students in public schools have to pay for with their own money,” she said.

The second amendment approved Monday, Amendment 33, clarifies an existing state law that describes how school districts and BOCES can contract out certain educational services.

Under the amendment, that law won’t allow districts or BOCES to authorize schools — with the exception of online schools — that are entirely run by contractors.

The amendment says a public school run by a contractor could be created under other state laws, such as Colorado’s charter school law. That would not apply to ERBOCES though because such co-ops are not allowed to open charter schools.

It’s not clear what would happen to ERBOCES’ bricks and mortar schools, including Riverstone Academy, the public Christian school, if the amendment takes effect. The 30-student school is run by a contractor.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado childcare bill aims to raise millions, cut waitlists for subsidies

2026-04-29T00:02:37+00:00

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More than 9,000 low-income Colorado families are in line for state subsidies to help pay for childcare so parents can work or attend school. Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that could shrink the wait by sending additional money to counties where working parents need help.

Senate Bill 180, introduced Monday, would create a new investment authority that could seek higher returns on certain pots of state money than what state investments typically produce. Some of the proceeds from the higher-yield investments would help low-income families pay for childcare.

Coming late in the legislative session, the bill reflects the tightrope lawmakers are walking as they try to bolster safety net programs while grappling with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. Instead of shifting scarce general fund dollars from one program to another, lawmakers opted to create a new source of childcare revenue.

“This is a very kind of outside-the-box solution to a problem that’s been here for a long time,” said Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican and one of the bill’s sponsors. He said if the bill passes, counties could start receiving money to help low-income families with childcare in the spring of 2027.

Currently 27 of the state’s 64 counties have waitlists or freezes in place for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, or CCCAP, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. That means a family that’s newly eligible for the state’s subsidy program in those counties can’t get childcare aid, potentially forcing parents to drop out of the workforce or rely on inconsistent or unsafe care arrangements.

Some Colorado counties have been on waitlists or freezes for more than two years. The expiration of COVID stimulus funds and a boost in reimbursement rates for childcare providers have contributed to the funding crunch. CCCAP is mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from the state and counties.

If Bright’s bill becomes law, it would represent “the first time we’ve really established a fund for childcare in Colorado,” said Mathangi Subramanian, director of early childhood policy at the Colorado Children’s Campaign, an advocacy group based in Denver.

“This is important, not just in terms of serving families, but also symbolically, to show that our state believes that childcare is a public good, believes childcare is infrastructure and requires investment,” she said.

Bright, who owns several Weld County childcare centers, said the goal of the proposed investment authority is not to earn outsized returns through risky stock market bets, but rather to get modestly higher returns by investing a bit more aggressively than the state treasurer does.

Here’s how it would work: Certain state entities could opt to have the new authority make investments using some of their money. Enterprises, which are government-owned businesses that get most of their revenue from user fees, are one of the entities that could do so. The investment authority would return a portion of the investment earnings to the enterprise or other entity.

The rest would go to counties where low-income families need help paying for childcare. The new funding would work in tandem with CCCAP funding, but would be a distinct pot of money.

Working with the investment authority would be voluntary for Colorado’s enterprises, but the idea is that they would benefit financially from more aggressive investment options — even with a portion of the proceeds going to childcare.

Colorado’s more than two dozen enterprises include the state lottery, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program.

Bright said his bill would eventually generate millions of dollars for childcare assistance, but the amount will depend on how many enterprises opt in, the amount of money invested, and the duration of the investments.

The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado lawmakers seek to limit group fueling growth in publicly funded homeschool enrichment

2026-04-23T23:44:31+00:00

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In response to explosive growth in publicly funded homeschool enrichment, including sports camps and martial arts lessons, Colorado lawmakers are seeking not only to apply the brakes, but to reverse the trend.

The powerful six-member Joint Budget Committee unanimously agreed Wednesday to draft a bill to curtail the power of one public education co-op that has authorized scores of home-school enrichment programs in recent years. The Monument-based co-op, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services, or ERBOCES, has enrichment programs all over Colorado.

The bill would limit the geographical reach of such co-ops, allowing them to authorize programs only in their member school districts. In the case of ERBOCES, which has two member districts, the bill would stem the flow of tens of millions of public dollars that pass through the co-op to homeschool enrichment programs in other places.

Statewide, around 19,000 students participate in part-time public school programming at a cost of more than $100 million a year. Most are homeschooled students who attend one day of enrichment classes a week at traditional public schools, charter schools, or through ERBOCES programs.

ERBOCES authorizes more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs, many outside its two member school districts. Last summer, it also authorized a controversial “public Christian school” outside its member districts. The co-op’s homeschool enrichment programs are run by private contractors and include state-funded offerings critics say are essentially extracurricular activities, such as horsemanship, taekwondo, and golf. One ERBOCES contractor advertises skiing, swim lessons, and canyoneering trips.

Colorado pays generously for homeschool enrichment. Funding cuts and stricter rules may be coming.

The proposed bill wouldn’t address all lawmakers’ concerns about the ballooning footprint and cost of publicly funded homeschool enrichment, but it would take aim at the group they describe as the biggest offender in terms of exploiting loopholes in state law. As lawmakers consider placing guardrails on homeschool enrichment through law, the State Board of Education is also looking to change state rules governing the kinds of enrichment classes and schedules that would be eligible for public funding.

While lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee agreed Wednesday that their proposed bill should reign in ERBOCES, they didn’t finalize the timetable for the new restrictions. Some members said homeschool enrichment programs that operate outside ERBOCES’ two member districts — District 49 in El Paso County and the Elizabeth district in Elbert County — should be prevented from accessing public funding before the 2026-27 school year.

Others, including Rep. Rick Taggart, a Republican from Grand Junction, pushed for a six-month grace period so families who’ve already signed their kids up for ERBOCES home-school enrichment programs next fall won’t be left in a lurch, at least through December.

“I don’t want to hurt the students,” he said.

Ken Witt, executive director of ERBOCES, expressed similar concerns in an email to Chalkbeat on Thursday.

“If these programs are axed long after most families have already made their enrollment decisions for the upcoming year, these families will have to scramble to try to find the supports they need to confidently educate their children,” he said. “Many will not find the support they need, because no other program exists within their area.”

Witt said thoughtful engagement with stakeholders is critical and hasn’t yet occurred.

Lawmakers and legislative staff noted that allowing ERBOCES to operate all of its current programs just for the first semester next year might not work because of how and when the state tallies enrollment and distributes funding. The Joint Budget Committee opted to start the bill-drafting process and decide timing details in the coming weeks.

It’s unclear how many of ERBOCES’ homeschool enrichment programs are based outside the group’s member districts, but under the proposed bill it’s likely that dozens would either lose public funding or need to ask their local school district or BOCES to be their authorizer to continue receiving it.

ERBOCES’ website contains only a partial list of its enrichment programs, and the co-op’s staff declined to provide Chalkbeat with the full list.

For now, Joint Budget Committee lawmakers have paused an effort to reduce state funding for homeschool enrichment programs. Currently, the state pays half the full-time public school student rate for each homeschool enrichment student — about $6,000 — even though those students typically attend about a quarter of the hours.

Both home-school parents and school districts have pushed back against the potential funding cuts in recent weeks. School districts benefit from the more generous funding for the programs they authorize.

Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee indicated they may eventually return to the funding cut proposal and expressed frustration over resistance from school district leaders.

Sen. Jeff Bridges, Democrat of Greenwood Village, asked how district leaders can explain to parents of full-time public school students that they’re paying twice as much per hour for homeschooled students in enrichment programming than for traditional students.

“How do they justify that to their parents?” he said. “Number two, how do they expect us to justify to the people of Colorado that we’re paying for ski tickets?”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

U.S. Supreme Court to take Colorado case about public funding for Catholic preschools that bar LGBTQ families

2026-04-20T17:43:06+00:00

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Colorado case alleging religious discrimination against two Catholic preschools that wanted to participate in the state’s universal preschool program but didn’t want to have to admit LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

The court announced the decision Monday morning and will likely hold oral arguments in the fall. The Trump administration has weighed in on the side of the Catholic preschools.

The question at the heart of the case asks if private religious schools that accept public education dollars can refuse to enroll students based on religious principles. The state and two lower courts have said no. The Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, could give a different answer.

The Catholic preschools sued the state in 2023 as Colorado launched its new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. The $349 million program serves more than 40,000 children and allows families to choose from public, private, or religious preschools.

St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy in Lakewood wanted to join the program when it started, but didn’t want to admit LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families. They said admitting such children would conflict with Catholic beliefs on sex and gender.

The preschools asked for an exemption from state non-discrimination rules, but the Colorado Department of Early Childhood refused. The two preschools never joined the program, and the case went to court.

In September, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a key part of a lower court decision, handing Colorado a major win and the two Catholic preschools a defeat. In its ruling, the court wrote that it found no proof that the Colorado Department of Early Childhood took actions that “evidence religious hostility,” as the two Catholic preschools claimed.

The state’s universal preschool program “went to great effort to be welcoming and inclusive of faith-based preschools’ participation,” the decision said.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year, about 40 are religious.

Attorneys from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, argue that Colorado’s universal preschool program excludes the preschools based on their religious beliefs.

It cites a major 2022 Supreme Court decision, Carson v. Makin, that said states can’t prevent religious schools from accessing public dollars because they are religious. Becket argues that courts have circumvented that decision, including in the Catholic preschool case, by applying it only when governments specifically target religious groups with their rules.

The Carson decision should also apply when government rules affect free exercise of religion, the suit says. It says courts have worked around the Carson decision by citing a 1990 Supreme Court decision over whether Oregon could deny unemployment benefits to someone who used peyote in a religious ceremony.

That decision held that the Constitution’s Free Exercise clause doesn’t exempt people from obeying neutral, generally applicable laws even if those laws burden religious practices.

The preschool program’s non-discrimination rules apply to all preschools, not just the Catholic ones. The rules bar discrimination based on various characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Wellspring, one of two parish preschools involved in the case, closed last year along with Wellspring’s K-8 school because of low enrollment and financial problems.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s why this Colorado teacher gives out pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution

2026-04-17T22:42:28+00:00

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Sam Westerdale, a civics and government teacher at Aurora’s Rangeview High School, has a master’s degree in political science. But she’s not afraid to admit what she doesn’t know.

“I try to demonstrate that fragility is natural in the learning process, and it shouldn’t be seen as weak, but rather, as being curious in wanting to understand or learn more.”

Westerdale spends a lot of her summers attending workshops to improve her craft. For example, learning how to teach the concept, “stare decisis,” a Latin term for the legal doctrine that says courts should honor historical precedents when they decide similar cases.

Teaching, she said, is “a constant cycle of learning and relearning.”

Westerdale, a board member of the Colorado Council of the Social Studies board, talked to Chalkbeat about why she hands out copies of the U.S. Constitution to students, what she learned after a student’s unexpected absence, and what she wants teens to know about the nation’s founders.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

There were a few moments when I realized perhaps teaching is where I wanted to end up. This definitely came from being an avid reader ranging from “Goosebumps” to the “Fellowship of the Ring” series. I remember creating a fake library with my siblings in my bedroom and pretending to check out books for my sister.

I went into college as a biology major, thinking I might be a science teacher, and then took a government class and realized how much I loved learning about how power is wielded and the importance of knowing your rights.

There is a history of teachers in my family and in my husband’s family, and that also helped encourage me to apply to the teacher education program at the University of Colorado Denver 15 years ago.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

I grew up with a speech impediment and took speech therapy classes in elementary school. I was difficult to understand at times and participated less due to embarrassment. I think a lot about how the pressure to succeed felt very prevalent in the 1990s and early 2000s, and how the learning that comes from struggling or failing is at times far more important than getting it right the first time. I share that experience with my students because I think that education is in a better place now in terms of providing support and being honest with who you are.

I want my classroom to be a space for excellence as well as vulnerability, and give students opportunities to be kids, which may include a room full of stuffed animals (mainly llamas), getting-to-know-you warm-up questions, their current favorite song, or knowing which Dorito is their least favorite.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

One of the first lessons I teach in both my civics and my dual enrollment American government classes focuses heavily on the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. I stress the importance of compromise and how the actions of a few people led to our rights and liberties today.

The lesson from iCivics, called The Federalist Debate provides a summary of what each group wanted along with their beliefs. I group students into smaller groups and assign them each a Federalist Paper (usually 10, 78, 39, or 84) or Anti-Federalist Paper (Brutus I or Brutus II) to analyze and decide which point of view it is from.

It’s one of my favorite lessons to see students learn from primary sources and realize that much of what was designed hundreds of years ago is still relevant to today.

Why do you hand out pocket-size copies of the Constitution to students at the beginning of the year?

It’s a tradition we’ve had at Rangeview High School for as long as I can remember for civics and dual enrollment classes. One of my main goals is a sort of scavenger hunt, so students find each part, from the Articles, which design our structure of government, to the Bill of Rights and the rest of the amendments.

Students like having physical copies of the Constitution and feel more engaged and connected to their rights and liberties. There are even moments where students make statements like, “Now I have my rights with me, ready to read whenever I want.”

Tell us about a lesson when you connected current events to the Declaration of Independence?

One of my favorite iCivics lessons is Philosophically Correct. It explains which philosophers influenced America’s founders and which philosophies are referenced in the Declaration of Independence.

My class is often the first time students dive into content that asks them to reflect on human nature and current events in relation to civics. I remind them that many founders were not much older than the students, and — like good students — they looked for inspiration for a new government in their favorite philosophers. This lesson includes ideas from Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Machiavelli, and Montesquieu, and what that relationship looks like between a people and its government.

I have students analyze concepts from each philosopher and annotate the Declaration of Independence to show how it expresses natural rights, the rule of law, the right to revolution, popular sovereignty, equality, consent of the governed, and social contracts. Students complete an exit ticket on how they see The Declaration of Independence today by selecting one of the seven concepts in relation to current events.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

This happened one of my first few years of teaching. There was a miscommunication over why a student would be absent for a few days. When the student returned and I asked where they were, they said, “Monticello.” I incorrectly thought that the student was lying because just a few weeks before, I had shared that I had visited Monticello for the first time. I thought the student was referring back to my experience and using it to lie.

I remember taking a deep breath and deciding to be curious. I asked the student to share what they learned. The student went into amazing detail from the artifacts on the plantation, the enslaved labor which built Monticello, and the significance of Thomas Jefferson in American founding. I quickly apologized. I also made sure to email the student’s parents about what happened and how I felt horrible for that initial thought of the student possibly lying. The student and I would often laugh about the moment throughout the year. To this day, I always try to be curious with others.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I am currently reading the newest Wonder Woman series by Tom King, “The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America” by Jeffrey Rosen, and “Water Moon” by Samantha Sotto Yambao.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado pays generously for homeschool enrichment. Funding cuts and stricter rules may be coming.

2026-04-14T23:55:35+00:00

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For years, thousands of Colorado homeschoolers have taken publicly funded enrichment classes, often at public schools, meant to round out their learning. Younger students might take art, music, and physical education; older students might take calculus or band.

But a new strain of homeschool enrichment programs funded with state dollars has exploded in recent years, raising red flags for state lawmakers about the cost, content, and structure of these classes. The new programs rely on private contractors and operate with little state oversight. They include offerings that public school parents would have to pay for, such as horseback riding, soccer camp, and jiu-jitsu classes.

Many programs run six hours a week but the state pays as if the programs are providing double that amount. Calling the practice “staggering” and “totally unacceptable,” state lawmakers are considering cutting that rate in half.

Colorado officials are also directing more scrutiny toward the public cooperative that’s fueling most of the growth in homeschool enrichment programs. That same co-op recently authorized a controversial “public Christian school” and sued the state for threatening to withhold funding.

The debate over homeschool enrichment comes as public schools face twin financial threats: enrollment declines fueled by decreasing birth rates and a $1.2 billion state budget hole that’s forcing deep spending cuts. Publicly funded homeschool enrichment costs around $100 million a year.

Colorado State Board of Education member Steve Durham, a Republican from Colorado Springs, said at a January meeting the state should limit the kinds of homeschool enrichment programs that are eligible for public funding. That could take place through the board’s rule-making process over the coming year.

“I, for one, don’t believe that we ought to be paying for sports,” he said. “We really should take a very hard look at focusing on academics.”

But some enrichment providers worry that funding reductions and new guardrails could hobble their programs and eliminate unique offerings families want.

Jay D. Muller, who runs a one-day-a-week horsemanship program for homeschoolers in the Fruita area, said he believes in hands-on experiential learning and is “disappointed that the state is constantly trying to attack it.”

Students in the program learn English- and western-style horseback riding, and about veterinarians, farriers, and horse biology. They also write and illustrate a book about a fictional horse.

“Not every kid’s going to learn in the same box,” he said.

Jessica Capsel, co-chair of the left-leaning nonprofit Pro-Colorado Education Project, said she appreciates what Muller provides, but thinks parents should pay for it.

“My kid goes to public school, and I pay $100 a week for her to go do horseback riding lessons,” she said. “But if I homeschooled, the state would pay for it. Something is backwards about that.”

Homeschool enrichment isn’t new

Some Colorado school districts and charter schools have operated in-house homeschool enrichment programs for decades. They are paid the part-time rate by the state — half the rate for a full-time public school student — but are only required to provide a quarter of the full-time student hours.

Originally, homeschool enrichment programs were a way to give homeschooled students socialization opportunities and provide older students with courses, such as science lab or orchestra, that were hard to offer at home.

About 30 of Colorado’s 179 school districts offer homeschool enrichment programs. Several have large programs, including Aurora with nearly 800 students, St. Vrain Valley with over 700, and Cherry Creek with more than 500.

But a group called Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, runs the largest collection of programs by far. The cooperative oversees more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs this year that together serve nearly 8,400 students — more than 10 times as many homeschool enrichment students as ERBOCES had in 2022-23. ERBOCES, the authorizer of the state’s first “public Christian school,” will receive around $45 million in state money for its homeschool enrichment students this year.

Ken Witt, the executive director of ERBOCES, declined to comment for this story.

ERBOCES, which is based in Monument, began authorizing homeschool enrichment programs rapidly after the pandemic. Unlike most school districts and charter schools with such programs, the cooperative doesn’t operate the enrichment programs it authorizes. Instead, it contracts with private groups, including private schools and companies that run classes all over the state. Sometimes those groups subcontract the classes to other private groups.

Today, homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES include forest schools, art programs, sports lessons, career training, aviation, and canyoneering. The co-op doesn’t list all the programs on its website and declined to provide a full list to Chalkbeat.

In response to a public records request from Chalkbeat asking for copies of ERBOCES’ homeschool enrichment contracts, a staff member said it would take 15 hours to compile at a cost of nearly $600.

The state doesn’t have that information either because it doesn’t track the number, type, or quality of homeschool enrichment contractors and subcontractors.

One program that contracts with ERBOCES is Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, which, in turn, subcontracts with 71 “campuses” around the state, according to its most recent annual report. The group’s website says a campus can consist of just two homeschooling families “wanting to amplify their homeschooling.”

One campus was launched last fall by the private Trinity Lutheran School in Greeley. It offers activities like physical education, Lego building, and woodworking. Principal and Pastor Joshua Vanderhyde said by email that Trinity’s private school runs Monday through Thursday and the private school students attend the Friday enrichment program along with some homeschool students.

Private school students are allowed to be enrolled as part-time public school students under state rules. But the scenario often cited by state education officials is a private school student who takes courses, such as advanced biology or French, at a public school because those courses aren’t offered at their private school. That’s different from what Trinity is doing.

Renee Miller, CEO of Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, did not respond to requests for comment about her program.

Programs help teens prepare for the future

Barb Bulthuis runs Crossroads Workforce Readiness Program, a publicly funded homeschool enrichment program authorized by ERBOCES that serves about 30 high school students in Longmont. On Wednesday and Friday mornings, students take classes like future planning 101, basic automotive, basic carpentry, Spanish, and physical education.

On a recent morning, the automotive teacher and one other student looked on as ninth grader Jony Cano checked the air pressure of the tires on a silver Honda Odyssey parked inside a garage on the campus of FaithPoint Church. That’s where both the homeschool enrichment program and Crossroads School, a Christian school also led by Bulthuis, operate.

Cano, who hopes to become a diesel mechanic, said he used to get “straight Fs” at public school, but in seventh grade switched to Crossroads School where he is now earning As and Bs. This year, he joined the homeschool enrichment program.

Ninth grader Jony Cano checks the air pressure of a Honda Odyssey minivan during his automotive class at Crossroads Workforce Readiness Program, which is held at FaithPoint Church in Longmont.

Bulthuis said the enrichment program, which has a $144,000 budget, is not religious, is set up as a separate nonprofit from the school, and has a separate governing board. Some, but not all, students in the Crossroads Workforce Readiness Program attend Crossroads School.

Angie Jacklin’s 19-year-old son, a senior, only attends the workforce readiness program. Homeschooled until ninth grade, he joined the program last year as a junior after severe anxiety thwarted attempts to attend private schools in Loveland and Boulder. Before joining Crossroads, he took online classes.

“Our child was very excited that they could go one or two days a week and take a couple of classes and get used to being out among other people,” she said. “It helped us get from home to … a public place to learn, because they’re going to need that for college.”

ERBOCES has fueled growth

ERBOCES is expected to authorize 30 to 40 new homeschool enrichment programs by the end of this school year, according to a presentation Witt, the head of ERBOCES, gave last fall.

A dozen new programs were up for approval at just one ERBOCES board meeting in March. Nine more are up for approval Tuesday.

These co-ops are meant to support school districts. This one started Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school.’

In addition to newly authorized enrichment programs, some of ERBOCES’ existing programs are expanding their footprints, either by enrolling more students or adding subcontractors. Altitude Performance Academy, a sports-focused program, is one of the programs that’s expanding, launching a six-hour-a-week gymnastics program next fall and an adventure program that includes ski lessons in 2027.

Eric Dinnel, the CEO of Altitude, is executive director of four other homeschool enrichment programs authorized by ERBOCES: Front Range Construction Academy, Renaissance Innovation Academy, Alpine International Prep Academy, and Colorado Agribusiness and Equine Sciences Academy.

Together, Dinnel’s five programs subcontract with more than two dozen groups around Colorado, according to their websites. Homeschooled students in the five programs also have access to tuition-free online classes through Shoreline Preparatory Academy, a school headed by Dinnel. It’s not clear where the funding for the online classes is coming from.

Dinnel did not respond to requests for comment.

Recent discussions among state lawmakers and education officials show that the state has little insight into or oversight of homeschool enrichment programs.

“There’s been an evolution of these models where just based on the number of times money is changing hands, it’s like people are trying to get into the business of providing homeschool enrollment,” Andrea Uhl, a legislative analyst, told the powerful Joint Budget Committee in March.

Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, said at the meeting, “I was just shocked to see that there were all these private companies that were engaged in this work.”

Uhl said state audits of publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs have turned up concerning details, such as schedules that consist of one-time classes, sports on evenings and weekends, and private schools that merge homeschool enrichment time into their regular school days.

Funding cuts and new guardrails possible

Colorado officials are considering legislation and state rules that could cut homeschool enrichment funding and limit growth.

In March, the Joint Budget Committee ordered the drafting of a bill that would give a quarter of full-time funding to enrichment programs that operate the equivalent of one day a week. That means the state would pay about $3,000 on average per homeschool enrichment student instead of about $6,000.

That bill has not yet been introduced, and homeschool enrichment programs are lobbying for changes.

In addition, the State Board of Education last week approved a motion to push for a bill that would limit Boards of Cooperative Educational Services’ authorizing power so they could only approve schools and programs that would benefit students in their member school districts. The change would drastically curtail the reach of a co-op like ERBOCES, which has just two member districts.

Bulthuis, who runs Crossroad Workforce Readiness Program, is worried about funding cuts. Her homeschool enrichment program provides 90 to 100 hours of class time per semester.

“I have to do all of those same things for my program that a school does for a full-time program,” she said. “It’s not as much work as a full-time school, but it’s also not a quarter of the work.”

Bulthuis also said the estimated savings of up to $40 million from homeschool enrichment cuts is a drop in the bucket compared to Colorado’s public education budget, which is about $10 billion for K-12 schools this year.

But some lawmakers and public school advocates argue that even relatively small amounts of money matter at a time when public schools are laying off teachers and cutting programs.

Rep. Emily Sirota, the Democratic chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said state-funded homeschool enrichment programming “sounds very nice for the kids who are receiving it, but it seems very unfair to me ... that we would continue to direct this vast sum of money to a program that is clearly being abused.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Child care aid for low-income Colorado families to last through June at least, state officials say

2026-03-31T23:21:49+00:00

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Low-income families in Colorado’s child care subsidy program will get financial assistance at least through June 30 as a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration effort to withhold $10 billion in funding from five states unfolds.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood announced the funding extension on Friday after a recent disbursement of child care dollars from the federal government.

Colorado’s program helps cover the cost of child care for more than 27,000 children so parents can work or take classes. It’s mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from states and counties. In January, the federal government threatened to cut off funding to Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, suggesting without evidence that the states were providing benefits to “illegal aliens.”

The five states quickly sued to prevent funding disruptions. Now, even after orders from a federal judge to release the funding as scheduled, there is a sense of uncertainty about the fate of the targeted programs.

In early January, when federal officials first threatened to restrict funding, Colorado officials estimated they had only enough money to offer child care aid through the end of January. Since then, they have sent regular alerts to child care providers and the public with updates on the freeze lawsuit and the latest estimate of how long funding will last.

In February, federal District Judge Vernon Broderick granted a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government to continue providing the child care and social services funding to the five states that sued.

In early February, Colorado estimated the child care assistance money would last through May. Friday’s announcement extended that by a month.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

In wake of ‘public Christian school’ controversy, Pueblo 70 school board sued over open meetings violations

2026-03-31T22:58:31+00:00

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Three school board candidates who were passed over for a vacant seat on the Pueblo District 70 school board sued the board Monday, asking the court to order a new vote to fill the seat.

They also asked the court to declare that the Pueblo 70 school board violated Colorado’s open meetings law several times over the last seven months, including by not clearly describing agenda items related to Riverstone Academy, an elementary school that backers have called Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”

The lawsuit is the third one this year related to Riverstone. The lawsuit alleges a pattern of violations that started last summer when the school board voted to allow Riverstone to open within district boundaries and continued with the controversial appointment of a fourth candidate to the school board in February.

Monday’s lawsuit was filed in Pueblo County District Court by attorney Eric Maxfield on behalf of Jonathan Lewis, Tara Stroesenreuther, and Adolph Vigil, three of four candidates who vied for an open seat on the school board over the winter. The school board president appointed the fourth candidate, Susie Carnes, to fill the seat in February. At the heart of the latest lawsuit is the idea that the public’s business must be conducted in public.

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat show that Riverstone was created at the behest of a conservative law firm seeking a test case on the question of public funding for religious schools. Attorney Brad Miller, whose law firm represents Pueblo 70, outlined that goal in an email to the five-member board and superintendent last June. The school board president at the time, Anne Ochs, wrote back within minutes, and the topic was added to the next meeting agenda.

Monday’s lawsuit alleges that the school board hid Miller’s plan from the public at two June meetings by using generic, jargon-laden language to describe the Riverstone matter. This failed “to provide full notice regarding the proposed Board approval of a publicly-funded Christian school within D70, created for the purpose of manufacturing a Supreme Court test case in hopes of striking down Colorado’s ban against using public funds for religious education,” the lawsuit says.

Reached by email on Tuesday, Miller did not comment about the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that placing the Riverstone vote on the board’s consent agenda on June 24 was a violation of open meetings law. Consent agendas allow public bodies like school boards to group routine, uncontroversial issues together for a vote with no debate. Board members can request that items be removed from the consent agenda and voted on separately. That didn’t happen with Riverstone.

Voting on Riverstone as part of the larger consent agenda constituted an “unlawful rubberstamp of a prior, non-public decision,” the lawsuit says.

Riverstone Academy originally operated in this building, but moved temporarily to Christ Church Pueblo West in February.

The lawsuit says that the Pueblo 70 school board continued to violate open meetings law over the winter. That was after three new members were elected in November and after Ochs resigned in December, when a district parent criticized her for hiding key facts about Riverstone’s creation and failing to disclose a conflict of interest.

According to the lawsuit, School Board President Ann Bennett, one of the board members elected in November, violated the law by abruptly leaving a meeting on Feb. 10, the date the board was supposed to select a new member to replace Ochs.

Before Bennett left, the board had deadlocked on picking a new member with repeated 2-2 ties. Then board Vice President AJ Wilson fell ill and was helped out of the room. That left three board members and the possibility that a candidate Bennett didn’t support — Lewis, Stroesenreuther, or Vigil — could be appointed in a 2-1 vote.

“Faced with losing the vote, in a ‘personal power move’ that broke her pledges to follow state law and to respect the Board, Bennett illegally fled the un-adjourned meeting to break quorum and prevent a vote,” a motion accompanying the lawsuit states.

Quorum refers to the minimum number of members needed for a public body to take votes on public business.

This education co-op quietly opened a Christian public school. Does Colorado need more guardrails?

Several days after the Feb. 10 meeting, Bennett announced in a letter to the community that she’d appointed Carnes the vacant seat. Under Colorado law, school board presidents can appoint a new member if the board can’t agree on a candidate after 60 days.

The lawsuit alleges that the “non-public and unilateral appointment of Carnes” and her swearing in during an “un-noticed” meeting on Feb. 25 violated the open meetings law.

In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed along with the lawsuit, the plaintiffs ask the court to order the three Pueblo 70 school board members who were present when Wilson became ill to resume the Feb. 10 meeting that was never adjourned and vote in a candidate to fill the vacancy. That motion also asks that Carnes be ordered to cease serving as a board member while that process plays out.

The lawsuit also wants the Pueblo 70 board to pay the three plaintiffs’ legal fees.

District Superintendent Ronda Rein said by email that the lawsuit could divert funds from student programming

“The board acts on the guidance of their attorney, and any legal proceedings would require the district to cover attorney fees,” she said. “There are more constructive ways to hold the board accountable than through a lawsuit.”

While Miller’s law firm continues to represent Pueblo 70 school board, the district could soon be represented by a different firm. Rein, who will retire at the end of June, recently put out a request for proposals for attorneys to represent the district. Rein said four firms responded, including Miller’s.

Riverstone is still in the midst of another lawsuit. In February, the school and its authorizer filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the state over the possibility that the school’s public funding could eventually be clawed back.

Forging Education, the Christian nonprofit group that operates Riverstone, also filed a lawsuit against Pueblo County in January, after county officials ordered the school to close its building over safety concerns. School officials voluntarily closed the building and moved the school to a temporary location shortly after.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado school district is losing students. Will new preschool options help?

2026-03-26T22:14:38+00:00

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One wing of Bradford Elementary in Pueblo School District 60 is dead silent in the middle of the school day. A darkened classroom at the end of the hallway doubles as a storage room, with a wooden play oven peeping over a jumble of furniture and boxes.

The lifeless hallway is a sign of declining enrollment in the district but also represents one of the building blocks of an ambitious — and at times contentious — plan to repurpose several school buildings for new uses, including preschool.

Bradford, which this year has one preschool classroom and 215 students, will cease being an elementary school next fall and re-open as a preschool center and community resource hub. Four miles away, Heritage Elementary will house a second new preschool center while continuing to serve kindergarten through fifth grade students. Both buildings will get renovations this summer.

Like most Colorado communities, Pueblo County has a shortage of licensed child care. There are only enough seats for just over a quarter of children under 6, according to a 2025 report from Common Sense Institute.

Pueblo 60, which has about 13,500 students, isn’t alone in its early childhood expansion aspirations. A number of Colorado districts, including large ones like Cherry Creek and small ones like Garfield RE-2 and Weld RE-8, have recently added or plan to add new preschool slots.

Especially since the 2023 launch of Colorado’s universal preschool program, scaling up preschool can help districts take advantage of vacant space, stem enrollment losses, and give children a jump start on early reading and math skills.

Pueblo 60 Superintendent Barbara Kimzey said, “I tell our staff this all the time, graduation rates begin the moment that preschooler walks in the door.”

A preschool student at Bradford Elementary School tried on his "Cat-in-the-Hat" hat on Read Across America Day on March 2.

The state’s $349 million universal preschool program, funded partly through a voter-approved nicotine tax, offers tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds.

This year, Pueblo 60 has 16 preschool classrooms offering free half-day classes. Next year, there will be 21 classrooms — at Bradford, Heritage, and some other district schools — and 80 new preschool seats. Bradford and Heritage will offer free full-day programming.

Kimzey said the district’s planned preschool expansion, along with other elements of the district’s “right-serving” facilities plan, aims to turn the tide on declining enrollment.

“Over the last 12 years, we’ve lost over a quarter of our enrollment,” she said. “We realize it’s a heavy lift, but we’re here for it, and we truly believe that we can … not only stem the decline, but really work on building back our district.”

In addition to Bradford, two other buildings will cease being elementary schools next year. Beulah Heights, which has about 250 students this year, will become a staff training center. Bessemer Academy, which has about 225 students this year, will become a family resource hub offering after-school enrichment, tutoring, and other programming.

The now-closed Hyde Park campus will reopen next year, housing a pre-collegiate middle school, the district’s online middle school program, and a community resource hub.

District-run preschool offers stability

Pueblo mother Randi Addington supports the addition of new full-day preschool seats in the district, especially since her 4-year-old’s private preschool closed abruptly last fall.

“They closed overnight in October … literally with no warning.” she said. “It was such a giant disruption to us.”

Addington, who works remotely, was able to secure the last available preschool seat at the district’s South Park Elementary after the closure. It was only a half-day program and wasn’t at the school her first grade son attends, but it was something.

She believes school districts have more safeguards against sudden closures than private preschools.

“I was like, this wouldn’t happen with the district. They’d give you warning a year in advance if they were going to close something,” she said.

Addington, who served on the district’s facilities plan steering committee, said as a working parent she’s happy the district will move back to full-day preschool next year. The reason she’d decided to enroll her son at the preschool that closed at the start of the school year was because it offered more daily hours than the school district.

“That was not sustainable for us as working professional parents,” she said of the half-day schedule.

Kimzey said the district previously offered full-day preschool but slimmed it down to half-day this year because of scheduling difficulties related to its four-day school week and teacher contract requirements. The new preschool centers will allow the district to offer full-day classes again, she said.

Addington said she believes attending district-run preschool helps children get ready for kindergarten. She’s watched her own son acclimate to the elementary school setting at South Park.

“Mama, there’s big kids here. There’s not babies here,” she recalled him saying after he started.

Correction: March 27, 2026: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the planned uses for Beulah Heights Elementary and Bessemer Academy next year.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Rutabagas and beet muffins in the cafeteria? This Colorado teacher shares her passion for produce

2026-03-17T22:07:30+00:00

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Do radishes belong in breakfast burritos? Do frozen pancakes taste good when they’re reheated? Will strawberry-topped yogurt cups with marshmallows, potato chip crunch, and chocolate drizzle win fans?

These are some of the questions students answer in Sabra Sowell-Lovejoy’s food production classes at Campo Undivided High School on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.

And here’s a question they asked: Can we grow rutabagas?

That came about when the root vegetable turned out to be a sleeper hit after Sowell-Lovejoy’s recent lesson on preparation techniques.

“None of the students had eaten a rutabaga before,” she said. “They loved them and asked us to start growing them so we could eat them in the cafeteria.”

The answer was yes.

Sabra Sowell-Lovejoy, teacher at Campo Undivided High School.

Sowell-Lovejoy, a semifinalist for Colorado’s 2026 Teacher of the Year award, also teaches social studies and English to fifth through 12 graders in the rural 38-student Campo district.

She talked to Chalkbeat about what experiments students run in the school’s dome greenhouse, how she covers water scarcity, and why students are brainstorming ideas for freezable breakfast foods.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

At the end of my undergraduate studies, my metal arts professor encouraged me to start teaching as an adjunct professor. Fifteen years later, the principal of my children’s school in New Mexico encouraged me to teach again. I was working as a part-time librarian while also teaching at the university. I reluctantly accepted, and now have a career that chose me — one that I wouldn’t change for anything.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

I went to school in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Mr. Harban, my fifth grade teacher and seventh grade math teacher, and Mrs. Malloy, my sixth grade teacher, provided hands-on learning opportunities and clear in-class instruction.

We observed stars through large telescopes in the cold, participated in a mock voting process at a replica voting booth that our parents drove us to, and recreated Christmas traditions from various countries. I still remember those lessons vividly and aim to provide similar experiences to my students.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

Currently, I am teaching a civics lesson in which students examine the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and look at James Madison’s ideas for building a healthier democracy. Students debate the tension between majority rule and the tyranny of the majority. They determine whether the Virginia Plan and the “double-negative” proposal would work. The double negative was a proposal that would have given Congress the power to veto state laws and to exercise federal oversight over states. Ultimately, the Constitution was written after these debates, and the double negative was rejected.

Tell us about the Dome Project.

The dome greenhouse was a replacement for the previous student-built greenhouse, which blew away. It’s a little larger and taller than a two-car garage. We expanded our growing capacity by adding more grow boxes and a hydroponic system. Both shop class and food production students contributed designs for the boxes, and shop class students constructed them.

Students and community members spent a week in the summer constructing the dome from a kit purchased from Growing Spaces in Pagosa Springs.

Inside the greenhouse, we have a pond featuring plants and experimental food crops, along with four koi fish that the students enjoy feeding. We have strawberries, lettuce, basil, dill, and some flowers growing in floating rafts. Students track the nutrient relationships with the various plants to see which performs well in the pond and at what temperatures.

We have different soil tests going for tomato plants, various peas, and lettuces. We are tracking whether the same lettuce grows faster or has a different taste when grown hydroponically versus in soil. We have also planted a few trees — lime, lemon, and cherry.

Tell us about the Farm-to-Freezer project.

We started the Farm-to-Freezer learning initiative to strengthen our Farm-to-School program. It’s funded by the Colorado Department of Education’s Harvest Innovation grant, and the purpose is to develop recipes so we can process produce in the summer and use it in breakfast items that can be frozen. That will allow the cafeteria staff to provide scratch-made food and local products year round rather than only during peak season.

Junior high and high school students are currently creating recipes that use our produce, comply with child nutrition guidelines, and will be taste-tested by students. We are currently working on carrot cake bars or muffins, as well as breakfast casseroles or burritos featuring peppers and onions.

The students have not found a food that they didn’t like yet. I challenge them to try some of my ideas, including radishes in the breakfast burritos and beets in their muffins.

Connecting students to local foods is a passion of yours. How do you get students interested?

Our program emphasizes the entire process of growing, producing, and consuming food. The produce we cultivate is selected by the students, focusing on their favorite items for the cafeteria salad bar. Classes take place in a room equipped with a hydroponic system, providing a relaxing environment filled with the soothing sound of flowing water and the presence of lush plants.

We host two major events each year. The first is Colorado Proud Meal Day, where the entire school works together to collect local foods, such as goat milk and harvested wheat. Throughout the day, we transform these ingredients into delicious meals, and the goat milk ice cream served on the playground in the afternoon is always a highlight.

The second event is our annual Campo Chopped competition. Junior high and high school students use the produce they’ve grown and the cooking techniques they’ve learned to create three dishes for the judges. Winning dishes include a chicken rice bowl with apple and turnip slaw, strawberry basil cake, and a crispy tortilla wrap with bell peppers, lettuce, carrots, and a dipping sauce.

What is something going on in the community that affects your students? How do you address it?

Our community is facing water scarcity. It’s a topic taught in food production and social studies classes. We study human-nature relationships and how they played out during the Dust Bowl, which hit our area hard. We also educate students about responsible water use for crops and livestock and the history of water rights in Colorado and the country.

Reducing food waste decreases the need for additional water to grow more food, so students learn to use parts of plants that are typically discarded. For example, after removing stems, skin, or leafy tops from vegetables, students will make vegetable stock to use for future cafeteria recipes such as chicken pot pie.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

In a win for controversial ‘public Christian school,’ Pueblo County officials greenlight original site

2026-03-13T00:34:00+00:00

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A controversial “public Christian school” in southern Colorado will eventually be allowed to occupy the property it was forced to vacate for safety reasons in January after a key decision by the Pueblo County Board of Commissioners Thursday morning.

After some tense exchanges, the board voted 2-1 to grant a special use permit that will allow Riverstone Academy to return to its original location in a light industrial area near concrete, landscaping, and machine shop businesses. The approval ran contrary to a February vote by the county planning commission recommending the permit be denied over safety concerns.

Thursday’s decision represents a victory for Riverstone, but the elementary school won’t be able to return to its original site right away. School officials will be required to make building and property improvements and then get approval from local officials. It’s not clear how long that will take.

Riverstone, which advertises itself as a public school that offers a “Christian foundation,” has generated controversy for months. School founders didn’t follow routine steps to ensure the school’s building met health and safety standards before opening to about 30 students last August. By January, local officials ordered Riverstone officials to close its building, and after initially fighting the effort, school leaders agreed.

In addition, emails obtained by Chalkbeat indicate Riverstone was created to spark a lawsuit over public funding for religious schools that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The school, which is currently receiving state funding, sued the state in February, alleging it would be religious discrimination if the state eventually decides to claw back the funding.

While school officials have refused in the last six weeks to divulge Riverstone’s temporary location, it appears to be operating out of Christ Church Pueblo West, about 13 miles away from its original location. On a recent sunny afternoon at the school’s advertised dismissal time, a string of parents emerged from the church’s front door, trailed by children carrying backpacks. Some parents stopped to chat with each other in the parking lot, while others went straight to their cars.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, when Commissioner Miles Lucero, a Democrat, asked Riverstone Executive Director Quin Friberg, where the school is currently operating, Friberg confirmed that it’s in a church but wouldn’t say which one.

“I think it’s a safety concern,” said Friberg. “There is so much public attention on this right now.”

But he also acknowledged that the location is something of an open secret, saying, “Multiple media [members] know where the building is. It’s not that private at this point.”

Lucero, who was the one commissioner to vote against the special use permit, said his interest in knowing the temporary location is related to safety. It’s unclear if Christ Church Pueblo West meets health and safety standards required for elementary schools.

Friberg told Lucero he would call him and share the school’s location.

Among the issues discussed at Thursday’s special use permit hearing were the traffic volume in front of Riverstone’s original building, whether parents have the expertise needed to determine school site safety, and why Riverstone leaders sometimes call the school public and other times private.

Some members of the planning commission raised concerns in February that a child could get run over by a cement truck or other kinds of heavy machinery that travel the road.

Chairman Zach Swearingen and Commissioner Paula McPheeters, both Republicans who both voted in favor of the permit, said traffic at the original site is relatively light and doesn’t pose a risk to children.

“I sat there myself to observe it,” said McPheeters, who recently visited the Aspen Circle location. ”And as a parent of children, watching the traffic … I couldn’t, in my own experience, see why it wouldn’t be acceptable.”

The father of a Riverstone student who spoke Thursday said he felt his child is in a safe environment. But others who spoke in opposition felt the planning commission’s denial recommendation held more weight.

One public commenter, Andrea Naglich, who is part of a local school board watchdog group called #WeAreD70, suggested that McPheeters had a conflict of interest in voting on the Riverstone permit.

“There is a documented relationship between Commissioner McPheeters and the leadership connected to Riverstone Academy and related organizations,” including Friberg, she said.

McPheeters and Friberg helped found Forging Pueblo, a group that aims to “Impact Pueblo with a biblical worldview.” McPheeters served on the group’s board until 2023. Forging Education, the Christian group that operates Riverstone Academy, is an offshoot of Forging Pueblo.

McPheeters said she has remained “completely neutral” on the topic of Riverstone.

“And yet, there are those in the community accusing me of a conflict of interest because of my affiliations, because I might go to church with someone, or have worked [on] a project [with] someone.”

She suggested that Lucero had compromised himself by recently attending a Pueblo 70 school board meeting and asking the board to end the agreement that allows Riverstone to be located within district boundaries.

Lucero said he did that because of Riverstone’s refusal to explain where the school was located following the closure of its original building.

“The reason is … because to this day, Riverstone Academy has been unwilling to tell us where these children are,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Lawyer warns of possible lawsuit over alleged open meetings violations in Pueblo 70 school district

2026-03-12T01:09:39+00:00

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Four school board candidates, one vacant seat, and a school board president who made the pick on her own.

These are the main ingredients of a legal conflict brewing in the Pueblo 70 school district, where a divided board has faced months of simmering tension over the district’s role in the opening of a “public Christian school” called Riverstone Academy.

There’s no lawsuit yet. But a lawyer representing the three school board candidates who were passed over for the vacant seat has suggested it’s possible. Board President Ann Bennett appointed Susie Carnes, who has links to the group that operates Riverstone, to the open seat in February.

In a Tuesday email, attorney Eric Maxfield told Pueblo 70’s lawyer that his clients’ next steps could include “litigation in state district court” over violations of Colorado’s open meetings law. His clients are Jonathan Lewis, Adolph Vigil, and Tara Stroesenreuther.

With district superintendent Ronda Rein preparing to retire, the legal outcome of the board seat dispute could mean a shift to a less conservative school board majority and change the direction of the 12,000-student district. In addition to hiring a new superintendent this summer, the board could decide whether to keep or replace the school district’s law firm, which is headed by attorney Brad Miller.

Miller has been at the center of controversy in recent months. He helped create Riverstone last summer at the behest of a conservative Arizona-based law firm seeking a test case on the question of public funding for religious schools, emails obtained by Chalkbeat indicate. The Pueblo 70 school board voted to allow Riverstone, which is authorized by a public education co-op, to locate within the district’s boundaries.

In an email exchange with Maxfield on Tuesday, Miller pushed back against Maxfield’s assertion that Bennett broke state law by appointing Carnes to the vacant seat.

“I am disappointed that you would feign to believe that her appointment was in error,” Miller wrote, according to a copy of the email provided by Maxfield to Chalkbeat.

The board seat came open after a former board member, Anne Ochs, resigned in December after a district parent criticized her for hiding key facts about Riverstone’s creation and failing to disclose a conflict of interest.

Four candidates applied to fill the vacancy, but the board deadlocked with repeated 2-2 ties at its Feb. 10 meeting. Then Board Vice President AJ Wilson fell ill and was helped out of the room. That left three board members and the possibility that one of the candidates could be appointed in a 2-1 vote.

But Bennett, who had sided with Wilson in the vacancy votes, never returned from the 10-minute recess she’d called or adjourned the meeting. Six days later, she announced that she’d appointed Carnes to the vacant seat.

Under Colorado law, school board presidents can appoint a new member if the board can’t agree on a candidate after 60 days.

Carnes was sworn in by Bennett on Feb. 25, in what Maxfield characterized in his letter as an “unannounced non-public ceremony.”

As of last month, Carnes was listed as an elementary teacher at a school run by Forging Education, a Christian group that also runs Riverstone. Her appointment means that three of the five Pueblo 70 school board members — a majority — have had connections to Forging Education.

In a 10-page letter sent to the Pueblo 70 school board on March 4, Maxfield alleged that Bennett circumvented Colorado’s open meetings law when she abruptly “fled” that February school board meeting and later made the vacancy appointment “unilaterally.”

He argued that Bennett’s sudden departure on Feb. 10 was meant to prevent the public from witnessing the selection of a new board member in an open public meeting that had been noticed in advance.

“Notwithstanding the tragic hardship to Vice President Wilson, after his departure the Board maintained quorum, the business was not concluded, and such business was urgent, under a statutory deadline,” Maxfield said.

Quorum refers to the minimum number of members needed for a public body to take votes on public business. For a five-member board, quorum requires three board members to be present.

Maxfield asked for 11 remedies in his letter, including that the appointment of Carnes be invalidated and that the board re-do the selection process. (Maxfield referred to Carnes as the “Director-in-Error.”) He also asked that an outside lawyer conduct a “comprehensive governance and conflict-of-interest review.”

Miller rebuffed those requests in his Tuesday email to Maxfield and said Carnes’ appointment was “properly completed.”.

“The political interplay was anything but smooth and I can agree that it always would be optimal if a majority of the remaining directors could agree on an appointee,” Miller wrote. “However, the tie breaking mechanism is clearly set forth in Colorado statute.”

Bennett did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment about the alleged violation.

It’s not clear when Maxfield’s three clients will decide whether to file a lawsuit over the alleged open meetings violations. Miller indicated in his Tuesday response to Maxfield that he will discuss the matter with the Pueblo 70 school board on March 17 and will follow up with Maxfield afterwards.

Maxfield and Miller’s firm have faced off in recent years in other cases about transparency.

In February, a Woodland Park mother who is a client of Maxfield emerged victorious after a district court judge ordered the Woodland Park school district to pay her more than $144,000 in legal costs after she successfully showed the district violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law. Miller’s firm represented the school district in that case.

Maxfield told Miller in their Tuesday email exchange that if his three clients decide to sue, they’ll “seek payment by the Board of their reasonable attorney fees and costs.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Authorizer of Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ settles with family for $20,000

2026-03-09T23:24:19+00:00

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The authorizer of Riverstone Academy, a controversial “public Christian school” in southern Colorado, has agreed to pay the parents of a student $20,000 to settle a special education complaint filed by the family last fall.

Many details of the family’s complaint and the settlement are unclear because privacy laws shield key documents and information from the public.

The highly redacted settlement agreement shows that the $20,000 payout is meant to cover “compensatory services” for the student at the center of the complaint. In general, compensatory services are makeup special education services that school systems must pay for, sometimes in response to a complaint or lawsuit.

Riverstone’s authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, will pay the family in three installments over the next 10 months, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request. ERBOCES is one of 21 publicly funded education co-ops in Colorado.

These co-ops are meant to support school districts. This one started Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school.’

The $20,000 settlement is the latest bump in the tumultuous life of Riverstone, which was launched last summer at the behest of a conservative law firm in order to spark a lawsuit on the question of public funding for religious schools, according to emails obtained by Chalkbeat.

Riverstone opened quietly in August with about 30 kindergarten through fifth grade students. By late January, Pueblo County officials forced school officials to close Riverstone’s building — a former office in an industrial area — because of ongoing health and safety violations.

The school is now operating out of a temporary location that school officials won’t reveal.

In February, Riverstone and ERBOCES sued the state, alleging religious discrimination over the possibility that the state could withhold public funding from the school following an audit underway now.

As part of the $20,000 settlement, ERBOCES will be required to provide training to Riverstone, the agreement says. Information about the type of training is redacted.

The settlement also specifies that ERBOCES denies the family’s allegations and that the parents agree not to sue ERBOCES over the claims made in the settlement.

Finally, the agreement stipulates that ERBOCES and the family can’t publicly disclose the settlement terms. In response to inquiries, “Parties agree that they will limit any verbal or written response to the following: ‘This matter has been settled by agreement, and no further comment can be made,’” the agreement states.

The agreement was signed on ERBOCES’ behalf by Suzanne Romero, who is listed on the group’s website as director of special education and full-time programs. The signing date was redacted.

Minutes from the Jan. 15 meeting of the five-member Riverstone Academy board shed some light on the decision to settle the family’s complaint.

Under a heading titled “Mediation Update,” the partially redacted minutes indicate that without a settlement, there could be “continued litigation.” It also said Riverstone’s lawyer recommended settling based on “Public relations impact” and “Cost, risk and likelihood of success.”

In response to a public records request from Chalkbeat, Colorado Department of Education officials said they could not provide any complaint or the results of any investigation because special education complaints and findings are confidential under state law.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

These co-ops are meant to support school districts. This one started Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school.’

2026-02-28T00:21:07+00:00

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Six decades ago, Colorado lawmakers made it easier for school districts to band together and offer services that they couldn’t afford to provide on their own.

The creation of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, allowed districts to pool resources for things like special education services, career and technical education, early intervention services, gifted and talented programming, and teacher training.

Last fall, one of these co-ops proved to be a useful vehicle for a different aim — opening a school intended to test the legality of spending public money on religious education.

Education reEnvisioned, or ERBOCES, launched Riverstone Academy in Pueblo County with 30 elementary students in August. Billed as Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” it is the most prominent example of how its authorizer is using its BOCES status to further school choice.

The school — and ERBOCES’ recent role steering state dollars to home-schooling — is raising questions about whether these co-ops created in a different era for different purposes have too much latitude and too few guardrails.

The Colorado Department of Education’s enforcement powers are limited to certain areas, such as special education, a department spokesperson said. Most oversight falls to BOCES’ boards of directors, which can vary in how much or little they hold school operators accountable.

“Nobody in the state actually regulates how BOCES operate or what they can do,” said Ken Haptonstall, co-executive director of the Colorado BOCES Association, a membership group for BOCES.

“There’s no statutory way for the department to be able to say, ‘Oh, you’re being bad as a BOCES or you need to do this as a BOCES,’” he said.

Some lawmakers and education officials contacted by Chalkbeat said Riverstone’s creation shows school-authorizing safeguards failed — and creates a dangerous precedent.

George Welsh, executive director of the San Luis Valley BOCES, doesn’t agree with public funding for religious schools and said Riverstone’s launch by a BOCES creates a slippery slope.

“Obviously, if one can do it, why couldn’t all?” he said.

Riverstone is currently receiving state funding. But if a state audit underway now finds the school is ineligible because of Colorado’s ban on religious public school, the state could claw back the money. Riverstone and ERBOCES cited that possibility in a lawsuit filed against the state this month for religious discrimination.

BOCES exist to pool district resources

A 1965 Colorado law allowed the creation of BOCES. A year later, 14 school districts in the San Luis Valley banded together to form the state’s first one. Most states have a version of the public education co-ops, though names and formats vary.

In Colorado, BOCES are typically made up of a group of school districts from a single region. About half include a college or university. The cooperatives are governed by a board of at least five people, usually school board members from districts that belong to the BOCES. In some cases, school district superintendents can serve on the BOCES board.

Five Colorado BOCES authorize schools. ERBOCES, unlike the other four, doesn’t hire school staff or oversee day-to-day operations at its schools. Instead, it contracts with outside groups to operate them.

Some BOCES focus on offering a single service or program. One in Adams County provides insurance services to its three member districts. The only job of the Denver-based Expeditionary BOCES is to run a single school, the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning.

“The purpose of the BOCES is it’s a collaborative,” said Welsh, who heads the 14-member San Luis Valley BOCES.

He offered an example: “We have six and a half school psychologists in our stable … and so they serve all the school districts in the San Luis Valley in terms of the identification process for special education students.”

Welsh said his BOCES also runs a program for several young adults in the valley who have significant emotional disabilities. This semester, his team launched a pilot internship program that matches high schoolers in member districts with local businesses so they can get on-the-job experience.

Like many BOCES serving small, rural districts, Welsh’s BOCES is considered a “special education administrative unit.” It’s a label that can apply to a school district or a BOCES and means that the entity must ensure special education laws are followed for students with disabilities.

Royce Tranum, the executive director of San Juan Boces, which has eight member school districts in southwestern Colorado, said one of the “curious” things about BOCES is that there are strict state rules governing some areas but not others. For example, the state carefully monitors BOCES for the job they do as special education administrative units.

“They oversee parts of what we do, but not the organization as a whole,” she said.

Education reEnvisioned is different from other BOCES

ERBOCES was founded in 2013 as Colorado Digital BOCES.

Brad Miller, an attorney who helped start the co-op, said by email that its founders “recognized that school districts are reticent to offer student-focused special schools and programs … and that a BOCES was statutorily intended for such innovations and opportunities.”

State law says the cooperatives were enacted for the “expansion of education services of the public schools” in Colorado and, where possible, to enable “two or more school districts to cooperate in furnishing services.”

But mostly, ERBOCES isn’t helping member districts achieve economies of scale.

Education reEnvisioned has three member school districts with no shared boundaries, including District 49 in El Paso County and the Montezuma-Cortez district, which is almost 400 miles away in southwest Colorado. Pikes Peak State College is a member, and the Elizabeth school district in Elbert County joined Feb 10.

Ken Witt, the head of ERBOCES, has long been a familiar face in Colorado’s conservative education circles. As school board president in Jeffco more than a decade ago, he was part of a three-member conservative board majority that was recalled. Later, during his tenure as superintendent in Woodland Park, there was a staff exodus and accusations of transparency lapses.

Since Witt took the reins of ERBOCES in 2017, the cooperative has grown from two schools to 10, and enrollment in those schools has grown from 2,200 to 13,500 students, a 600% increase. Many of those students come from outside ERBOCES’ member districts.

Ken Witt has been the executive director of Education ReEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services since 2017.

Of Colorado’s 186 school districts and co-ops, ERBOCES is the 22nd largest, serving more students than some Denver metro school districts.

In 2022, ERBOCES began authorizing state-funded home-school enrichment programs, something no other BOCES does. Such programs typically offer one day of classes or activities each week, and the state pays half the normal per-pupil rate. Today, the cooperative authorizes more than 50 such programs, with more than 8,000 students.

Witt said in a presentation last fall that 30-40 more home-school enrichment programs are in the works.

Witt sent ERBOCES’ mission and vision statements to Chalkbeat and answered a couple questions by email, but he didn’t respond to follow-up questions or agree to an interview for this story.

Some district officials have objected to ERBOCES placing schools or programs outside member districts.

The Colorado Springs School District 11 sued ERBOCES over the issue in 2020 after ERBOCES placed a new school in the district without permission. The district argued that allowing the cooperative to open schools in non-member districts without permission violated the principle of local control. In 2024, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in District 11’s favor, saying state law doesn’t say or suggest that BOCES were meant to open schools in any district they wished.

Haptonstall, of the Colorado BOCES association, said he gets calls from people asking about ERBOCES: “Why are they opening this up in my region?”

“We always encourage them to call the Department of Education and just clarify whether or not that’s legal,” he said.

Cayce Hamerschlag, a mother from the 2,200-student Montezuma-Cortez district, said BOCES were created to provide benefits to member districts, but she doesn’t see that occurring with ERBOCES. Instead, she said it’s acting primarily as a school authorizer, drawing away students from school districts around the state.

ERBOCES’ six online schools enroll about 80 students from Montezuma-Cortez and several hundred from nearby districts, according to data shared at a recent school board meeting. Hamerschlag said when districts lose students, it creates a downward spiral. Declining enrollment leads to fewer offerings for students, the loss of good teachers, decreasing interest in neighborhood schools, and eventually a hit to the local economy, she said.

“I’m disgusted because I’m seeing the dismantling of public education here in Cortez,” said Hamerschlag, who works for San Juan BOCES in southwest Colorado but didn’t speak to Chalkbeat on behalf of the group. “I hear of it happening across the state, and my heart breaks for the students and communities that it’s affecting.”

Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, said by email that if Riverstone is found eligible for public funding it could set a precedent, encouraging every religious school “to seek ‘public school’ status so they can receive public dollars.”

But one lawmaker believes Colorado’s current system “too often protects institutions over students and families.”

Sen. Scott Bright, a Republican from Weld County, said by email, “BOCES and the Department of Education should not be locked in a tug-of-war; instead, the legislature ought to reinstill clear guidance so that local partners are not forced to ‘push the edge’ of the law just to expand options for families,” he said.

How Education reEnvisioned created Riverstone

Miller, the lawyer for ERBOCES, said that BOCES “operate schools or programs at the direction of their members.”

But there’s no evidence that District 49 or Montezuma-Cortez officials requested or directed the launch of Riverstone. The school is nowhere near either district.

An email written by Miller indicates that Riverstone arose because Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm based in Arizona, sought a test case on religious public schools after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked in a similar case out of Oklahoma last spring.

“ADF asked me if I could find a way for a parallel case to be initiated out of Colorado,” Miller wrote in the June 4 email labeled “privileged and confidential.”

Riverstone opened two months later. Key start-up documents didn’t mention Riverstone’s religious affiliation or that it was intended to spark a lawsuit. There were no public deliberations about the idea of creating a religious public school.

The school board in the Pueblo 70 district, where Riverstone is located, did give permission for the school to locate there as required by the 2024 court decision, but the school’s real purpose went unmentioned at both meetings where it was on the agenda.

It’s not clear whether the ERBOCES board, which unanimously approves the vast majority of motions before it, discussed the school’s true purpose either. The cooperative doesn’t livestream its board meetings, and an ERBOCES employee told Chalkbeat the audio recording of the August 12 meeting where Riverstone’s contract was approved no longer exists.

Last summer, as Riverstone was taking shape, four of ERBOCES’ five board members may not have been eligible to serve on the board, based on Chalkbeat’s review of the state law on BOCES board makeup.

Jeremy Dys, a lawyer for the cooperative from the First Liberty Institute, said by email that ERBOCES Board President Lis Richard is an appointee of Montezuma-Cortez and John Graham, who recently left the board, was an appointee of District 49. Dys didn’t explain how this aligns with state law since neither had been a school board member or administrator in their respective districts for one to three years.

Dys described two other board members — Bethany Drosendahl and James Salazar — as “at large” members, which is allowed under state law provided they live in member districts. Asked why the two members live in non-member districts, Dys didn’t respond.

Salazar participated in the June vote on Riverstone but abstained from the August vote, possibly because of a conflict of interest. He was appointed president of the Riverstone Academy board in July.

None of the five ERBOCES board members when Riverstone was approved responded to Chalkbeat’s request for comment. (District 49 recently appointed a school board member to the ERBOCES board.)

Riverstone is run by a Pueblo nonprofit called Forging Education that runs Christian private schools and home-school programs.

Witt told Chalkbeat last fall that Riverstone is a public school because it was authorized by ERBOCES, and in January, the school received a $55,000 installment of state funding. But Forging Education officials have classified the school as private on their lease, insurance policy, and other documents. The school also acts like a private school by limiting public transparency.

Quin Friberg, the local pastor who heads Forging Education and Riverstone Academy, recently told an attorney working on behalf of Chalkbeat that Forging Education is not a public entity and therefore not subject to a state law that allows news organizations and others access to public records.

In early October, when Witt publicly announced Riverstone was the state’s “first public Christian school,” Pueblo County officials were surprised. They’d known that Friberg was interested in starting a school, but not that he’d opened it to students without ensuring the building was up to code. They quickly issued more than a dozen health and safety violations.

In late January, Riverstone leaders agreed to close the school building after orders from county officials. School leaders have since refused to disclose the school’s temporary location, and ERBOCES officials say they have no records showing the school’s current address.

Correction: April 15, 2026: Due to incorrect information provided by the Montezuma-Cortez school district, a previous version of this story contained incorrect information about the benefits the district received from belonging to Education ReEnvisioned BOCES.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Fallout from controversial ‘public Christian school’ in southern Colorado leads to school board clash

2026-02-25T18:44:33+00:00

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A five-minute school board meeting. A quick exit by a school board president. A school superintendent who said she was disgusted and embarrassed.

That was Tuesday’s Pueblo 70 school board meeting in a nutshell. The contentious meeting reflects the ongoing fallout from the controversial launch of Riverstone Academy, which its authorizer has called Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”

The dispute that cut short Tuesday’s meeting surrounds the appointment of a fifth board member who could either align with two conservative-leaning board members or with two board members who’ve criticized how Riverstone came about. The factions also have opposite takes on the district’s attorney, Brad Miller, who helped launch Riverstone at the behest of a conservative law firm in order to spark a religious liberty lawsuit.

Riverstone is a tiny school in Pueblo County, but it has generated outsized ripple effects since it opened last summer, including the lawsuit that Miller envisioned, concern from state lawmakers and education officials, and ongoing tension in the Pueblo 70 district.

New site of ‘public Christian school’ a mystery as old location draws scrutiny

The board vacancy came about after a school board member with ties to Riverstone’s authorizer resigned in December. Problems filling the seat emerged at a Feb. 10 meeting, when the four sitting board members conducted numerous rounds of voting on candidates for the open seat and deadlocked every time. Then Board Vice President AJ Wilson became ill, prompting Board President Ann Bennett to call a 10-minute recess. Multiple people rushed to assist Wilson out of the room.

But Bennett, who along with Wilson is part of the board’s conservative wing, never returned to the meeting room, where she likely would have been on the losing side of a 2-1 split. Several days later, she appointed her favored candidate, Susie Carnes, using a power the board president is allowed to wield if the board can’t agree on a candidate.

Fast forward two weeks to Tuesday at 6 p.m., Wilson was absent, as was Carnes, who’s an elementary teacher for the Christian organization that operates Riverstone. She was set to be sworn in that night. Again, that left Bennett facing off against two board members who disagreed with her unannounced departure from the previous meeting and her choice of Carnes to fill the vacancy.

The board clashed immediately as member Michelle Erickson sought to make a statement, and Bennett cut her off.

“No, a statement is not part of the agenda, so we’re not doing that right now,” Bennett said.

Board member Mark Emery, who generally aligns with Erickson, responded, “The agenda isn’t proper. The last meeting was never adjourned.”

Seconds later as Erickson tried to read her statement, Miller, the district’s lawyer, interjected.

“This is improper,” he said. “We either get into this meeting or we don’t, and if we don’t, then we’re done.”

Bennett made a motion to approve the agenda, but nobody seconded her motion, a requirement to vote on it.

“You can gavel the meeting, we’re done,” Miller said to Bennett.

“Meeting adjourned,” she said quickly.

Erickson pushed back against the adjournment, saying, “We need to have conversation here.” Some members of the audience began to shout at Bennett and Miller as they gathered their things to leave.

A woman near the front told Bennett, “Listen or get out.”

“You get out,” said Bennett, “Security, will you please remove this woman?”

“Is she allowed to remove people from a meeting that’s no longer happening?” someone asked.

Someone else said of Bennett, “She’s leaving the meeting again, just like last time.”

After Bennett and Miller left, Erickson read her statement to the crowd still in the room, saying the “abandonment” of the Feb. 10 meeting and the appointment of Carnes by Bennett compromises transparency.

Superintendent Ronda Rein, who was clearly frustrated, also spoke.

“There are some items on this agenda that absolutely have to move forward whether we have board approval or not, like February’s payroll,” she said. “We are going to move forward with business and running our district, with or without a full board.”

She concluded, saying, “It’s frankly disgusting to me that this is where we’re at. It’s embarrassing to me.”

The district’s administrators and staff will continue to serve kids, she said, “the way we always have and always will, whether we have the vote or we don’t.”

The audience gave her a standing ovation.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Where’s Riverstone? New site of ‘public Christian school’ unclear as old location draws scrutiny

2026-02-20T02:02:26+00:00

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Leaders of Riverstone Academy, which backers have called Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” won’t reveal where the school has been located since its original building was closed in late January over health and safety concerns.

Jeremy Dys, a lawyer for the school’s authorizer, said by email on Wednesday that the Pueblo County elementary school is operating at an “alternate location in the area for a few weeks until it is expected it will move back to its previous location.”

But a decision Wednesday night by the county planning commission dealt a blow to that plan. In a 5-4 vote, the commissioners rejected a recommendation for a special use permit that would allow certain kinds of schools on the property where Riverstone had been located.

The planning commission vote isn’t the final word on whether the controversial school can return to its original building in an industrial area, but it’s the latest stumbling block for founders who quietly opened Riverstone last summer without ensuring it met zoning, building, fire, and health codes.

The school, which is currently receiving state funding, describes itself on its website as a public elementary school offering a “Christian foundation.” Even though the school is tiny — serving about 30 kindergarten through fifth grade students — its existence is notable because if backers get their way, it could upend years of legal precedent barring public schools from providing religious education.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ sues state over ban on religious public schools

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat indicate Riverstone was created at the behest of a conservative law firm in order to spark a religious liberty lawsuit that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Public religious schools have never existed in Colorado because the state constitution prohibits them.

Riverstone and its authorizer — Education ReEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services, or ERBOCES — filed a lawsuit challenging the ban on Feb. 13.

Some planning commissioners expressed alarm at Wednesday’s meeting that Riverstone wants to locate in an industrial area where heavy trucks and machinery regularly travel.

Commission member Karim Ayoub said his worst fear is “a kid choosing to walk to school and then ending up underneath a cement truck.”

“I think that’s the exact wrong area for a school,” said Brad Lisac, the chair of the planning commission.

Not everyone agreed.

“The people who will be attending this school would be doing it by choice,” said Commission member John Wark. ”Parents can make decisions about the safety just as well and better than we can.”

The discussion also highlighted confusion about what kind of school Riverstone is. Some commissioners said a letter provided by the school suggested that it’s a vocational school that serves high school students learning skills like welding. They were surprised to learn it serves kids as young as kindergarten.

Planning Commissioner Robert Reinert described the news as “an enlightenment” and said of the original school site,“That is not an area for that age group.”

Riverstone is an elementary school that teaches reading, math, science, and social studies. The school also advertises trades-based electives. That includes building with Legos, making wooden Pinewood Derby cars, and go-karts, Quin Friberg, Riverstone’s executive director, told Chalkbeat last fall.

Friberg did not attend Wednesday’s meeting. The school was represented by Chris Pasternak, a real estate agent who is a Riverstone Academy board member, and architect Dave Weihrich.

While the planning commission rejected Riverstone’s bid for a special use permit on Wednesday, the three-member Pueblo Board of County Commissioners could make a different decision in March. School leaders are also appealing the cease and desist order from Pueblo County officials that led to the school building’s closure in January.

The closure came after months of concern by county officials over a host of code violations at the site. Multiple documents and interviews with county officials show that Riverstone’s leaders didn’t follow routine procedures for seeking permits, inspections, and approvals from local officials before opening the school.

Reinert asked Pasternak at Wednesday’s meeting, “What are you going to do to convince us that you aren’t going to keep breaking the rules? You’ve done it consistently to this point.”

After a pause, Pasternak responded that the school had moved out of its original building.

“They’re aware of this process and everything that’s required of it,” he said.

In response to an open records request from Chalkbeat asking for any document showing the name or address of the school’s current location, Riverstone officials sent a screenshot of a short text that was sent to Riverstone parents after the school building closed that linked to an online form with more information

When asked for access to the form, school officials told Chalkbeat, “The form link is no longer active.” They said by email they have no records with the name or address of the school’s temporary location.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Education said Riverstone has not updated its address with the state. Pueblo County officials said they hadn’t been alerted about Riverstone’s new location. It’s unclear if that location meets health and safety rules for schools.

Dys, who’s involved in Riverstone’s lawsuit against the state, questioned why the location where “30 vulnerable children” are attending school needs to be revealed.

Riverstone’s original location on Aspen Circle was posted on the school’s website and social media, the ERBOCES website, and was on file with the state.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Jeremy Dys is a lawyer for Riverstone Academy. He is a lawyer for the group that authorizes Riverstone. The story has also been updated to reflect that Chris Pasternak is a member of Riverstone Academy’s board.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s how Colorado’s ‘Oscars of teaching’ award winner helps sixth graders tackle math

2026-02-18T18:53:34+00:00

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On a Thursday in January, Shana Engel and the rest of the teachers at Mountain Vista Community School in Colorado Springs gathered with their students for a special assembly. No one knew what it was for.

Engel, a sixth grade math teacher, figured one of her colleagues was being recognized.

But suddenly the cameras were trained on her, with students screaming and clapping as she picked her way through the packed bleachers to the gym floor, where Colorado’s education chief was waiting to give her a hug.

Shana Engel teaches math at Mountain Vista Community School.

Engel had won the Milken Educator Award, often referred to as the “Oscars of teaching.” The award is for early or mid-career teachers and comes with an unrestricted $25,000 prize.

“I was beyond surprised when my name was called,” she said.

Engel, who is one of 30 Milken award recipients nationwide this year, talked to Chalkbeat about how her fourth grade teacher calmed her “new student” nerves, what she learned from her mother’s struggle to learn English, and how she helps struggling students solve math problems.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was a student at Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs. We had an elementary education elective class at school, which allowed us to visit the surrounding elementary schools and volunteer. I loved being in the school environment as someone the students looked up to and sought help from.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

When I was in fourth grade, we moved schools. I was nervous about moving to a new school and have always been a shy person. Somehow, my new fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Russel, sensed that. She brought me outside and introduced me to a group of students who would become some of my best friends at that school for the next couple of years.

I always remember the warmth I felt when I first spoke with her, and the satisfaction I felt when she introduced me to some new friends. It reminds me that all students are different and experience things that aren’t always pleasant, and that teachers have the power to help students adjust.

What other experiences shaped you as an educator?

My mother was born in Korea and moved to the United States after marrying my father, who was in the army. She spoke Korean at home. Throughout my life, I witnessed people’s reactions to my mom when they thought she could not understand them. It embarrassed her and made her feel ashamed that she did not read English and could not communicate very well.

She has gotten better at English over the years, but I always think of how hard it must have been for her.

This has helped me relate to students who aren’t English-speaking and those who have a challenging time understanding an educational world where terminology is so complicated.

Tell us about a favorite math lesson to teach.

My favorite math lessons are those on expressions or equations and those involving geometry. For example, students in sixth grade need to understand equivalent expressions, so knowing that 6(x + 5) is equivalent to 6x+30.

When my students struggle, I find the challenge of helping them understand enjoyable. By working in small groups, having students display their learning on white boards, and encouraging productive conversations with math vocabulary, students start to get better at concepts they once feared.

How do you help students who feel they are “bad” at math?

When students feel they are bad at math, I help them by asking questions. For example, if students need to calculate the surface area of a solid figure, I would ask them, “What is the first thing you need to do?” Many times, they think out loud and figure out where they are stuck.

For students who are very stuck, I ask them, “What shapes do you see?” “What do you know about the area of a triangle?” “If you are trying to find the total area of this figure, what would you need to do?”

Effective questioning helps students find the answer with minor prompting. When they realize they did the work, you can see their pride.

You also encourage “essential conversations” among students. Tell us how it works.

I have learned that students can help one another better than I can when given the opportunity to discuss things together. I provide sentence stems and give students specific topics to discuss. For example, I might say, “The partner with a higher number on their desk, tell your partner what shapes you see and how many of them there are. Lower number partner, agree or disagree, tell your partner why, and then identify the base and height of each shape.” I will then go to the group I notice is struggling or not talking, and ask questions.

Struggling students are paired with proficient students and students who are almost proficient are grouped with advanced students. So, there is always a partner who is stronger in math. However, students are required to speak back and forth through structured conversations so that the stronger math student isn’t just rambling to their partner.

The greatest secret for peer collaboration is building comfort with being incorrect. I often tell students, “Wrong answers are still great answers, because through fixing our mistakes, we develop a greater understanding.”

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

Last year, I showed a parent how much growth her daughter achieved from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year.

She just smiled and said, “I hope you know how much she likes your class … She never used to like math. Her sister has always been better, but this year they help each other. It’s because of you.”

What is something going on in the community that affects the students you teach? How do you address it?

The district I work in has many single-parent households and many families are economically disadvantaged. Our school has many programs to support those who need food or clothing, and we have many bilingual employees to assist families who do not speak English.

I work hard to help students build their confidence and realize they can do hard things. I have provided after-school tutoring and led clubs, such as robotics and STEM, to build interest in different fields.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I work with an enjoyable group of teachers, and we have a book club this year. We are on our third book, “Happy Place” by Emily Henry. The other book that I read for enjoyment every night is the Bible, which reminds me regularly to love and cherish others, and more importantly, to lend a helping hand.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ sues state over ban on religious public schools

2026-02-18T00:26:50+00:00

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A southern Colorado elementary school that backers have called “Colorado’s first public Christian school” has sued state officials over the state’s ban on religious public schools, alleging religious discrimination.

Riverstone Academy, along with its authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, filed a lawsuit last week in federal district court against 10 state education leaders.

Although Riverstone is currently receiving state education funding, the money could eventually be clawed back by the state, which would be “the end of the school as it currently exists” and create financial and accounting difficulties for ERBOCES, the lawsuit says.

Riverstone, which advertises itself as offering a “Christian foundation,” opened quietly in Pueblo County last August with about 30 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Emails obtained by Chalkbeat indicate the school was created at the behest of a conservative law firm in order to spark a religious liberty lawsuit that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit filed Feb. 13 appears to be the start of that legal effort.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ closes building to address officials’ safety concerns

According to the lawsuit, Riverstone and ERBOCES want a court order to prevent Colorado officials from clawing back the school’s funding and a declaration that certain provisions in the Colorado Constitution violate the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit comes even as Riverstone’s location remains a mystery. School officials closed the school’s building — a former office in an industrial area — in late January after orders from local officials who cited numerous health and safety violations. Riverstone officials have provided a screenshot of a text to Chalkbeat indicating Riverstone has a temporary location, but they have so far refused to say where it is.

The defendants in the Riverstone case include Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova and the nine members of the Colorado State Board of Education.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Education said by email Tuesday, “While we are working closely with our legal counsel, we are not able to discuss pending litigation.”

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

Riverstone Academy and ERBOCES are represented by four law firms but not Alliance Defending Freedom, the firm that sought a “test case,” according to the emails obtained by Chalkbeat. The firms include First & Fourteenth, First Liberty Institute, Dechert, and Miller Farmer Carlson Law, which is headed by Brad Miller.

Miller is an education attorney who represents several conservative-leaning Colorado districts and who wrote the email indicating that Riverstone’s creation was for the purpose of instigating a court case.

The state letter at the center of the lawsuit

After Riverstone hit the headlines in October, the Colorado Department of Education sent a letter to Ken Witt, the head of ERBOCES, suggesting that Riverstone may not be eligible for public funding.

The letter said public schools are generally required to be nonsectarian, which means secular, and cited the Colorado and U.S. Constitutions.

“ERBOCES is a public entity bound by the federal and state constitutions,” the letter said. “Thus, any school that ERBOCES operates must be nonsectarian in nature.”

Despite what the letter said, the department is funding Riverstone for now. Department officials have said they won’t make a final decision on whether to claw back money until an audit of ERBOCES is complete, probably in early 2027. ERBOCES is one of 68 school districts and BOCES undergoing audits this year, according to a list released by the Education Department in January.

The lawsuit repeatedly cites the October letter from the Education Department as well as the audit as evidence that Riverstone and ERBOCES are being unfairly treated.

It acknowledges that the letter “correctly summarized Colorado law,” but says the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s free exercise provision in the First Amendment by prohibiting ERBOCES from contracting with religious schools. Specifically, it cites a provision in the state constitution that bars public money for religious purposes.

Often called a “Blaine Amendment,” such provisions exist in many state constitutions and are named for the 19th century congressman who promoted the concept.

The provision in Colorado’s constitution was “adopted out of overt hostility to particular religious denominations,” the lawsuit states. “State laws that demonstrate hostility to religion violate the Free Exercise Clause.”

The lawsuit also cites the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection and the First Amendment’s guarantee against government preference for a particular religion, known as the establishment clause.

Is this Christian school public or private? The answer has financial and legal implications.

ERBOCES authorized Riverstone last summer. A nonprofit called Forging Education runs the school. Quin Friberg, a local pastor who leads both Riverstone and Forging Education, has described Riverstone as a public school on the school’s website but as a private school on its insurance policy and other documents.

In response to repeated public records requests by Chalkbeat for documents related to Riverstone, he recently told an attorney working on behalf of Chalkbeat that Forging Education is not a public entity and therefore not subject to the Colorado Open Records Act.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ closes building to address officials’ safety concerns

2026-02-02T23:53:36+00:00

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Leaders of Riverstone Academy, which backers have called “Colorado’s first public Christian school,” agreed on Friday to close the school’s building in Pueblo County “effective immediately.”

The decision, which affects about 30 kindergarten through fifth grade students, came after county officials threatened to shut off the building’s utilities in a Friday letter to school officials. They cited ongoing health and safety concerns, including that the building lacks the proper fire safety systems.

Quin Friberg, a local pastor and Riverstone’s executive director, responded the same day, saying the building would close to students while school officials work to meet county requirements.

It’s unclear if the closure of Riverstone’s building marks the school’s demise or if its leaders will operate the school elsewhere until the problems are fixed. Regardless, the abrupt change represents a setback for the school, which has sparked controversy since an official involved in Riverstone’s creation announced its Christian affiliation at a public meeting in October.

Colorado school district may drop attorney who helped create state’s ‘first public Christian school’

The school’s founders opened Riverstone quickly and quietly last summer in leased space in an industrial area near concrete and marijuana businesses. They didn’t reveal the school’s religious affiliation in key start-up documents and emails obtained by Chalkbeat indicate Riverstone was created to produce a test case in the courts over whether public money can be spent on religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on a similar case out of Oklahoma last spring.

Riverstone is currently receiving public funding, but state officials have said the money could be clawed back if they determine the school is ineligible through an audit. The Colorado Department of Education confirmed on Friday that the school’s authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ER BOCES, as well as School District 49, which is the BOCES’ fiscal agent, will be audited this year.

In a letter to county building officials late Friday afternoon, Friberg confirmed that Riverstone would comply with the county’s order to close its building at 1950 Aspen Circle.

He wrote, “Effective immediately, Riverstone Academy will not operate the building for use as a school while the administrative process continues. Students will not be present in the building for instructional purposes during this interim period.”

Friberg also said that Forging Education, the nonprofit that operates Riverstone and that he also heads, planned to appeal the county’s closure order. Lawyers for Forging Education submitted the appeal to county officials Saturday.

On Monday, Friberg did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment about whether Riverstone students are getting instruction since the building’s closure.

The person who answered the phone at Riverstone on Monday said she doesn’t answer questions from non-parents and hung up. Jenna Wolfe, whose LLC owns the Pueblo County property where Riverstone is located, couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.

Lawyers for Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ resist county order to close building

The closure of Riverstone’s building comes after months of concern by county officials over building, zoning, health, and fire code violations, and more than three weeks after an attorney for Pueblo County first ordered the school to close its building.

Despite that order, school officials didn’t close the building to students in January. Through a lawyer, they pushed back, arguing they’d made a good faith effort to comply with county requirements and that closing the building would be disruptive to students and families.

Multiple documents and interviews with county officials show that Riverstone’s leaders didn’t follow routine procedures for seeking permits, inspections, and approvals from local officials. After the school’s existence came to light in October, the fire marshal ordered fire safety checks at the building every half hour.

The monthslong back-and-forth between Riverstone and county officials over health and safety violations at the school led to a hearing before Colorado District Court Judge Amiel Markenson on Jan. 28.

The hearing in Pueblo County was not livestreamed, but Anthony Mestas, a county spokesperson, said by email afterwards, “The Court did not order them to cease occupancy of the building but did not bar any enforcement action by the County including utility disconnection.”

Two days later, on Jan. 30, the county sent a “Notice of imminent enforcement action” to Riverstone officials. In it, officials warned that they would disconnect utilities at 8 a.m. Monday to “abate unsafe and unlawful occupancy.”

The notice cited a variety of violations, including that the building is not approved for occupancy by a school and that the building does not have the proper fire safety systems, such as alarms, lighting, and building features that would slow a fire’s spread.

“Occupying a building not approved or inspected for Education use places children at heightened and immediate risk in the event of fire, emergency, or evacuation,” the notice said.

Mestas said the county didn’t order utility disconnection at Riverstone’s building on Monday morning because school officials agreed on Friday to close the building to students.

Friberg’s Friday letter to county officials said access to the building would only be allowed for non-student uses, such as administrative, maintenance, and construction activities.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school district may drop attorney who helped create state’s ‘first public Christian school’

2026-01-27T01:18:55+00:00

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A southern Colorado school district could soon drop the law firm whose controversial lead lawyer helped launch what backers have called the state’s “first public Christian school.”

The Pueblo 70 school board will vote Tuesday on whether to issue a request for proposals for attorney services — a first step that could lead the district to replace attorney Brad Miller and his Colorado Springs-based firm, Miller Farmer Carlson Law.

At a board meeting earlier this month, two of four Pueblo 70 school board members raised concerns about Miller’s involvement in the district’s legal affairs. Board member Mark Emery suggested that Miller has an agenda shaped by religious and political leanings that’s created turmoil for the district.

“Let’s start with a clean slate, free of perception of impropriety and the shadow of conflict of interest,” said Emery, who broached the idea of shopping for new law firms on Jan. 13.

Board member Michelle Erickson, who like Emery was elected in November, agreed with his proposal, suggesting a switch to a well-qualified local firm could save the district money.

Two board members, President Ann Bennett and Vice President A.J. Wilson, pushed back.

Bennett, who was also elected in November, said, “In my limited interaction with him, he’s been very knowledgeable, very thorough, very careful to not offer opinions to just offer options and I’ve appreciated that.”

Wilson, who was elected in 2021, said Miller had done a good job for the district, citing a time when Miller’s recommendation about a bond issue helped save a significant amount of money.

Miller said by email Monday that he didn’t attend the Jan. 13 board meeting and was “not aware of any comments by board members regarding our role as legal counsel.”

The Pueblo 70 school board normally has five members, but one member, Anne Ochs, resigned abruptly in December after a district parent confronted her about misleading statements Ochs made related to the creation of the public Christian school, Riverstone Academy.

A fifth board member will be appointed in February, after the vote on whether to seek proposals from law firms but before any decision on whether to replace Miller’s firm.

Miller pushed to start Riverstone Academy, emails show

Miller and his firm have long represented a number of conservative-leaning Colorado school districts and charter schools, including several currently involved in high-profile legal fights over library book bans and rules for transgender athletes.

Last summer, Miller sought to launch Riverstone Academy in order to spark a lawsuit on the question of public funding for religious schools, according to emails obtained by Chalkbeat. Colorado’s constitution bars public religious schools.

In a June 4 email, Miller told the Pueblo 70 school board that a conservative law firm called Alliance Defending Freedom had approached him after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on a similar case out of Oklahoma.

“ADF asked me if I could find a way for a parallel case to be initiated out of Colorado,” he said.

Miller went on to explain that Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ER BOCES, which he also represents, would create the school. The Pueblo 70 school board would then grant the BOCES “the right to operate such a school within the district’s boundaries for purposes of creating this test case,” he said in the email.

Riverstone was started quietly with key start-up documents omitting any reference to religion.

While the school is currently receiving public funding, state officials have said that the money could be clawed back if they determine the school is ineligible after an audit.

Ochs, who was board president when Miller sent the June 4 email, responded within minutes. Soon a vote on locating Riverstone in District 70 was added to the board’s agenda.

In late June, when Ochs voted to approve Riverstone’s location in Pueblo County, she didn’t mention she’d recently accepted a job with the BOCES. Hannah McDowell, the district parent who confronted Ochs in December, suggested that Miller also had a conflict of interest stemming from his work for both Education reEnvisioned BOCES and the Pueblo 70 district.

“I think that Mr. Miller representing and being paid by everyone involved while working to advocate for a third party is a problem,” she said.

“I ask the new board to look closely into Mr. Miller,” she said. “Seriously, just Google him.”

In a video of Miller posted in November by the Teacher Freedom Summit, an event put on by the anti-union group Teacher Freedom Alliance, he described himself as a “board whisperer.”

He said he tries “to help boards to facilitate in this nasty public sphere that they have to work in. Because they have to do everything transparently. They can’t really connive and be secretive and plan things.”

Board members disagree on Miller’s reputation

At the Jan. 13 meeting, Emery and Bennett offered contrasting views about how MIller is perceived by community members

Emery, who advocated for using a local attorney, described Miller as bringing “baggage” and creating distraction in the district.

“He is well-known throughout the state as causing issues in so many school districts,” Emery said.

“We must be talking to different people, Mark, because the feedback I’ve gotten regarding Mr. Miller has all been, not all, but mostly been very positive,” said Bennett. “What I’m hearing is that he commands a high level of respect.”

By the end, both had agreed that putting out a request for proposals made sense.

“It doesn’t hurt anything to do an RFP,” said Emery, “If Mr. Miller is the best candidate, well, then he remains.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents sue private equity-backed child care chain after teacher’s abuse conviction

2026-01-22T18:53:14+00:00

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The parents of five Colorado children have sued a chain of child care centers, alleging that its owners and several staff members failed to protect their children from a teacher who they say hit, shoved, and kicked the 2-year-olds, threw water on them to wake them up, used racial slurs, and yelled in their faces.

The families filed the lawsuit in Colorado district court Jan. 13 against The Nest Schools, a national chain that has seven Colorado locations, including one in Centennial where the teacher, Brandon Vigil, worked. Vigil was sentenced earlier this month after pleading guilty to misdemeanor child abuse charges.

Besides alleging a series of individual failures that led a former cook with no teaching experience to become a lead teacher who abused toddlers, the suit claims a structural cause: The Nest’s backing by a private-equity investment firm, Rockbridge Growth Equity. Such investors prioritize growth and profit, the suit alleges, which can lead to high staff turnover and a push to increase enrollment at the expense of child safety.

About 15% of child care seats for young children in Colorado are housed in centers with private-equity backing or ownership, according to a 2025 Chalkbeat analysis. Besides The Nest Schools, they include chains like KinderCare, Primrose Schools, and Goddard Schools.

Some Colorado lawmakers have expressed concern recently about the role of private equity in child care, saying that the ownership structure can lower the quality of care, harm workers, and raise prices for families.

Last year, several Democratic lawmakers sought new guardrails on child care chains backed by private equity or venture capital firms, but their bill died in April. Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat and one of the bill sponsors, told Chalkbeat by email this month that there are no plans to run a similar bill this year.

“Sometimes the problem has to get worse before people are willing to address it,” she said.

Lawsuit names center employees, company executives

The abuse cited in the families’ lawsuit occurred in Vigil’s toddler classroom in the summer of 2024.

The lawsuit alleges The Nest leaders and employees placed the children in dangerous conditions and failed to monitor the classroom even though children routinely screamed and cried. It also alleges that some of the defendants, who were employees at the Centennial center during Vigil’s tenure, saw him mistreating children and failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.

Among the nine defendants named in the lawsuit are Gerry Pastor and Jane Porterfield, the husband and wife who are co-CEOs of The Nest Schools, which is based in Delaware. Pastor said by email that he and Porterfield could not comment on the lawsuit for legal reasons.

Vigil started at The Nest’s Centennial location as a cook and later assumed a teaching position in the “Cardinals A” toddler classroom, the lawsuit says. The director who hired him, promoted him, and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit, described him as “happy go lucky” and said her only issue with his performance as cook was that he was late for work, according to a state investigation report.

It’s not clear from the report what training or other requirements Vigil had to complete to become a child care teacher. Following open records requests by Chalkbeat last spring, state officials said the results of Vigil’s background check are not public and that the state doesn’t retain child care personnel files or training certificates.

A substitute teacher’s aide reported Vigil to authorities in September 2024, according to state inspection reports. State officials who investigated found that Vigil regularly dished out physical and verbal abuse to the children in his care. He threw toddlers in the air to scare them, threw their belongings in the trash, and slammed a child’s face and body into a glass window several times. He called children in his classroom “ugly” and “disgusting.”

He called one child “Kim Jong Un,” apparently referring to the North Korean dictator, and told another, “You better stay in school, girl, because that’s all you got going for you,” according to the investigation reports.

Classroom cameras captured the abuse, according to state inspection reports. The lawsuit notes that only 30 days of video footage was available because earlier footage had been deleted or overwritten by The Nest staff.

Vigil’s last day at the center was Sept. 5, 2024. That was when the aide subbing in his classroom reported Vigil to law enforcement for hitting a child with an open hand and directing a racial slur at the child, the lawsuit says.

Vigil was arrested on 51 criminal charges, including 28 counts of child abuse. In December, he pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor child abuse as part of a plea deal. In early January, he was sentenced to two years in Arapahoe County jail.

Three of The Nest’s locations are on state probation

Subsequent state inspection reports and other documents detailing Vigil’s mistreatment of children paint a picture of a child care center in disarray — with management often absent because of problems at two other Colorado centers in The Nest Schools chain. One of those centers was the chain’s Highlands Ranch location, which closed for more than a week that summer after Nest officials failed to submit construction plans to the county health department or get construction permits from the building division.

Three of The Nest Schools’ seven Colorado locations are currently on probation, according to state records. They include the Centennial location where Vigil worked, the Aurora location, and one of two Littleton locations. When child care centers violate state health and safety rules, state officials can place them on probation and require frequent inspections.

Pastor said by email that the three centers have taken corrective actions and that he and Porterfield anticipate they will be released from probation in the near future.

“While the circumstances leading to these actions were concerning to us, we have addressed the issues identified, reinforced our standards and expectations and used the process as an opportunity to strengthen our programs,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Federal judge recommends dismissal of lawsuit by Colorado school districts over transgender athletes

2026-01-16T23:38:46+00:00

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A judge recommended dismissing a federal lawsuit brought by several Colorado school districts that challenged the state’s antidiscrimination law on the grounds that it violates students’ rights by allowing transgender youth to play on school sports teams that match their gender identity.

The Jan. 13 recommendation by U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell is a tentative win for state officials and a loss for the eight plaintiffs, which include four school districts, three charter schools, and one public education cooperative. A federal district court judge will now review the recommendation and make a final decision.

The lawsuit was spearheaded last spring by the conservative-leaning District 49 near Colorado Springs, after its school board passed a policy banning transgender girls from girls sports teams and transgender boys from boys sports teams.

The recommendation came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in cases brought by two transgender athletes who oppose state laws barring transgender athletes from girls and women’s teams.

The high court’s conservative-leaning majority seemed open to upholding the state laws, according to national news outlets, but how broad or narrow such a ruling would be remains to be seen.

One of the defendants in the Colorado case, the Colorado High School Activities Association, settled with the districts and charter schools in early December.

Dominguez Braswell’s recommendation, even if it’s affirmed by a district court judge, may not have much effect on high school sports in Colorado, because it doesn’t directly weigh in on the legitimacy of policies that ban transgender students from joining sports teams that match their gender identity. Rather, it says the districts and schools that filed the lawsuit don’t have the standing to sue the state on their own behalf or to sue on behalf of their students.

Michael Francisco, an attorney with the law firm First & Fourteenth, which is representing the plaintiffs, said he disagrees with Dominguez Braswell’s recommendation and looks forward to filing objections with the district court judge soon.

“This recommendation will not alter the course of this case or deter us from continuing this litigation to ensure every district in Colorado has the freedom to protect girls’ sports, safeguard student privacy, and uphold the spirit of Title IX,” he said in an emailed statement.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Attorney General’s office declined to comment Friday.

A number of Colorado districts have policies that allow transgender students to join sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Others make decisions on a case by case basis. Some, including the districts and schools that sued, recently passed policies barring transgender students from playing on teams that match their gender identity.

In their lawsuit, the districts argued that the state’s antidiscrimination law, which includes protections for transgender people, put the districts in an “untenable position” because they risked state penalties over their transgender athlete policies.

In her recommendation, Dominguez Braswell said settled legal principles prohibit the districts from bringing claims against the state based on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. She also took issue with the plaintiffs’ claim to represent the interests of all district students.

The plaintiffs brought two of their claims on behalf of all students, she noted, “but their interests do not align with all students.”

She said the districts’ policies barring transgender students from certain sports teams “cut against the interests of transgender students” and “may also cut against the interests of students who seek inclusivity in school-sponsored activities.”

In addition to the 26,000-student District 49, the plaintiffs include Colorado Springs 11, Academy 20, Montezuma-Cortez, James Irwin Charter Schools, Monument Academy, The Classical Academy, and Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services.

The defendants in the case were Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and the Colorado High School Activities Association.

When the districts settled with the Colorado High School Activities Association in early December, the association agreed not to sanction plaintiff schools or teams over their transgender athlete policies. The settlement also required the plaintiffs to pay the activities association $60,000.

The association’s bylaws for years recognized the right of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity and stated that the group can review district decisions on such matters.

But the group had never penalized a school or district for policies on transgender athletes or dictated what those policies should say, an association spokesperson said in December.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Lawyers for Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ resist county order to close building

2026-01-14T01:40:24+00:00

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Lawyers representing the operator of Colorado’s “first public Christian school” are pushing back against an order by Pueblo County officials to close the school building for safety reasons.

In a Jan. 9 letter, the lawyers asked for a meeting and urged county officials not to seek an emergency court order requiring the immediate closure of Riverstone Academy’s building, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Chalkbeat. County officials had warned in a letter to school officials a few days earlier that they might seek such an order.

The dispute over the building is just one facet of the controversy surrounding Riverstone, which drew attention from state and local officials soon after it opened in August with about 30 K-5 students. The school advertises itself as a public elementary school that offers a “Christian foundation.”

In October, state education leaders warned that they might withhold public funding from Riverstone because the Colorado constitution bars religious public schools. In addition, Pueblo County officials identified more than a dozen health, fire, building, and zoning violations related to the building that Riverstone leases, and ordered fire-safety checks at the school every 30 minutes.

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat suggest the school was created to spark a test case in the courts over whether public money could go to religious schools, after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on such a case out of Oklahoma last spring. But religious liberty is not likely to be the central issue if Riverstone’s operators were to face Pueblo County in court over their pending dispute.

Lawyer’s letter says operator doesn’t want litigation

In the Jan. 9 letter to Pueblo County officials, attorney Gregory O’Boyle, of the Colorado Springs-based firm Werner O’Boyle Cyberon, asked for a call with county officials to “discuss next steps and to avoid unnecessary conflict.”

“Our goal is full compliance through the normal land-use and building-permit processes, not litigation,” he wrote.

O’Boyle represents Forging Education, which is the group contracted to run Riverstone.

He said Riverstone officials have made a “good faith effort” to comply with county requirements and that “public interest is not served by abruptly displacing K-5 students, requiring families to secure emergency educational arrangements mid-year.”

O’Boyle’s letter notes that 29 children attend the school and eight staff members work there.

O’Boyle did not reply to requests for comment on Tuesday. Neither did Quin Friberg, a Pueblo pastor who is the executive director of both Riverstone and Forging Education.

Marci Day, assistant attorney for Pueblo County, didn’t respond to Chalkbeat questions about whether she would hold a call with Riverstone’s lawyers or whether she would seek an emergency injunction to close the school.

School opened without normal review processes

Riverstone school leaders did not go through the normal zoning and building review processes before opening the school to students last summer, according to previous interviews with county officials and a review of correspondence and documents obtained by Chalkbeat through public records requests.

In Day’s Jan. 6 letter ordering Riverstone officials to close the building, she cited a series of failures by the school’s leaders to follow local regulations.

She noted that county officials told Friberg at a July meeting that schools were not allowed in the industrial-zoned site where he wanted to open Riverstone. She also said that Riverstone officials had failed to submit three required documents to local officials for review, one of which was needed so fire and health officials could determine what changes would be needed to bring the building up to code.

Under the normal procedure for approving a building as a school, “health, safety and welfare concerns would have been required to be addressed prior to approval for occupancy by the appropriate agency,” Day wrote.

Day also cited proposed construction work at Riverstone’s building as part of the rationale for ordering closure.

The proposed changes include the removal of multiple interior walls; new sinks, drinking fountains, and fire safety fixtures; and the construction of a wheelchair ramp at the building’s entrance, according to architectural plans obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request.

“Due to the current conditions and the construction that will be required to bring the buildings and property into compliance with all building, fire, health, and zoning codes, it has been deemed unsafe to allow the continued occupancy of the buildings, particularly by school children, prior to final approval by Pueblo County,” Day wrote in the Jan. 6 letter.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s public schools lose 10,000 students, biggest enrollment decline since pandemic

2026-01-13T15:00:54+00:00

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Colorado’s public school enrollment dropped this year by more than 10,000 students, or 1.2%, marking the biggest drop since the first year of the COVID pandemic in 2020.

The state’s public schools are serving about 871,000 students in preschool through 12th grade, according to the October 2025 enrollment count released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Education.

This year’s enrollment picture is particularly grim, because the statewide drop is steeper than in the previous few years and because more school districts are facing declines this year compared with 2024. This year, 138 districts or BOCES — Boards of Cooperative Educational Services — have seen enrollment declines, compared with 119 last year.

Much of the decline is driven by a yearslong decrease in birth rates statewide. An increase in the number of homeschooled students is also a factor. At the same time, an increase in immigration that was sustaining enrollment in some districts has tapered off, and some recent arrivals have left Colorado.

Since the state gives school districts money based on how many students they serve, decreasing enrollment means less state funding. It can also force districts to close schools that have too few students to operate efficiently.

In recent years, Denver and Jeffco, the state’s two largest districts, have together closed more than two dozen district-run schools. In addition, 15 Denver charter schools have also closed due to low enrollment.

Earlier this year, the Denver school board enacted a four-year moratorium on enrollment-based school closures. But the moratorium includes a caveat that allows the board to consider closures “if there is a substantial shift in student enrollment, funding levels, or an unexpected emergency.”

Denver lost about 1,200 students from last year to this year and Jeffco lost about 1,300.

The other eight districts among Colorado’s 10 largest all lost students this year, but a couple medium-sized districts gained students. They include Colorado Springs 11 in El Paso County and the Brighton-based District 27J in metro Denver.

Many of Colorado’s gainers this year are rural districts with fewer than 1,000 students. In several cases, these districts gained a dozen students or less.

This year’s enrollment data also shows how the state’s student body is becoming more diverse, with upticks in the percentage of students identified as Black, Asian American, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

The share of white students is decreasing. Today, white students make up 49% of the state’s public school students, compared with nearly 54% in the 2015-16 school year.

Hispanic students make up a larger share of public school students today than they did a decade ago — 36% compared with 33% — but their numbers have shrunk by about 4,400 students since last year’s peak of 321,000. That peak was largely the result of an influx of immigrant students from South America during the 2023-24 school year. Some of those students have since left Colorado.

Such moves may also help explain the decline in the number of English learners enrolled in the state’s public schools. This year, Colorado has about 99,400 students learning English, down from more than 105,000 last year.

Look up your district’s enrollment changes in the table below:

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ ordered to close building over safety concerns

2026-01-10T20:23:43+00:00

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Pueblo County officials have ordered the closure of what’s been billed by backers as Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” citing unaddressed safety concerns at the school’s building.

Riverstone Academy officials must acknowledge by Monday evening their intent to close the school at its current location, according to a Jan. 6 letter sent by the assistant county attorney to Quin Friberg, Riverstone’s executive director.

If school leaders don’t comply, county officials will seek an emergency injunction from the courts requiring immediate closure, the letter says.

The county’s order marks the latest development in Riverstone’s short and controversial existence. It opened in August with about 30 kindergarten through fifth grade students, advertising itself as offering “a Christian foundation” and Christian curriculum.

It’s unclear if the closure of Riverstone’s building, a former office located in an industrial area, will spell the end of the school or if its leaders will seek to move it elsewhere or switch to an online format. In a December email to a county official, Friberg wrote that Riverstone had “gotten a bit ahead of ourselves” but wanted to find a way to keep its students in school, according to a copy obtained by Chalkbeat in a public records request.

Friberg did not respond to requests for comment Friday evening or Saturday. Ken Witt and Lis Richard, the executive director and board president, respectively, of Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the public education cooperative that authorized Riverstone to open, did not respond to requests for comment either.

This ‘public Christian school’ opened quietly in Colorado. Now there could be a legal fight.

News of the school burst into the open in October, when Witt publicly declared it Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” surprising state education officials and members of the public.

Leaders from the Colorado Department of Education quickly warned that they could withhold public funding for the school because the Colorado constitution bars religious public schools. Witt countered that withholding public money from the school would amount to religious discrimination.

An email obtained by Chalkbeat suggests that Riverstone was created to spur a lawsuit over the question of whether public money can be used for religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on such a case out of Oklahoma last spring. Brad Miller, a Colorado lawyer who represents Education reEnvisioned, wrote in the June email that he’d been approached by a Christian law firm about starting a new test case.

In July, Friberg met with county officials about his plans for a school in leased space inside a former office near concrete, landscaping, and marijuana businesses. In late August, county officials sent a six-page letter detailing numerous zoning and building changes that would be needed first, according to a copy obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request. But Friberg had opened Riverstone two weeks earlier.

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

In late October, shortly after Riverstone’s existence became widely known, Pueblo County health, fire, building, and zoning officials cited more than a dozen violations and put the school on “fire watch,” which requires someone to patrol the school every half hour to look for signs of fire.

The Jan. 6 letter to Friberg, signed by Assistant County Attorney Marci Day, outlined a series of failures by school officials in ensuring the school meets regulations and is safe for children.

“You were notified at a meeting with Pueblo County Planning and Development in July that the zoning for the property did not allow for the use but proceeded to open Riverstone Academy to the public in August,” she wrote.

She noted that as of Jan. 6, school officials had not turned in three required applications. They include one for a special use permit that would allow the school to be located in a light industrial zone, one for a site development plan, and one to change the building occupancy from a business use to an education use.

She said without the occupancy application, local fire and health officials can’t determine what changes will be required to bring the building up to code.

“Due to the current conditions and the construction that will be required to bring the buildings and property into compliance with all building, fire, health, and zoning codes it has been deemed unsafe to allow the continued occupancy of the buildings, particularly by school children, prior to final approval by Pueblo County,” she wrote.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ violated health and safety rules, documents show

The removal of multiple walls inside Riverstone’s building, new sinks, drinking fountains, fire safety fixtures, and the construction of a wheelchair ramp at the building’s entrance are among the changes necessary, according to architectural plans submitted by Riverstone officials in December and obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request.

Carmen Howard, the director of the Pueblo County Planning and Development Department, said by email Friday evening that the department had received Riverstone’s special use permit application.

Other documents obtained through public records requests show that Friberg knew the school’s future was in jeopardy because of zoning and other problems.

In a Dec. 30 email from Friberg to Howard, he thanked her for organizing a visit to the school site to “explore whether there’s a path forward that keeps these students in school.”

“I also appreciate your willingness to help us work through a situation where we have gotten a bit ahead of ourselves,” he wrote.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Child care aid could run out by Jan. 31 due to Trump funding freeze, Colorado officials say

2026-01-08T00:38:31+00:00

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Colorado officials say money that helps 18,000 low-income families pay for child care could run out by Jan. 31 if federal officials don’t lift the freeze they’ve imposed on funding for several safety net programs in five Democrat-led states.

If that happens, some children could go without care and some parents would have to stay home from work. State lawmakers could cover such a funding gap temporarily, though Colorado is facing a significant budget crunch.

The Trump administration announced the freeze on $10 billion in child care and social services funding for Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York in a press release Tuesday.

In letters sent to the two Colorado agencies that run the affected programs, federal officials said they have “reason to believe that the State of Colorado is illicitly providing” benefits funded with federal dollars to “illegal aliens.”

The letters didn’t cite evidence for that claim and a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to questions from Chalkbeat about why federal officials are concerned about fraud in Colorado.

Spokespeople from both state departments said by email on Wednesday they’re not aware of any federal fraud investigations focused on the programs affected by the funding freeze.

The five-state funding freeze follows a federal crackdown in Minnesota after a right-wing YouTuber posted a video in late December alleging that Minneapolis child care centers run by Somali residents get federal funds but serve no children. It’s not clear why the other four states have gotten the same treatment as Minnesota, but all have Democratic governors who have clashed with President Donald Trump.

In a New Year’s Eve social media post, Trump called Colorado Gov. Jared Polis “the Scumbag Governor” and said Polis and another Colorado official should “rot in hell” for mistreating Tina Peters, a Trump supporter and former Mesa County clerk who’s serving a nine-year prison sentence for orchestrating a plot to breach election systems.

The federal freeze will affect three main funding streams in Colorado that together bring in about $317 million a year. They include $138 million for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood for child care subsidies for low-income families and a few other programs.

The subsidy program, known as the Colorado Child Care Assistance program, helps cover the cost of care for more than 27,000 children so parents can work or take classes. It’s mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from states and counties.

The other two frozen funding streams go to the Colorado Department of Human Services and pay for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, and other programs.

In the letter to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, federal officials outlined new fiscal requirements the state will have to follow before the funding freeze is lifted. They include attendance documentation — without names or other personal identifiers — for children in the child care subsidy program.

A state fact sheet issued in response to the funding freeze said funding for the child care subsidy program would be depleted by Jan. 31. It also outlined several measures already in place to prevent fraud or waste, including state audits, monthly case reviews by county officials, and efforts to recover funds if improper payments are made.

The state said it is exploring “all options, including legal avenues” to keep the frozen funding flowing.

Six Democratic state lawmakers, most in leadership positions, released a statement Wednesday afternoon calling the funding freeze a callous move that will make life more expensive for working families.

“We stand ready to work with Governor Polis and partners in our federal delegation to resist this lawless effort to freeze funding, and we sincerely hope that our Republican colleagues will put politics aside, get serious about making life in Colorado more affordable, and put families first,” the statement said in part.

The statement was from Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie; Senate President James Coleman; House Majority Leader Monica Duran; Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez; Rep. Emily Sirota; and Sen. Judy Amabile.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the Trump administration announced the funding freeze on Monday. It was Tuesday. The original version also incorrectly stated that on Tuesday spokespeople for the two state departments said they were not aware of any federal fraud investigations and that six Democratic lawmakers released a statement on the funding freeze. Those things happened on Wednesday.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

7 Colorado education issues we’re watching in 2026

2025-12-22T22:16:11+00:00

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How will Colorado lawmakers prioritize education during another tough budget year? What’s the fate of the state’s first “public Christian school?” And what will new cellphone policies look like in districts statewide?

These are just a few of the Colorado education issues that we’ll be watching in the new year. Find out below about these issues and others worth watching in 2026.

Colorado’s budget woes

Colorado lawmakers face another budget shortfall in the 2026-27 fiscal year, possibly upwards of $850 million. This comes a year after lawmakers wrangled a $1 billion spending deficit in the 2025-26 budget.

The good news: Unlike last year, Gov. Jared Polis has proposed fulfilling K-12 funding promises by fully funding schools and sticking with a plan to phase-in a new funding formula. The bad news: There might be little else available for other K-12 and higher education expenses.

With the budget at the forefront, we’ll also be watching how Polis’ budget sets up arguments on how to balance Medicaid expenses with future education funding.

More Colorado student population declines

Birth rates have been on the decline since 2008, and student enrollment fell slightly in Colorado schools in the last year.

This is an issue school districts are already trying to address, with some closing or merging schools in response.

But birth rates won’t be the only driving factor in statewide enrollment changes. Federal immigration crackdowns will also likely play a role.

Recently, Denver Public Schools announced a 1,200 student population decline this year after a pronounced drop in the number of immigrant students enrolling in the district.

We’ll also be watching how colleges and universities respond to student population declines.

Higher education institutions here and nationwide are bracing for an “enrollment cliff,” or fewer high school-age students graduating due to those declining birth rates. These enrollment declines are expected to begin next year.

Deciding the fate of Colorado’s first “public Christian school”

In 2026, Colorado education officials could start the lengthy process of determining whether a Pueblo County school billed by its authorizer as the state’s first “public Christian school” is eligible for public funding.

The Colorado Department of Education warned in October that it could withhold funding from the school, Riverstone Academy, because Colorado’s Constitution bans religious public schools. But the audit process that would lead to a final decision won’t start until January and likely wouldn’t conclude till early 2027, state officials said this month.

Riverstone, which launched quietly in August with about 30 students, was authorized by a public education cooperative called Education reEnvisioned BOCES and was initially funded by a private loan. This winter, the school could receive some state funding while the audit process unfolds. If the state eventually rules that the school doesn’t qualify for public dollars, the money would have to be returned, state officials said.

Riverstone, which describes itself as offering a Christian foundation and using a Christian curriculum, was created to spur a lawsuit over the question of whether public money can fund religious schools, emails obtained by Chalkbeat suggest. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue in April.

Supreme Court could weigh in on preschool lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely decide in early 2026 whether to hear a Colorado case that pits religious liberty against LGBTQ rights.

The Denver-area Catholic preschools at the center of the case have argued that if they join Colorado’s state-funded preschool program, they should be allowed to keep out LGBTQ children or children with LGBTQ parents. The state rejected this argument and so have two lower courts.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it could answer a key question that’s also percolating through lower courts in other parts of the country: Can religious schools that accept public money get exemptions from non-discrimination rules?

If the high court declines to hear the case, it would signal that states can require schools to comply with discrimination protections for LGBTQ people if they want to join state-funded education programs.

A new higher education and workforce department

In December, Polis announced a plan to shut down the Colorado Department of Higher Education in its current form and create a brand new department.

This proposed Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development would create one unified agency that houses programs such as higher education, adult education, apprenticeships, and the state workforce development program.

Ahead of the announcement, the Department of Higher Education’s executive director said she would be leaving to take another job for personal reasons. Polis has since appointed JB Holston as executive director to help lead the department’s transition.

The new department is far from a done deal. Lawmakers will need to file legislation next year to merge these state functions. And Polis has said the final say will rest with a new governor in 2027 after Polis finishes his second term in 2026.

Elizabeth book removal lawsuit could be decided

A jury could decide in 2026 whether the school board in a small conservative-leaning Colorado community wrongly removed 19 titles from school libraries in 2024 because of content board members deemed inappropriate, overly graphic, and in some cases “disgusting.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sued the 2,700-student Elizabeth School District over the book removals in Dec. 2024 on behalf of two district students, a chapter of the NAACP, and an authors group. The lawsuit argues that the book removals violate federal and state free speech protections. No trial date has been set yet.

The books at issue in the case are primarily by or about LGBTQ people, people of color, or both. They include “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hossein, "The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas, and “It’s Your World — If You Don’t Like It, Change It” by Mikki Halpin.

The ACLU lawsuit is one of two related to the 19 library books. In November, a former middle school dean sued the district, alleging she was fired shortly after objecting to the removal of the books.

New cellphone policies

Colorado lawmakers passed House Bill 1135 during the 2025 legislative session to curb cellphone use in schools.

The law requires districts to adopt policies to limit smartphone and smartwatch use in classrooms. The law also requires school boards to spell out exceptions, such as for health emergencies or to report a safety concern.

Lawmakers passed the bill to help address what experts have called a mental health crisis and to promote better learning in the classroom.

While lawmakers passed the bill this past spring, the bill won’t take effect until July 1, 2026. At that time, every school district in the state will need to adopt a policy.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents can soon recover child care waitlist and application fees

2025-12-18T23:33:12+00:00

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Colorado parents will soon be able to get partial refunds on certain upfront fees they’ve paid to child care centers if their children don’t land a seat there within six months.

A new Colorado law that takes effect on Jan 1. aims to ease the cost burden on families who pay waitlist, application, or deposit fees to child care programs that their children don’t end up attending. It requires child care providers to provide the refunds if a child has not been offered a spot within six months and the parent requests the refund in writing, such as by email.

Democratic lawmakers pushed for the proposal during the 2025 legislative session, citing instances where families sometimes pay fees of $100 or more to a dozen or more child care centers as they search for a slot.

The law applies to fees paid on or after Jan. 1, 2026, so families won’t be able to obtain refunds until they hit the end of the six-month window in July 2026 or after. Families who are offered a spot at a child care center but decline it aren’t eligible to recoup any of the fees they paid.

Under the law, providers are allowed to keep a “reasonable” portion of the waitlist, application, or deposit fee to cover administrative costs. That amount is $25, according to a Colorado Department of Early Childhood document released Thursday.

Besides the refund provision, the new law requires child care programs to disclose their tuition and fees when a prospective family requests pricing information, joins the waitlist, enrolls in the program, or when the provider changes the fee schedule. It doesn’t require that tuition and fees be posted publicly.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Pueblo District 70 board member resigns in wake of ‘public Christian school’ controversy

2025-12-10T18:05:34+00:00

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Pueblo District 70 school board member Anne Ochs abruptly announced her resignation during a board meeting Tuesday evening after a district parent called her out for helping quietly bring what’s been billed as Colorado’s “first public Christian school” into the district.

Hannah McDowell, who has three children in district schools, spoke during the public comment period at the end of the meeting. She criticized Ochs for keeping key information about the school, Riverstone Academy, from the public.

McDowell also expressed concern that Ochs failed to disclose she’d already signed a contract to work for Riverstone’s authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ERBOCES, when she voted in June to allow the school to open within district boundaries.

Pueblo School District 70 board member Anne Ochs.

McDowell said she learned about it from news coverage and cited details reported exclusively by Chalkbeat. She handed out copies of Chalkbeat stories and other documents to Ochs and the other Pueblo 70 board members after she spoke.

“Ms. Ochs, your lack of transparency and misleading statements are beyond disappointing,” she said. “Your constituents should not have to learn about a serious conflict of interest from a news article months after the fact.”

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ violated health and safety rules, documents show

McDowell then asked Ochs, who was first elected in 2021 and has two years left in her current term, to resign. Ochs had been the president of the five-member board until a new president was selected at Tuesday’s meeting.

After McDowell’s three-minute statement, Ochs responded angrily.

“First off, I didn’t start with ERBOCES until July 1,” she said. “Secondly, I have to work for a living and this had nothing to do with Riverstone. I don’t work with Riverstone. I didn’t even know about Riverstone being one of the programs.”

Ochs finished by saying, “You know what? You’re getting your wish come true, because I was planning on resigning anyway. I’m done.”

Ochs’ announcement was met with a “thank you” from the audience and a smattering of applause.

Ochs then stood up, closed her laptop, and walked out of the board room. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Ochs emailed a short resignation letter to the board and district superintendent on Wednesday morning.

“This decision has not been an easy one, but due to increasing time constraints and personal commitments, I am no longer able to devote the level of attention and energy that the students, staff, and community deserve,” she wrote.

Ochs said in the letter, obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request, that her resignation is effectively immediately.

Riverstone opened with about 30 K-5 students in August, in a light industrial area just outside Pueblo city limits. Its website describes it as a public elementary school offering “a Christian foundation” and Christian curriculum, but its religious affiliation wasn’t widely known until early October.

That’s when the head of the public education cooperative that authorizes Riverstone publicly declared it the state’s first public Christian school. The next day, the state warned that it could withhold public funding from the school because the state constitution doesn’t allow religious public schools.

In November, Chalkbeat obtained an email suggesting that Riverstone was created to spur a lawsuit over the question of whether public money can be used for religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue in April.

The email came from Brad Miller, a lawyer who represents District 70 and ERBOCES. When he sent it on June 4, Ochs quickly responded saying the Pueblo 70 board would discuss putting the issue on the agenda, according to emails obtained by Chalkbeat.

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

But when the board voted in late June to allow Riverstone to open within district boundaries, Ochs didn’t publicly mention that Riverstone was a Christian school or that it was meant to spur a legal test case.

When asked in October by Chalkbeat if she’d known about Riverstone’s religious affiliation when she voted on it, Ochs first said no. The next day, she called back and said she knew the school planned to use Christian curriculum, but added, “to me that doesn’t make it a religious school.”

Ochs also acknowledged in October that she’d started a job with ERBOCES in July, but indicated that she’d interviewed for the position after the June vote on Riverstone.

But McDowell, the district parent who spoke Tuesday, said that Ochs signed the contract for her new job on June 9. That was two weeks before the June 24 Riverstone vote, according to a copy of the contract reviewed by Chalkbeat.

This story has been updated with information about Ochs’ resignation letter.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Springs 11 teachers face warnings, discipline, or termination for strike-related actions

2025-12-10T01:22:05+00:00

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Twenty-five teachers in Colorado Springs District 11 received warnings or were penalized by district officials because of actions during the run-up to a one-day strike by the teachers union in early October, according to union officials.

Union leaders say the district’s sanctions are part of a broader union-busting effort that could push teachers out of the classroom.

Angel Givler-Viers, a fifth grade teacher who is active in the teachers union and has a large social media following, faces the most severe punishment. The district superintendent recommended at the Dec. 3 school board meeting that she be fired for insubordination and neglect of duty.

Jessica Wise, a spokesperson for the 22,000-student District 11, said by email that “a number of staff received appropriate communications” following events surrounding the strike on Oct. 8. She couldn’t confirm whether the number was 25.

The flurry of warnings and discipline measures handed out to teachers involved in the strike comes after more than a year of growing tensions between school district leaders and the Colorado Springs Education Association teachers union. The school board voted a year ago to let the union’s master agreement with the district lapse at the end of last school year, a move that enraged many teachers and helped spark the strike.

David Graf, a union official, said in addition to Givler-Viers a second teacher is on paid leave now for actions prior to the strike. A third teacher was on paid leave earlier this fall for materials distributed during the strike but has returned to the classroom, he said.

Givler-Viers has been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 6. Wise said it could be weeks or months before the school board votes on whether she should be fired.

District 11 has about 1,650 teachers. Last year, about two-thirds were in the union, but that number has gone down, partly because many teachers left the district last year, Graf said.

Besides objecting to the end of the master agreement, teachers union members have cited general concerns, such as low morale and lack of teacher voice in district decisionmaking, and specific ones, including a new policy banning most flags, including pride flags, from district classrooms and a recent decision to cut several pages on gender identity out of a high school health textbook supplement.

Wise confirmed that the district’s curriculum department removed the textbook pages in August because they weren’t aligned with the district’s approved curriculum and standards, according to an October Rocky Mountain PBS story.

Wise said the district has made big investments in teachers in recent years, including this year giving licensed teachers a 4% recurring raise and a 6% onetime bonus. The district has also launched a districtwide teacher coaching program and eliminated central office jobs in order to preserve classroom positions, she said.

Givler-Viers, who taught literacy at McAuliffe Elementary and often goes by Dr. G., believes the district’s effort to terminate her is part of a broader effort to silence and scare educators.

“It’s just way bigger than me,” she said. “It impacts all of us. And if they get away with it now, they’re going to continue doing it.”

Social media posts lead to district investigation

Givler-Viers received a letter that outlined four allegations against her on Nov. 21, about seven weeks after being put on administrative leave, said Graf, who’s been involved in the case.

One allegation in the Nov. 21 letter cites unprofessional conduct stemming from inappropriate social media posts. The other three allegations cite issues that arose after she was placed on leave, including that she set foot on district property and talked to district staff in violation of the leave conditions and that she didn’t answer questions fully and truthfully during the district’s investigation.

Givler-Viers said she stood on a step leading to the district administration building to make a speech to union members during a censorship vigil while she was on leave.

Graf and Givler-Viers said the district hasn’t specified what social media post or posts prompted the first allegation.

Wise said the district can’t comment on individual cases or timelines, but said “employees recommended for termination are provided information regarding allegations and findings at the appropriate stage of the process, consistent with those legal requirements, prior to any Board of Education consideration.”

Givler-Viers, who’s taught in District 11 for eight years, has more than 18,000 followers on TikTok. Many of her posts are short videos in which she speaks directly to the camera about issues ranging from the unpaid work teachers do to the challenge of taking sick time as a teacher.

About a week before the strike, she posted a video in which she suggested that parents seeking to support the union keep their children home on the day of the strike. She cautioned that children attending school that day could end up in large classes staffed by central office employees with no teaching experience.

“ … that means your kids could be in a classroom with however many other kids show up, with an accountant," she said in the post, which has nearly 90,000 views.

A week after the Sept. 28 TikTok post, Givler-Viers said she was going over Latin and Greek roots with her students when she was asked by her school principal to come to the office. A district human resources official told her she was being put on administrative leave while she was investigated for her social media posts. She went back to her classroom to gather her personal items and was escorted to her car.

“I just took my cell phone and my car keys and I left, and the kids … they’re like, ‘Are you OK? Where are you going? What’s happening?’” she said.

‘I can’t do it anymore’

Graf said 22 teachers received either a conference memo or a letter of reprimand because they referenced the strike in messages or in plans for substitute teachers who worked on the day of the strike.

A conference memo is one of the district’s mildest responses to an infraction and warns employees about a violation of board policy but isn’t placed in their personnel file. A letter of reprimand is a more serious penalty.

Jim Dobyns, who goes by the first name Talsen, is a physical education teacher at Rogers Elementary School. He received a conference memo around the time of the strike. He said it was the last straw that prompted him to resign. His last day is Dec. 19.

“It’s a terrible working environment to be in when you’re constantly under duress and afraid,” he said. “I just can’t do it anymore.”

The conference memo Dobyns received cited a message he left prior to the strike in the online system for lining up substitute teachers. He wrote, “This leave was posted without the consent of the teacher. You will be required to cross a picket line to accept it.”

Dobyns said district administrators, not him, posted the request for a sub to cover his classroom during the strike.

The conference memo, which was reviewed by Chalkbeat, said, “This unsatisfactory inappropriate conduct negatively impacted the operations of the school and caused harm amongst the Guest Staff and/or District Staff that were covering your classroom on that day.”

Dobyns said he wrote the message in the online system because he didn’t want his sub to be surprised by the strike.

“A lot of subs didn’t know [about the strike]” he said. “A lot of people don’t watch the news these days.”

Dobyns expects more District 11 teachers to quit in the coming months.

“I know from the talk around the water cooler that there is going to be an exodus of educators from D11 come March when hiring season starts,” he said.

Dobyns has a job lined up in home remodeling sales once he leaves the district.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents: Here’s what to know about signing up for free preschool for 2026

2025-12-09T00:35:57+00:00

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Colorado families can start applying for the state’s free preschool program for the 2026-27 school year on Tuesday at noon.

The $349 million program, which launched in the fall of 2023, is open to all 4-year-olds. Nearly 43,000 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the program. About 3,900 3-year-olds with disabilities are also enrolled.

State officials say it will take most families about five minutes to fill out the universal preschool application. Like last year, there’s a phone helpline that offers interpretation in over 100 languages.

Here’s what families need to know about the preschool program and the online application.

Who gets free preschool? How much do they get?

Two groups of children qualify: all 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds who need extra help.

The preschool program is primarily designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten. For the upcoming 2026-27 school year, that means children who turn 4 before Oct. 1, 2026.

Most 4-year-olds will get 15 hours of preschool a week, though some preschool providers offer only 10 hours a week.

Some 4-year-olds will qualify for 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week. This includes children from families with incomes at or below 100% of the 2025 federal poverty level — up to $32,150 for a family of four.

Four-year-olds from families with income between 100% and 265% of the federal poverty level — $32,150 to $85,198 for a family of four — must also have one of the risk factors below to qualify for 30 hours a week.

They speak a language other than English at home.
They have a special education plan, also known as an IEP.
They are homeless.
They are in foster care.

Qualifying for 30 hours of free preschool through the state isn’t a guarantee that a child will get it. Not every preschool offers a 30-hour a week schedule — or has open seats available even if it does.

Compared to 4-year-olds, only a small number of 3-year-olds — children two years away from kindergarten — qualify for tuition-free preschool. Only 3-year-olds who have special education plans are guaranteed free preschool.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

A small number of 5-year-olds are eligible for free preschool in the year before they attend kindergarten. This group can include children who move between districts or who live in districts with kindergarten cut-off dates earlier than the state’s Oct. 1 cut-off and whose birthdays fall between the two dates.

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — aren’t eligible for free preschool in that year.

When can I fill out the universal preschool application?

This year’s application opens on Dec. 9 at noon.

Some families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 will get to preregister, specifically those who want to send their child to the preschool where the child is currently enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where the parent is employed. These families should fill out the state preschool application, list their current provider as their first choice, and submit. They’ll receive notification about their preschool match on Feb. 2 and must accept the match by Feb. 11.

Families not eligible to preregister can still fill out the universal preschool application starting Dec. 9. Those who submit by Feb. 2 will fall into the state’s first round of matching. They’ll find out which program they matched with on Feb. 25 and must accept or decline the match by March 5.

Families that submit their choices between Feb. 3 and March 15 will fall into the state’s second round of matching. They’ll find out their match on March 24 and must accept or decline the match by March 31.

What if I apply after the first two matching windows?

Families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 can still apply for free preschool after the first two rounds of matching are complete through what’s called “direct enrollment.” This process starts on April 1 and will continue through the end of the 2026-27 school year for children attending preschool that year.

Contact the preschool you’re interested in to see if they have space. If they do, they’ll assist you with the enrollment process, including filling out the state universal preschool application.

If you don’t have a preschool in mind, you can browse an online list of universal preschool providers on the state’s application website.

What do I need to fill out the state preschool application?

You’ll need to provide an email address to create an account and start your online preschool application. Families who believe their children may qualify for 30 hours also need to know the amount of their gross monthly or gross annual income. The application is available in English and 10 other languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, and Hindi.

I have a child who will be 3 by Oct. 1, 2026. Should I complete the application?

If your child has an Individualized Education Program or IEP, yes. Otherwise, parents of 3-year-olds should contact their local school district to find out if they qualify for tuition-free preschool.

My child has a disability. Should I complete the application?

Yes. Families with a child who will be 3 or 4 next school year and has a special education plan — also known as an Individualized Education Program, or IEP — should fill out the state preschool application. Be sure to check “yes” in response to the question about whether the child has an active Individualized Education Program. The local school district will contact families about the enrollment and placement process. Most preschoolers with IEPs will be placed in classrooms run by their school districts.

Parents who are worried their preschooler may be delayed in speech, learning, or development, but don’t have a diagnosis or IEP, should contact Child Find, a state program that screens children suspected of having a disability. Check this list for Child Find coordinators by region.

Can I pick my 4-year-old’s preschool?

Yes. More than 2,000 preschools across Colorado are part of the universal program. Families who don’t qualify for preregistration or want a program other than the one their child currently attends will be asked on the state application to pick up to 10 preschools. They can rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, faith-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based programs.

This year, more than 75% of families were matched with their first choice preschool.

There are some cases where preschool providers can turn down a universal preschool applicant. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries.

Can I pick my 3-year-old’s preschool?

Possibly, but you won’t have as many choices as 4-year-olds do. It all depends on your school district since districts are in charge of placing 3-year-old preschoolers. Some districts primarily serve 3-year-olds in district-run classrooms while others work with community child care programs to serve 3-year-olds.

Do I have to fill out my district’s school choice form too?

Families who want to send their child to a preschool run by their school district may have to fill out two applications: the district school choice form and the state universal preschool application. If you’re not sure if your district has a school choice form or if you are required to fill it out, contact your district.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

You can still pay for extra hours above and beyond what the state covers for free, as long as the preschool offers more hours. You can also see if you qualify for financial help through other means, such as the state’s child care subsidy program or a local tuition assistance program like the Denver Preschool Program. Here’s a rundown of the options.

I have more questions. What should I do?

Contact the local group that’s coordinating the universal preschool program in your county or region. Here’s a county-by-county list of all the groups — the state calls them Local Coordinating Organizations or LCOs — with email addresses.

You can also contact the state’s help desk from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. The number is 303-866-5223 and interpretation is available in over 100 languages. Families can also email the help desk at universalpreschool@state.co.us or submit an online form at help.upk.colorado.gov.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

CHSAA and districts settle Colorado transgender athlete lawsuit; case continues with state

2025-12-05T02:55:43+00:00

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The group governing high school sports in Colorado has agreed not to sanction schools or teams from eight conservative-leaning school districts and charter schools for policies on transgender student athletes under a settlement agreement finalized Thursday.

Some of the districts and schools passed policies this year barring transgender students from joining teams that align with their gender identity.

The agreement marks the end of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s involvement in a federal lawsuit spearheaded last spring by the 27,000-student District 49 near Colorado Springs. The lawsuit will continue with other defendants, including Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and officials from the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

The settlement won’t have much effect on high school sports in Colorado because the Colorado High School Activities Association, also known as CHSAA, has never had a major role in determining which school teams transgender athletes can join. The group’s bylaws have for years recognized the right of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity and state that the group can review district decisions on such matters.

But the group has never penalized a school or district for policies on transgender athletes or dictated what those policies should say, a CHSAA spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday.

“Eligibility decisions have always been left to individual schools and districts, which is why being named in this lawsuit was both frustrating and unnecessary,” she said.

The statement called the plaintiffs’ decision to sue CHSAA “much more performative than substantive,” and said it won’t change anything about the group’s policies, practices, or authority.

The outcome of the ongoing lawsuit between the state and the eight plaintiffs remains to be seen. The state’s anti-discrimination law includes protections based on gender identity.

A number of Colorado districts have policies that allow transgender students to join sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Others make decisions on a case by case basis, and more recently, some bar transgender students from playing on teams that match their gender identity.

In addition to CHSAA’s agreement not to sanction the plaintiff districts and schools for policies on transgender athletes, the settlement states that CHSAA won’t penalize the plaintiffs for making public statements about the “advantages of biological males over biological females in competitive sports” or the risk of “allowing biological males to play contact sports with or against biological females.” The agreement says this provision won’t apply to statements that advocate violence or demean people based on gender identity.

The settlement also states that if an athlete or team forfeits a competition against a transgender athlete or a team with a transgender member, there will be no penalty, but the forfeit will be counted as a loss.

Finally, the settlement stipulates that the plaintiffs will pay CHSAA $60,000 to cover legal fees and operational costs.

In a press release Thursday, District 49 Superintendent Peter Hilts said, “This settlement is a major step forward, but our work isn’t done. We will continue litigation against the Colorado Civil Rights [Division] and the Attorney General’s Office to ensure every district in Colorado has the freedom to protect girls’ sports, safeguard student privacy, and uphold the spirit of Title IX.”

Multiple Republican lawmakers cheered the settlement on social media Thursday.

Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents western and southern Colorado in Congress, said on X, “At its core, this settlement is about fairness, safety, and common sense. Schools have a responsibility to protect young women and maintain a level playing field by upholding basic biological standards. As a father of daughters, I know how important that is.”

District 49 filed the lawsuit against the state and CHSAA last May, the day after its conservative-learning board narrowly passed a controversial policy banning transgender middle and high school students from joining school teams that align with their gender identity. The policy was developed after President Trump’s February executive order that threatened to withhold federal funding from any school that allows athletes assigned male at birth to participate in girls’ or women’s sports.

In addition to District 49, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Colorado Springs 11, Academy 20, Montezuma-Cortez, James Irwin Charter Schools, Monument Academy, The Classical Academy, and Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Former middle school dean who objected to book removals sues Elizabeth School District

2025-12-01T22:55:46+00:00

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A former middle school administrator in the Elizabeth School District filed a lawsuit Sunday against the rural Colorado district, alleging that she was fired after she objected to the removal of 19 titles from school libraries last year.

LeEllen Condry, who served as dean of students at Elizabeth Middle School, said she was terminated after three months because she’s “a Black woman who dared to speak out against the discriminatory book ban,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, alleges that the school district violated Condry’s free speech rights and discriminated against her based on race and sex.

Elizabeth Superintendent Dan Snowberger said in an emailed statement Monday, “The district intends to defend itself in court, and the facts will show that the individual’s employment ended because she failed to take the steps to secure the necessary licensure for the position, and because the position was one of several eliminated for cost-saving reasons during a fiscal exigency.”

Condry’s lawsuit is the second filed against the 2,700-student district southeast of Denver relating to the removal of books from school libraries in 2024. Two students, a chapter of the NAACP, and an authors group, all represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, sued the district over the removals a year ago. That lawsuit prompted the district to place pop-up ads on its website inviting visitors to donate to help cover the district’s legal fees.

The controversy over the books, which are back on school library shelves while the ACLU case is pending, began in the fall of 2024 when the district in conservative-leaning Elbert County decided to pull 19 titles from school libraries because of content school board members deemed inappropriate, overly graphic, or highly sensitive.

The removed books are primarily by or about LGBTQ people, people of color, or both. They include “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved,” both by Toni Morrison, “The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas, and “You Should See Me in a Crown,” by Leah Johnson. All three authors are Black and their books feature Black characters.

In August 2024, the Elizabeth district asked staff to provide “solutions-focused” feedback to the school board about the potential book removals. Condry wrote to the board, saying the removals would be unethical and racist, according to the lawsuit.

On Aug. 27, Snowberger, one of the defendants named in Condry’s suit, wrote in a letter to district employees, “[s]adly, some staff members did seem to misunderstand the request [for feedback] and somehow felt the request was an opening for harsh feedback to the Board on their decision,” according to the lawsuit.

He said feedback that called the actions of the Board “racist” “crossed the lines of professional and ethical behavior,” according to the suit.

Condry was terminated on Oct. 1, 2024, three months into her 12-month contract with the district.

In response to previous questions from Chalkbeat, Snowberger said by email in February that Condry’s termination was part of a “Reduction in Force involving several staff members and which was compelled by a Fiscal Exigency” — a term for financial problems. At that time, he didn’t mention that Condry failed to take steps to secure the required licensure for her position.

The district’s financial problems, which led to about $500,000 in overspending, were caused by a well failure, a water tower repair, fire alarm fixes, and a large legal settlement, among other things, district officials said at a September 2024 board meeting. The board president said the legal settlement was related to a three-year-old case at Elizabeth High School, but didn’t provide additional details.

To help avert a deficit, the school board cut Condry and several other employees. They included a technology employee, a courier, a maintenance employee, a health tech, and transportation employees, Snowberger said at an October 2024 meeting.

Condry’s lawsuit alleges that the district hired a middle school employee in November 2024 who informally performed the duties that Condry had performed as dean. That employee was officially promoted to the dean position in July 2025, according to the lawsuit

The fact that the school district hired the employee “into the same role that had been occupied by Ms. Condry demonstrates the falsity of its asserted budgetary reasons as a legitimate justification for having fired Ms. Condry,” the lawsuit states.

In January, Condry filed a civil rights complaint over her firing with both the state and federal government. Her lawyer Andy McNulty said the complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Colorado Civil Rights Division were the first step before filing a lawsuit. He said by email on Monday that the Colorado Civil Rights Division had issued a “right to sue” notice in Condry’s case.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ violated health and safety rules, documents show

2025-11-26T00:12:33+00:00

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A Pueblo County school billed as Colorado’s “first public Christian school” has racked up more than a dozen zoning, building, and health code violations since opening this school year, according to documents obtained through a public records request.

And a local fire official said concerns about Riverstone Academy’s fire detection system prompted him to require patrols around the school every half hour.

The school employee tasked with that is “basically the fire alarm system,” said Rodney DeSiata, fire marshal and assistant fire chief at the Pueblo Rural Fire Protection District.

Riverstone, a K-5 school that describes itself as offering “a Christian foundation” and Christian curriculum, opened in August with about 30 elementary students, according to the school’s executive director.

Since then, four local departments have identified problems related to health, safety, and other rules and ordered school officials to make fixes, records show. The school is located in a former office in a light industrial zone near concrete, landscaping, and marijuana businesses.

Riverstone Academy occupies leased space in a building just outside Pueblo City limits.

Local officials said Riverstone skipped routine steps that should be followed when opening a school. While most public schools take more than a year to plan and launch, Riverstone opened in about three months.

In a statement emailed Tuesday, Riverstone Executive Director Quin Friberg said school officials have met with relevant county departments and are implementing their recommendations. Most updates, such as those from the health department, were completed weeks ago, he wrote.

“All departments confirmed that there are no health or safety concerns requiring closure, which is why we have been allowed to continue operating throughout this process,” he wrote. “ … We remain focused on serving our students and families with excellence and look forward to continuing to provide a safe, high-quality educational environment.”

An email obtained by Chalkbeat suggests that Riverstone was created to spur a lawsuit over the question of whether public money can be used for religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on such a case out of Oklahoma last spring. The Colorado lawyer who authored the email said he’d been approached by a Christian law firm about starting a new test case.

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

State officials warned Riverstone’s authorizer in October that they could withhold funding from the school because of its religious character, a step the authorizer described as unconstitutional. If the state follows through and withholds funding, that could trigger a lawsuit and a test case.

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, suggested that the school’s various code violations indicate its founders may have launched the school quickly to take advantage of the legal moment or because of a “move fast and break things” approach.

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t wait another year, create a more viable school and a stronger test case,” he said.

Riverstone faces 13 violations

Riverstone generated headlines and caught the attention of some public officials in mid-October when its authorizer’s leader publicly declared it Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”

Riverstone’s authorizer is Education reEnvisioned BOCES, or Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Colorado has 21 BOCES, which are public entities that typically provide special education services, teacher training, or other programming to member school districts.

Ken Witt, executive director of Education reEnvisioned BOCES, did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests for comment for this story.

By late October, local officials in Pueblo County had found at least 13 violations related to the school, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request. One, issued to the property owner, Jenna Wolfe LLC, was for locating a school in a zoning district where schools are not allowed. Wolfe declined to comment for this story.

County officials also found the building’s occupancy type was not changed from a business use to an educational use as it should have been, records show.

Another 11 violations were cited by the Pueblo County Department of Public Health and Environment during an Oct. 29 inspection. They included a lack of drinking fountains, lack of a bathroom near the health room, missing radon testing and asbestos management records, improperly stored chemicals, and a finding that “the school campus is not maintained to prevent fire hazards.”

In mid-November, Sheryl Gifford, a Riverstone official, told a Pueblo County health inspector by email that she was in the process of getting radon testing done and that an architect was working on site plans, records show.

She also noted that Riverstone students had access to bottled water and water from a dispenser, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request.

It’s not clear if parents of Riverstone students have been notified about the violations. Chalkbeat asked Riverstone for any emails or letters sent to parents about the violations or compliance issues, and school officials said no such records existed.

Authorities worry about lacking safety features

Multiple local officials told Chalkbeat they were moved to issue violations or demand extra precautions because of safety concerns.

DeSiata, the fire marshal, said when he learned from a news report this fall that Riverstone was up and running with students in the building, it was “an ‘oh no’ type of situation.”

“It was kind of like, ‘Wait a minute. This can’t be happening,’” he said. “Parents are trusting you with their kids. We have to make sure the safety features that are required for this are in place.”

DeSiata said he put Riverstone on fire watch, which requires someone with the ability to call 911 and evacuate students and staff to check every part of the building where a fire could occur every 30 minutes.

He said he’s placed other schools on fire watch from time to time, for example if their fire alarm systems weren’t functioning properly.

Mark Guerrero, a building official with the Pueblo Regional Building Department, said Riverstone moved into space designed for an office and used it for a school.

“They’re not allowed to do that,” he said. “We had enough concern to put these folks under violation, because if we had done nothing and something would have happened, we would have been blamed.”

Guerrero said school officials should have gotten a commercial permit and submitted plans to the county showing how they’d comply with building code rules for schools such as the number of exits needed for the number and ages of children on the premises. He said his department will require Riverstone to hire a design professional to do a code study to see if the building can be safely used as a school.

But first, he said, Riverstone is working with the Pueblo County Planning and Development Department to see if it will be allowed in the light industrial zone where it’s now located. County officials recently changed zoning rules to allow private schools in such zones under certain conditions.

Is this Christian school public or private? The answer has financial and legal implications.

To meet those conditions, county officials said, Riverstone will have to go through the county’s site development plan process and obtain a special use permit. Friberg said in his emailed statement that Riverstone is finalizing the remaining administrative steps to do so.

While Riverstone advertises itself as a public school and is seeking state funding, school officials have simultaneously described it as a private school on certain paperwork and to certain officials. Carmen Howard, director of the Pueblo County Planning and Development Department, told Chalkbeat the department considers the school private based on information “from Riverstone.”

The school’s commercial insurance policy lists Riverstone as a private school. The policy, obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request, is through Mutual Brotherhood, an Indiana company that insures Christian ministries, including churches and schools.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

How Colorado’s 2026 Teacher of the Year channeled his dislike of viral TikTok challenges

2025-11-18T23:06:37+00:00

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The TikTok challenges were getting to Stephen Paulson. The ones where students steal items like soap dispensers from school bathrooms or smash Chromebooks, all for a viral moment on social media.

Paulson, a social studies teacher at Greeley Central High School in northern Colorado, knew the episodes were not only damaging school property but also staff and community perceptions of students.

As school started in the fall of 2023, he had an idea. Paulson and one of his ninth grade classes spearheaded a monthly school clean-up day. It started with 20 students and soon grew to include students from all four grades and tasks far beyond picking up trash and wiping down desks. Students began helping out at every major school event, volunteering at local elementary schools, and joined service projects in the community.

“The magic of this project was giving students an opportunity to lead and give back to the school,” he said.

Paulson, who was recently named Colorado’s 2026 Teacher of the Year, talked to Chalkbeat about how the clean-up project helped change minds, why his students write personal essays about family migration, and what he did to give 10th graders hands-on career experiences.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

When I first enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado, I was planning to pursue a pre-law path. But within a day of college orientation, I switched my major to education. I have always been driven to help others and I felt that a career in education would allow me to support my community.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

I loved elementary school and found it very easy, but as I got to middle school, that all changed. I no longer enjoyed school and had very little success. I was even attempting to fake illnesses to get out of going. Eventually, I realized that I had to play the game of school, even though I did not enjoy it. I did my best to get good enough grades and test scores to attend college, but I could have accomplished much more.

I try to remember my own struggles when I am working with students to help them avoid the mistakes that I made or recover from them when they do fail. I try to be honest to a fault, supportive, and to push students to be their best.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

If you happened to walk into room 321 during sixth period AP Human Geography in late September, you would see 35 students, all new to AP, working on their first essay. The curriculum says students must demonstrate understanding of different types of migration, causes, and common patterns. Our mission is to show understanding through a narrative essay of our own family migration histories.

To understand why I care so much about this lesson, you must understand who sits in room 321. These 35 students represent our school, community, and the world. Many students in the class (roughly 60%) are English learners. There are over 10 ethnicities represented and five different languages spoken. Seven students are advanced while 11 are behind. Every type of person is represented and welcomed into our space.

The migration essay exemplifies one of my key beliefs: Every person in my classroom belongs, and all of their experiences are valuable and add to every lesson I teach.

What is the Career Mentor project? Why did you start it?

A fundamental part of my teacher identity is being part of Advancement Via Individual Determination or AVID, a nationwide program designed to help first generation students access college and their dream careers. The 10th grade year emphasizes career exploration.

For my first two AVID cohorts, we took a deep dive into career fields. Students took surveys, did research, wrote essays, and made poster boards that they presented to staff and students. But deep down, I felt like this wasn’t enough. Then two former AVID students gave me an idea: Get your students into the community to see these careers up close.

I put up a simple Facebook post explaining the goals of the project and the careers that students wanted to explore. I received hundreds of comments, texts, emails, and messages. Within a few days, we had 90 AVID sophomores paired up with “career mentors.”

The project has three parts: a professional email from students asking to set up an interview, the interview, and a one-day job shadowing experience followed by a reflection essay. Students got to teach mini-lessons as elementary teachers and spend time with doctors, nurses, and lawyers. Others even got to fly in planes at the Greeley airport to learn more about aviation careers.

At a time where public education is being questioned and challenged, our community got to meet our students and see how incredible they are. The students got to meet mentors and show that they really value their school, their education, and their community.

You helped start the Castle Clean Up. What is it and how did it evolve?

TikTok Challenges have encouraged negative behavior and school vandalism. Even though more than 95% of students are not involved, it impacts staff and community perceptions of all students.

As we returned for school in the fall of 2023, we had a staff meeting on student behavior concerns. I listened to the suggested solutions and felt we needed a different approach. I took my idea to our AVID classes. We began a program called the “Castle Clean Up.” (Greeley Central was built in 1927 and looks like a historic castle.)

Every month we would pick a day and stay after school to pick up trash inside the building and around the campus. We would also go in and wipe down every single desk and whiteboard in the school.

Office staff, teachers, custodians, and administrators were blown away by the number of students who showed up and how serious they took this task. The first clean-up was attended by freshmen in my AVID class but by the time the next date came, students from all four grades began to show up.

The number of students became so big that I had to find new ways for them to get involved. Students began volunteering to act as family liaisons and translators for back-to-school night and ninth grade orientation. They were student leaders and program advocates during parent-teacher conferences.

This simple project has done much more than making the halls and classrooms look more inviting and presentable. It’s created more positive interactions between students and staff and chipped away at negative perceptions. I cannot say that this project has completely changed the culture of a 1,600-student school, but what it has done is brought a wide range of students and staff together.

Staff members who made negative comments about student behavior in that staff meeting now contact me and ask for student volunteers to help with their events. We have even begun connecting with the local elementary and middle schools and volunteering at events like field days, track meets, and acting as mentors for younger students. This project started with about 20 students wearing rubber gloves and carrying trash bags and is now expanding out into the community of Greeley.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

I remember hosting parent-teacher conferences for the first time and having very poor attendance. I followed up later that week with families I was hoping to meet with, assuming that the language barrier was the reason they did not attend. I even had a translator call with me in hopes of resolving their concerns.

What I learned from those phone calls was many of my student’s parents did not get a formal education through 12th grade. In fact, many barely got to finish elementary school. So while language was a hurdle, the real issue was not feeling comfortable in an American school. They trusted me as an educator to a fault and would not even question me if I was wrong. This changed how I viewed school and its role in connecting students and families to the school itself.

I started sending home monthly newsletters that are translated so they feel more aware of what is happening in the classroom. I used to think that was an elementary school practice but it’s been well received by families. I also send them personal invitations to come to school and not mass communications and that makes them feel more welcomed.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I really enjoy understanding how people think and what they do to reach incredible levels of success. I am also a big sports fan and admire Coach Nick Saban. I am currently reading his book, “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban” by John Talty. I really love how he pushes others to reach their full potential and even go beyond what they thought they were capable of.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Catholic preschools appeal to Supreme Court in Colorado case over LGBTQ rights and religious liberty

2025-11-14T23:46:34+00:00

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Two Denver-area Catholic parishes asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to reconsider a lower court decision that said parish preschools participating in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program couldn’t deny admission to LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

The appeal to the Supreme Court comes about six weeks after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Catholic parishes, which had argued that enrolling children from LGBTQ families would conflict with their religious beliefs.

Gov. Jared Polis lauded the circuit court’s Sept. 30 ruling, which was a major win for the state.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the justices could answer a question at the heart of the case: Can private religious schools that accept public education dollars refuse to enroll certain kids based on religious principles? The state and two lower courts have said no. The Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, could give a different answer.

A spokesperson for Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which runs the state-funded preschool program, said officials won’t comment on pending or active litigation.

They asked for an exemption from state rules banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the Colorado Department of Early Childhood refused. The two preschools never joined the program, and in August 2023, the parishes that ran the preschools sued the state.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year, about 40 are religious.

Attorneys from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, have argued that Colorado is discriminating against the preschools based on religion.

“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket, said in a press release Friday.

The release suggests that Colorado’s rules barring discrimination have hurt Catholic preschool enrollment.

Since universal preschool began, “enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors, including one that predominantly served low-income and minority families,” the press release said.

Wellspring, one of two parish preschools involved in the case, did close last year when the K-8 school it was part of closed because of low enrollment and financial problems. A Catholic preschool in Denver also shuttered when the K-8 school it was part of — Guardian Angels Catholic School — closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year. At the time the Archdiocese of Denver announced the closure of Wellspring and Guardian Angels, it also announced the consolidation of two Catholic high schools into one campus.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

2025-11-12T20:08:19+00:00

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A prominent conservative law firm looking for a test case on whether public money can fund religious schools was the impetus for what’s been billed as Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” according to an email obtained by Chalkbeat.

In the June 4 email, Pueblo County School District 70 attorney Brad Miller wrote to the district’s school board and superintendent seeking permission for a public education cooperative he also represents to open a school with about 30 students within district boundaries.

Miller wrote that the cooperative would then work with Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based group involved in high-profile conservative legal causes, to test “the legalities around the issue of whether a public school may provide religious education.”

On June 24, the school board signed off on Riverstone Academy, allowing it to operate within the southern Colorado district’s boundaries for five years. In August, the school, which describes itself as offering “a Christian foundation” and Christian curriculum, opened quietly in an industrial zone in Pueblo County with about 30 elementary students.

Miller explained in that June email that Alliance Defending Freedom had hosted him when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about whether a Catholic charter school could open in Oklahoma.

“The case resulted in a 4-4 tie and so the question did not get answered,” Miller wrote. “ADF asked me if I could find a way for a parallel case to be initiated out of Colorado.”

In the email, Miller portrayed Pueblo 70’s role as minimal.

“We would anticipate that this will create a surge of public attention at a point in time,” he wrote. “But it would not be anything for which the district will have any participation.”

Neither Miller nor Alliance Defending Freedom responded to requests for comment for this story. Quin Friberg, Riverstone’s executive director, also didn’t respond.

Colorado has said it may withhold public funding

Friberg and Riverstone’s authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education services, or ERBOCES, have said the school offers quality educational programming the community wanted. Ken Witt, executive director of ERBOCES, also argued that previous Supreme Court cases require Colorado to fund the school just like other public schools. That’s despite a state constitutional provision that bars public funding for religious schools.

The June 4 email suggests Miller knew and had informed Pueblo 70 board members that Riverstone would be testing the existing limits of church-state separation. It also suggests that the school’s opening is part of a larger legal strategy to further expand public funding for religious education in the aftermath of the Oklahoma Catholic charter school case.

This ‘public Christian school’ opened quietly in Colorado. Now there could be a legal fight.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which describes its mission as “grounded in the historic Christian tradition,” has been involved in more than a dozen successful Supreme Court cases. That includes the Trinity Lutheran case, the first in a series of decisions that expanded public funding for religious private schools. The law firm then applied that same reasoning to argue for public funding for religious charter schools.

After the Oklahoma Catholic charter case ended in a tie that blocked the school from opening, observers have expected another test case to emerge. A recently proposed Jewish charter school in Oklahoma would reignite the same legal arguments.

Riverstone Academy could also provide a test case.

In October, Colorado education officials warned ERBOCES, the school authorizer, that the state may withhold public funding from the school. If the state follows through and the school or ERBOCES sue, it could set up the legal test case that Miller’s email referenced.

When asked by Chalkbeat in October if Riverstone’s opening was meant to spark a legal test case, Witt said, “If a legal contest is required, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Witt said by email on Monday he hadn’t seen Miller’s June email to Pueblo 70 officials, but that he has profound respect for Alliance Defending Freedom’s work.

“Education reEnvisioned would welcome their assistance were there related litigation, which there is not at this time,” he wrote.

Religion wasn’t discussed when school was approved

Most public officials involved in Riverstone’s opening didn’t respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment about Miller’s email. Miller hung up quickly Monday when Chalkbeat reached him by phone. He did not respond to a follow-up email. Miller represents several Colorado school districts that have taken conservative positions on various culture war issues.

Lis Richard, the president of the ERBOCES board, didn’t respond to Chalkbeat messages. Neither did Pueblo 70 Superintendent Ronda Rein or school board members A.J. Wilson, John Christenson, Cathleen Culhane Howland, and Chris DeLuca.

Pueblo 70’s school board was the only elected body that voted on Riverstone. Although BOCES like Education reEnvisioned are allowed to open public schools under state law, they must get the consent of the school district where the school will be located if the district is not a member of the BOCES. Pueblo 70 is not a member of ERBOCES.

The five members of the ERBOCES board, who are appointed not elected, also voted to approve the school, according to board meeting minutes.

At two June school board meetings where the Pueblo 70 board considered letting Riverstone open within district boundaries, neither board members nor Rein mentioned that the school would be religious or that it was intended to prompt a lawsuit.

The school’s religious affiliation wasn’t widely known until Witt, the ERBOCES leader, publicly declared that Riverstone was Colorado’s “first public Christian school” in October.

Shortly after that announcement, Pueblo 70 school board president Anne Ochs told Chalkbeat she hadn’t known it would be a religious school when she voted to approve it. The next day, she called back and said she knew the school planned to use Christian curriculum, but added, “to me that doesn’t make it a religious school.”

When Miller sent his June 4 email to the Pueblo 70 school board, an email exchange obtained by Chalkbeat shows Ochs replied to Miller four minutes later. “Thank you for the information,” she wrote. “We will discuss putting this on the June 24th agenda.”

Ochs started a job with Education reEnvisioned BOCES in July, shortly after the board’s Riverstone vote. Contacted this week about Miller’s email and her response, Ochs said:

“My constituents voted me in, and they wanted me in. I don’t get paid for this position. This is an elected position. I make my votes depending on what I feel is right.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s where lodging tax hikes for child care passed and failed in Colorado

2025-11-06T19:42:33+00:00

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Local ballot measures that will send new money to child care efforts across Colorado did pretty well at the polls this year, with voters approving six of nine proposals.

Sales tax measures in Larimer County and a western Colorado mountain resort region passed, as did lodging tax measures in Gilpin, Hinsdale, and Ouray counties. A lodging tax measure in Eagle County was passing by a narrow margin Thursday, but a county spokesperson said it’s possible the result could change as additional ballots are counted or cured in the coming days.

Voters in Chaffee, Custer, and Lincoln counties rejected lodging tax hikes on Election Day.

Together, the nine ballot measures represented a record number of local pitches for funding to support efforts that would create new child care seats or take other steps to help working parents and child care businesses. The blitz of ballot measures comes at a time when some state and federal funding is receding, and counties and other jurisdictions are looking for ways to fill the gap. Over the last several years, Colorado lawmakers have also given communities new ways to raise local money and more flexibility in spending it.

In Hinsdale County, the lodging tax increase will raise $240,000 a year, with about $50,000 going to child care efforts. The new funding will help boost staff wages at Wee Care, one of two licensed child care facilities in the county.

“We were so excited and relieved,” Lily Virden, a Wee Care board member, said of the lodging tax win.

Wages are so low at the center — the director makes about $20 an hour — that it’s hard to keep staff, she said. Last year, the center had to close on 21 days it was scheduled to be open because employees were sick or absent, and there was no way to staff it properly.

The lodging tax proceeds earmarked for child care may also be used to provide tuition assistance to families or stipends to child care employees so they can buy health insurance — a benefit not currently offered at Wee Care, Virden said.

The four lodging taxes approved Tuesday bring the number of Colorado communities that allow proceeds from such levies to be used for child care efforts to more than a dozen. Last year, voters in La Plata and Grand counties and the City of Montrose approved such taxes and in 2023, the town of Ridgway in southwestern Colorado did. Summit, Clear Creek, and San Juan counties, and towns like Estes Park, also have lodging taxes that allocate a portion for early childhood efforts.

Especially in Colorado’s tourist destinations, lodging taxes are an appealing way to generate funding because they generally apply to out-of-town visitors staying at hotels or short-term rentals, not locals.

Such taxes became even more versatile in 2022, when state lawmakers expanded allowable uses for lodging tax proceeds to include housing and child care among other things. The idea is that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to efforts that support a stable workforce.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Two sales taxes for child care are passing, one reversing early lag

2025-11-06T19:14:13+00:00

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A Larimer County ballot measure that would send millions to child care efforts pulled ahead late Wednesday afternoon after almost 24 hours where it looked like it might be defeated.

If the measure stays ahead as the final votes are counted, it will be one of two local sales tax levies approved by Colorado voters this year to support child care providers and parents with young children. The other measure, which passed easily, would create the state’s first early childhood special district in Garfield and Pitkin counties and part of Eagle County — what backers call the Aspen-to-Parachute corridor.

The measures in Larimer County and the special district both asked voters for a .25% sales tax increase, the equivalent of 25 cents on every $100 spent. The levies would not apply to food, gas, diapers, or prescription drugs. The proceeds in both cases would help families pay for child care, boost pay for child care workers, and fund child care facility expansion or improvement.

Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, said Wednesday night she was cautiously optimistic that the measure will pass.

“I think we’re in a really good spot,” she said. “All the people I’ve talked to, all the doors that I’ve knocked, it felt like this was where we were headed, and so I had faith all day.”

Taylor said that around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday she saw results come in that pushed the ballot measure over 50%.

Maggie Tiscornia, outreach director for the ballot measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties, said she watched the results come in with dozens of supporters at a Carbondale restaurant Tuesday night.

“I’m just incredibly proud and grateful for all of our community support,” she said.

The prospect of creating a “more affordable, more accessible and more welcoming community for families with young children” resonated with voters, she said.

The two ballot issues are the most ambitious among a record number of pitches across Colorado this year that would send new money to child care. In addition to the two sales tax measures, voters in seven rural counties — Chaffee, Custer, Eagle, Gilpin, Hinsdale, Lincoln, and Ouray counties — are deciding on lodging taxes that could generate new funding for child care facilities or related efforts.

Asking voters to raise local taxes to support child care efforts isn’t new, but Colorado lawmakers have made it more attractive in recent years by giving communities new ways to do it. In addition, as federal and state funding recedes, local leaders are looking to ease the budget pinch for pressing needs, including child care and housing.

The measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties is particularly notable because it represents the first use of a 2019 state law that allowed the creation of early childhood special districts. Similar to fire or library districts, the idea behind early childhood districts is that multiple communities or counties can band together and ask voters within their boundaries to levy taxes specifically for early childhood efforts.

The sales tax in the new district, which would be called Confluence Early Childhood Development Special Service District, would generate about $12 million a year.

Tiscornia said the sales tax increase in the new Confluence district will take effect on Jan. 1, and that the new money won’t start funding early childhood initiatives until the second half of 2026.

The sales tax measure in Larimer would generate nearly $29 million a year. Some of the money would be used for sliding-scale child care subsidies, with every family eligible for some help, said Taylor.

Another chunk of the money would be used for quarterly wage subsidies for child care employees, many of whom earn $16 to $19 an hour. A smaller amount would help providers upgrade or expand their facilities.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Progressive school board candidates make inroads in races across Colorado

2025-11-06T02:28:28+00:00

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Voters opted for more progressive candidates in key school board races across Colorado on Tuesday, in some cases breaking the hold of conservative board majorities and in others adding more left- or center-leaning voices to right-leaning boards.

The shift was in keeping with the blue wave that helped Democrats prevail in high-profile races around the county this year, including gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey and on a redistricting ballot question in California championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Tuesday’s election will sweep aside conservative-leaning school board majorities in at least three Colorado districts. They include Douglas County, the state’s third largest district, which has been controlled by a conservative-leaning board that faced multiple lawsuits and protests over the last four years. Woodland Park, which borders Douglas County, and Mesa County Valley District 51, which is based in Grand Junction, also flipped seats previously held by conservative-leaning board members. Woodland Park in particular has been roiled by school board tumult in recent years, with staff resignations, teacher gag orders, and religious proselytization by some board members.

In some districts, such as Pueblo 70 and Montezuma-Cortez, board members elected Tuesday could nudge right-leaning boards toward the center. While Colorado school board races are non-partisan, candidates often get support from the Democratic or Republican party or from people or groups with party affiliations. For example, two candidates who lost their bids for seats on the Cherry Creek school board received donations from a top Trump administration official, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

With many newly elected candidates backed by teachers unions, including in Denver, Jeffco, and Cherry Creek, Tuesday’s results could bring about more union-friendly policies in some districts. In others, new board dynamics could mean less time devoted to hot-button issues such as library book removals, transgender student athletes, and how social studies is taught.

Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, doesn’t see the school board shifts that occurred Tuesday as a dramatic swing from conservative to liberal.

“Instead of right to left ... it’s kind of right to center,” he said.

He said the election results show that voters are tired of extremist politics in school board decision-making.

“I think communities have really grown weary of that,” he said.“I know educators have really grown weary of the attacks on their profession and their schools.”

Durango is one district where the left-leaning board stayed solidly intact Tuesday. Three incumbents, all backed by the teachers union, won their races by large margins. The 4,500-student district in southwestern Colorado has been the target recently of a conservative news outlet called Rocky Mountain Voice, founded by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl.

Ken Davis, the chair of the El Paso County Republican party, said it wasn’t a good year for conservative school board candidates in most of Colorado. Frustration over the federal government shutdown and disruptions to the federal SNAP program may have helped shape voters’ views this year, he said.

“I think it’s just an example of how what’s happening nationally can have an impact locally,” he said.

Davis also said some conservative-minded voters who helped elect conservative candidates two years ago may have become less engaged this time around.

“Maybe they felt like they had some wins on these issues,” he said, and they’ve dropped out of the conversation.

Despite big gains for progressive or centrist school board candidates around the state, conservative candidates did win in some districts, including Colorado Springs 11 and Academy 20 in El Paso County.

“The truth is it’s one of the largest red counties in the country,” said Davis. “We’re kind of in a bubble in El Paso County.”

Election results are still up in the air for one of the county’s most high-profile districts. That is District 49, which has a conservative-leaning school board, recently passed controversial policies on transgender student athletes and is now involved in a conflict with the state over a “public Christian school.”

While one conservative incumbent was reelected in District 49 onTuesday, another, Jamilynn D’Avola, remains in a neck-and-neck race with a progressive newcomer, Holly Withers. If Withers wins, the board’s politics could shift leftward.

Withers said on the campaign trail that she was “here to squash the culture war.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Is this Christian school public or private? The answer has financial and legal implications.

2025-10-29T23:00:49+00:00

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Riverstone Academy, a new school in southern Colorado, has been billed as Colorado’s “first public Christian school” by its authorizer. Its website calls it a public elementary school.

But some state and county officials say Riverstone is a private school — a designation that means different rules on everything from fire and building inspections to funding and student achievement.

Riverstone’s murky status could become a key factor in a potential legal fight over whether the state will fund the school, as Riverstone’s backers want. Public schools in Colorado are entitled to state education funding but private schools are not.

The school, in leased space just outside Pueblo city limits, has four classrooms and just over 30 students. It first garnered headlines and sparked consternation among state education officials in early October. That’s when Ken Witt, the leader of the group that authorized the school, declared at a public meeting that Riverstone is Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”

The news caught some elected officials and members of the public by surprise, because Riverstone opened quietly with no reference to its religious affiliation in at least three key start-up documents, Chalkbeat found. Riverstone’s website says the school offers a “Christian foundation” and mentions Christian curriculum.

On Oct. 10, the day after Witt’s declaration, the Colorado Department of Education threatened to withhold public funding from the school in a letter to Witt’s group, Education reEnvisioned BOCES. The group, based near Colorado Springs, is one of 21 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services in the state.

Will this ‘public Christian school’ spur the next big legal fight over religion in education?

Witt said repeatedly in a recent interview with Chalkbeat that Riverstone is a public school because it is authorized by a BOCES, which are allowed to authorize public schools under Colorado law, and has a school code from the Colorado Department of Education.

Information about Riverstone being characterized as a private school in certain situations emerged after Chalkbeat requested information from the Pueblo County Planning and Development Department about the school’s location on Aspen Circle. The area is zoned “light industrial,” a designation that permits a variety of businesses, including marijuana operations, warehouses, and freight depots, but not elementary schools.

Carmen Howard, the department’s director, confirmed by email this week that the property occupied by the school is not in compliance with county zoning regulations but did not answer follow up questions about whether the school can continue operating there.

“Our department is working through the standard process to bring the property into compliance under the County’s Unified Development Code,” she wrote. “Because this is an active zoning case, we’re limited in what we can share, but we can confirm that the use as it’s currently operating is not permitted at that location.”

On Wednesday, Howard noted by email that the department considers the school private based on information “from Riverstone.” In November, Pueblo County commissioners will consider a proposal to allow private schools in light industrial zones.

Quin Friberg, Riverstone’s executive director, said by text that the school is run by a private organization via a contract with a public entity, “so when talking with zoning they said for their purposes it would be considered private.”

“We have also been working since July to get the zoning corrected and are optimistic that will happen soon,” he wrote. “There is a plan in place that everyone has agreed to in order to resolve the issue.”

He didn’t respond to follow-up questions from Chalkbeat about the plan.

Chalkbeat also inquired about Riverstone’s status with the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, which typically oversees building code and fire code compliance for public schools.

An unsigned email from the division’s public information office on Wednesday said, “Riverstone Academy is being deemed a private school” and referred questions to local officials in Pueblo County.

Officials have different takes on Riverstone’s Christian affiliation

Riverstone came about through an unusual arrangement involving Education reEnvisioned BOCES, two nonprofit groups, and two school districts 60 miles apart. Unlike most public schools, which typically take more than a year to plan and open, Riverstone was proposed and launched within months.

The first day of school was Aug. 11, less than three months after a tie at the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the nation’s first religious charter school from opening in Oklahoma. Lawyers in that case argued not that Oklahoma should fund religious public schools, but that charter schools aren’t really public. Instead they described them as semi-private entities, more like a nonprofit that contracts with the state to provide a service.

Many observers expect advocates for publicly funded religious education to find a new test case, one where Amy Coney Barrett, who recused herself from the Oklahoma case, could cast a potentially decisive vote.

It’s not clear if Riverstone will become that test, but its backers have forcefully pushed back against the Colorado Department of Education’s argument that public schools can’t be religious.

Witt said in an Oct. 21 letter to the department that he was “alarmed at the threat” to Riverstone’s funding, and that not funding the school because of its religious affiliation would amount to religious discrimination.

Along with mixed messages about whether Riverstone is public or private, there are still questions about whether public officials who had a hand in allowing the school to open knew it was a religious school.

Asked if she knew of Riverstone’s Christian affiliation before she voted to approve a contract with the school, Lis Richard, president of the Education reEnvisioned BOCES, first said she was puzzled by Chalkbeat’s question.

“Every public school and district in the state of Colorado has a ‘Christian’ affiliation by the shear (sic) fact that there are Christians who attend their schools an (sic) serve in their district,” she wrote by email.

Asked if she was aware that Riverstone planned to offer a “Christian foundation” and “Christian curriculum,” she said she was.

But Anne Ochs, president of the Pueblo District 70 school board, said she didn’t consider Riverstone a religious school when her board voted in June to approve an agreement that would allow the school to open within district boundaries.

She said she knew the school planned to use Christian curriculum, but “to me that doesn’t make it a religious school.”

Ochs said she took a job with Education reEnvisioned BOCES in July, but had not yet interviewed for the position when she voted to approve the Riverstone agreement.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

ICE agents detain Colorado teacher after routine immigration appointment

2025-10-28T22:37:10+00:00

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A fifth grade teacher from a metro Denver charter school was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.

The teacher is now being held with family members, including minor children, in a Texas detention center, according to a letter sent to school staff by Stacy Bush, principal of Global Village Academy-Douglas County in Parker.

The teacher was arrested with her family on Friday during a routine immigration appointment at a Centennial ICE office, the letter said.

Michael Henderson, executive director of Global Village Academy Collaborative, which oversees the Parker school and two other Colorado locations of the language immersion school, said in a statement that the network had inspected the teacher’s employment documentation forms and conducted a background check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

“This employee has a valid employment authorization document, authorizing her lawful employment in the United States, with any U.S. employer through the spring of 2029,” he wrote.

The teacher is from Peru and has taught at Global Village Academy-Douglas County since July, according to a LinkedIn account that matches her name. Chalkbeat is not naming the teacher to protect her privacy. The school’s Douglas County campus offers language immersion programs in Spanish, French, and Mandarin.

Global Village Academy Collaborative is one of several plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit against the Trump administration over a federal plan to charge $100,000 for each worker on an H-1B visa, a type of visa that allows American companies to employ foreign workers in certain jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher.

President Trump unveiled the proclamation on H-1B visas on Sept. 19, with the new rule taking effect on Sept. 21. The lawsuit was filed in early October by Democracy Forward and other legal organizations on behalf of groups that represent nurses, doctors, teachers, college professors, researchers, and religious workers.

Henderson declined to comment on whether the teacher is an H-1B visa holder.

The lawsuit is ongoing, but the Trump administration recently appeared to ease the new visa rules. Updated language on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website suggests that generally the $100,000 fee may not apply to people already in the United States who are changing from certain immigration statuses to H-1B visas.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Chris Gdowski, of Adams 12 schools, is Colorado’s 2026 Superintendent of the Year

2025-10-24T20:16:27+00:00

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Chris Gdowski, superintendent of the Adams 12 school district north of Denver, has been named Colorado’s 2026 Superintendent of the Year by two state groups for education officials.

Gdowski, who’s led the 35,000-student district for 16 years, was lauded by the groups for raising graduation rates, especially for Hispanic students, increasing the district’s career and technical education offerings, and overseeing two voter-approved bonds to improve district facilities.

Two Colorado education groups named Chris Gdowski the state's 2026 Superintendent of the Year.

A press release on the award also noted that he’s invested resources in schools serving large populations of low-income students, including by starting STEM and international baccalaureate programs and creating a newcomer center for recent immigrants at Thornton High School.

The Superintendent of the Year award is given out by the Colorado Association of School Executives and the Colorado Association of Superintendents and Senior Administrators. Last year’s winner was Deirdre Pilch, superintendent of the Greeley-Evans school district in northern Colorado.

Gdowski will represent Colorado in the National Superintendent of the Year award contest held by the School Superintendents Association.

In the press release from the Colorado Association of School Executives, Gdowski called the state award a “tremendous honor for him and the district.

“I am grateful to our staff members for their commitment to serving our diverse community and the doors of opportunity that we’ve opened for our young people,” he said.

Members of the state selection committee described Gdowski as a student-focused leader who takes a thoughtful approach to tough issues, according to the press release.

In the release, Keith Owen, a member of the selection committee and superintendent of the Fountain-Fort Carson district, described Gdowski as a servant leader.

“Not only is he passionate about serving students in his own district, but he is also a strong advocate for Colorado public education at the state level,” he said.

Gdowski attended Adams 12 schools himself, graduating from Thornton High School in 1985. He served as the district’s legal counsel before becoming superintendent in 2009.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This ‘public Christian school’ opened quietly in Colorado. Now there could be a legal fight.

2025-10-22T01:53:22+00:00

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A group that authorized what its leader called Colorado’s “first public Christian school” told the state education department Tuesday that it would be unconstitutional to deny the school state funding.

The school, called Riverstone Academy, opened quietly in southern Colorado this August, just months after a tie at the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the nation’s first religious charter school from opening in Oklahoma.

Riverstone Academy’s website describes a tuition-free public elementary school that “blends strong academics with classical values, hands-on trade-based learning, and a Christian foundation.”

Riverstone Academy's Facebook page cites the school's "Christian Foundation."

But Colorado’s constitution requires that public schools be nonsectarian — meaning not religious — and the Colorado Department of Education is pushing back. Department officials have suggested that Riverstone students may not be eligible for public funding. The school’s backers said they are “alarmed at the threat” and that not funding the school would amount to religious discrimination.

If the disagreement were to end up in court, the outcome of any legal challenge likely would turn as much on the bureaucratic details of how Riverstone Academy is organized and authorized as on larger constitutional questions of religious freedom. And Riverstone Academy likely won’t be the last case to test the boundaries between church and state and the evolving definition of a public school.

“The people who want to tear down the wall of separation between church and state are going to keep pushing these issues because they think they have a sympathetic audience in the current Supreme Court,” said Steven Green, a law professor at Willamette University who specializes in church-state issues.

Few mentions of school’s Christian character in paperwork

Riverstone Academy opened this fall and has just over 30 students occupying four classrooms in a leased space just outside Pueblo city limits. It was authorized by Education reEnvisioned BOCES. The group is one of the state’s 21 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, which offer services such as special education to member school districts.

Riverstone Academy includes four classrooms and a few offices.

Riverstone exists due to an unusual arrangement involving the authorizer, two nonprofit groups, and two school districts 60 miles apart. Unlike most public schools, which typically take more than a year to plan and open, Riverstone was proposed and launched within months.

Quin Friberg, Riverstone’s executive director, said the school is meant to serve local families who seek an education that “feels like private school but doesn’t cost like private school.”

“I mean that in the sense of smaller classrooms, the religious element, and … we have an emphasis on kind of hands-on [activities],” he said.

Quin Friberg is the executive director of both Riverstone Academy and Forging Education.

Over the summer, BOCES authorized the school and contracted with Riverstone Academy, a new nonprofit Friberg heads, to run it. Riverstone subcontracted with a two-year-old Christian education nonprofit called Forging Education, which Friberg also leads, to help run the school.

District 49, which is based near Colorado Springs, is one of the two school districts that belong to the Education reEnvisioned BOCES and serves as the groups’ fiscal agent. An hour south is Pueblo District 70, which is not part of the BOCES but approved an agreement to allow Riverstone to open within its boundaries.

References to the school’s Christian character are absent or muted in Riverstone’s application materials and contracts. An application for a school code submitted to the state in late June makes no mention of Riverstone’s religious nature. It also went unmentioned in the agreement approved by the Pueblo 70 school board in late June and in the contract between the school and the BOCES approved by the BOCES board in August.

Friberg said Riverstone wasn’t hiding anything, but that the school’s religious foundation wasn’t a relevant response to questions on some of the documents.

Unlike the Oklahoma Catholic school at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Riverstone is not a charter school. Rather, both the BOCES and the Colorado education department have referred to it as a “contract school,” a term that’s not defined in state law.

Ken Witt, executive director of the BOCES, said Riverstone is a public school because it was authorized by the BOCES, and the application went through the BOCES’ normal review process.

“It was a quality educational program that they were describing,” he said. “And we said, [the] U.S. Constitution and federal law says you don’t discriminate based on religion, so we are not going to discriminate based on religion.”

State officials warn that religious public schools are not allowed

Although the first day of school at Riverstone was Aug. 11, state officials didn’t address its Christian affiliation until two months later.

That’s when Witt described Riverstone as “Colorado’s first public Christian school” near the end of a routine 12-minute update about his group’s programming at a District 49 school board meeting on Oct. 9.

“We’re delighted that they came to us and said, ‘Hey, we’d like to operate this school,’” he told the board.

He then cited a 2020 Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which found that states could not exclude religious schools from private school voucher programs.

Witt has long been involved in the Colorado education world, frequently championing conservative positions, including expanded school choice. He was recalled from the Jeffco school board in 2015 following anger over proposed changes to the district’s AP U.S. history curriculum and other issues. In March, Witt resigned as superintendent of the Woodland Park school district.

The BOCES contract with Riverstone states that “The School shall constitute a public school in Colorado” and be subject to all applicable state laws. But it also describes Riverstone as “a provider of educational services at the School” and says Riverstone “is not itself a ‘public school.’”

At the Oct. 9 meeting, one member of the District 49 school board, which leans conservative, expressed alarm after Witt’s briefing on Riverstone.

“Eroding that separation of church and state is very concerning, and for us to be a partner in that … does not sit well with me,” board member Mike Heil said.

Board president Lori Thompson immediately responded, “Just a note of clarification, separation of church and state is not contained in the United States Constitution.”

“Separation of church and state” commonly refers to the First Amendment’s prohibition on government-established religion, but the actual phrase does not appear in the Constitution.

The day after the board meeting, the Colorado Department of Education sent a letter to District 49 and Education reEnvisioned BOCES warning that religious public schools are not permitted under the Colorado Constitution.

The Gazette first reported on the Oct. 9 board meeting and the education department letter.

On Tuesday, District 49 sent a statement to Chalkbeat indicating that district officials will request funding for Riverstone students and let the education department and the BOCES “have appropriate dialogue about eligibility.”

Also on Tuesday, Witt responded to the Colorado Department of Education’s warning letter.

“The U.S. Constitution prohibits discrimination against Riverstone solely on account of its religious affiliation as such exclusion from a generally available governmental benefit would be unconstitutional,” his letter said in part.

A spokesperson for the education department said officials there are reviewing that letter.

Riverstone Academy is relying on a loan from Forging Education — not state money — to operate the school for the first several months.

When asked if he’s worried about the state withholding funding, Friberg said “I’ll just say we went in eyes wide open … on every implication of what we’re doing.”

Is Riverstone the next St. Isidore?

After Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself due to a long-standing friendship with an adviser to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the Supreme Court justices tied 4-4. That meant the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that blocked the opening of a Catholic charter school remained intact.

The justices didn’t lay out their thinking, leaving open questions about where the line is. But if Riverstone Academy’s backers say it’s a public school, it might not be a good candidate for such a test, Green and others said.

The trio of cases that have redrawn the line between church and state — Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson — all involve a religious entity being denied access to a benefit that was available to the general public or to secular entities.

Those conditions don’t apply to public schools. Lawyers in the St. Isidore case argued not that Oklahoma should fund religious public schools, but that charter schools aren’t really public.

“A public school cannot be religious,” said Thomas Jipping, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, fund a religious school directly. That’s as established as it gets.”

Riverstone opened without much public scrutiny

BOCES generally operate less publicly and less transparently than many school districts.

Education reEnvisioned BOCES doesn’t record its meetings, and some recent board agendas and minutes are not posted online because the group is revamping its website, Witt said. As is true of other BOCES, Education reEnvisioned board members are not elected by the public, but rather appointed by school districts or colleges that are BOCES members or by BOCES board members.

Originally launched under a different name in 2013, the BOCES authorizes several online and bricks and mortar schools as well as more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs around the state.

Last May, Riverstone Academy submitted a new school application to the BOCES.

In June, the BOCES asked the Pueblo 70 school board to approve an agreement allowing Riverstone to open in the district. During a June 10 board discussion of the agreement, which doesn’t mention that the school is Christian, one board member asked Superintendent Ronda Rein if she had anything to share about the school.

She said the school would have 30 students, then said, “That’s really all the information that I have at this point.”

Neither Rein nor any of the district’s five board members responded to messages from Chalkbeat asking if they knew about Riverstone’s religious foundation prior to agreeing to let it open in the district.

Witt said the BOCES didn’t conceal the school’s Christian affiliation in conversations with Pueblo District 70 leaders.

District 49’s school board wasn’t involved in Riverstone’s authorization. However, if the state eventually agrees to fund the school, the money would pass first to District 49, then the BOCES, and then Riverstone.

A copy of Riverstone’s application, provided to Chalkbeat by Witt, makes only one mention of Christian features in a paragraph about science instruction. It notes the use of a curriculum called Berean Builders offering “a Christian worldview in their exploration of scientific topics.” A paragraph about social studies instruction mentions Master Books, but doesn’t say it’s a Christian home school curriculum.

Witt said BOCES board members were aware of the school’s religious affiliation when they approved it in August. The minutes for that meeting are not posted online.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado voters: Child care funding measures could be coming to a ballot near you

2025-10-20T16:46:47+00:00

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This election season, eight Colorado communities will ask voters to consider new taxes that could be used to support child care efforts.

The ballot measures, most in mountain resort areas, represent a record number of local pitches for money to bolster a notoriously low-margin sector and help working families who struggle to find child care or cover the cost of tuition.

Five communities — Chaffee, Custer, Eagle, Gilpin, and Hinsdale counties — are asking voters to approve lodging tax increases, with child care efforts one of several potential uses for the new funding. Ouray County is asking voters to pass a new lodging tax. A state law passed last spring that increased the maximum lodging tax counties can levy from 2% to 6% helped fuel the flurry of requests this year.

Two other ballot questions — in Larimer County and a region made up of Pitkin and Garfield counties and a corner of Eagle County — ask voters for .25% sales taxes. The levies, which would not apply to food, gas, diapers, or prescription drugs, would produce millions of dollars in annual revenue exclusively for early childhood initiatives.

There’s organized opposition to the ballot measure in Chaffee County, where critics say the lodging tax increase would drive tourists to other destinations and hurt local businesses. Most of the other counties with tax measures that could send money to child care don’t have organized opposition groups. Still, some residents and lodging providers have objected to the new taxes for reasons similar to those in Chaffee County. In addition, they say counties should focus on core services and make do with the tax money they’re already collecting.

The measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties is particularly notable because it would create Colorado’s first early childhood development special district, a region with taxing authority enabled by a 2019 state law. The idea is that multiple communities or counties can band together and ask voters within their boundaries to levy taxes for early childhood efforts.

Maggie Tiscornia, outreach director for the ballot campaign, said, “It would just be not only a first in the state, but really a first locally as well to have something truly regional.”

The new early childhood district would stretch from Aspen to Parachute, reflecting “how our community operates in our economic corridor and how our families move across jurisdictions,” she said.

The new funding — about $10 million a year — would boost wages for child care staff, provide tuition subsidies to families, and award grants to providers to expand or improve their space.

The sales tax measure in Larimer would generate nearly $29 million. Some of the money would be used for sliding-scale child care subsidies, with every family eligible for some help, said Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County.

Taylor said there’s no guarantee the sales tax will pass, but previous polling shows “a narrow path to victory.”

If that happens, she said, “I’ll make a huge dent in a very big problem.”

Lodging taxes a boon in mountain resort areas

About a dozen Colorado cities, counties, or local marketing districts — from Estes Park in northern Colorado to La Plata County in southwestern Colorado — already have lodging taxes that allow some proceeds to be used for early childhood purposes. Lodging taxes don’t typically raise huge sums but advocates say they can help with local needs at a time when federal and state funding is receding.

Stacy Terrill, who leads Custer County’s early childhood council, said the county has only two licensed child care providers: a home-based business and a center run by the school district. Both facilities are closed on Friday and the school district doesn’t operate during the summer.

She said she’s heard parents say, “It’s not worth me trying to find a job” because child care is expensive and hard to find.

If the county’s lodging tax passes, it would bring in around $90,000 a year for child care, which Terrill said could be used to help offer Friday and summer care, and to train new child care workers to cover those times.

Some communities with proposed lodging taxes say the money would help with the cost of building new child care facilities, maintaining existing ones, or providing local matching funds required for certain kinds of grants.

Jake Niece, who spoke in his personal capacity not in his role as a Ouray County commissioner, said feedback from the community indicated little interest in using local taxes to cover day-to-day child care operations, but a willingness to use some for capital costs.

If passed, most of the county’s new 6% lodging tax would probably go first to emergency medical services, but some could eventually be earmarked for child care, he said. Like most of the lodging taxes on the ballot, Ouray County’s new 6% levy wouldn’t apply to municipalities in the county, only to unincorporated areas.

Niece, who expects the lodging tax vote to be close, said the shortage of both child care and affordable housing can make it hard for young families to stay in the county of about 5,000 people.

“We lose good people from our community,” he said.

Jace Hochwalt, community development director for the City of Montrose, which passed a lodging tax increase last year, knows the feeling.

Just after he and his wife moved to Montrose from Grand Junction three years ago, they discovered they were expecting their first baby.

“It was like an ‘oh no’ moment,” he said. “We contemplated moving back, frankly.”

They weren’t sure they could find a child care spot for their baby in Montrose, whereas Grand Junction was just finishing a child care center with seats for the children of city staff and community members.

Hochwalt and his wife, who are now expecting their second child, ended up staying in Montrose, and today the city is working on converting an old school district building to a child care center.

About $150,000 collected from the lodging tax approved in 2024 will be used for the $850,000 renovation.

Hochwalt said they’ll send their new baby to the center when it opens next spring and their older son after he finishes the school year with his current provider.

Once the new center is done, other local child care providers will be able to access some of the lodging tax money for help with costly improvements like HVAC or roof repairs, he said.

“Those are big ticket items,” he said. “I think it certainly helps the bottom line for [child care providers] to just continue to be able to stay in business.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado district was sued after removing library books. It’s fundraising for legal fees.

2025-10-15T23:02:02+00:00

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The first thing visitors to the Elizabeth School District website see is a pop-up window with an unusual message: an invitation to help cover legal fees incurred in a lawsuit over library book removals.

The appeal by the 2,700-student district southeast of Denver is part of a broader effort supported by at least three conservative groups, including one led by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl, to raise money to defend the district against the lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit against the district in December alleging that the Elizabeth school board’s vote to remove 19 books from school libraries violates federal and state free speech protections. The books, which are now back on shelves because of a court order, are primarily by or about LGBTQ people, people of color, or both.

While school district fundraisers for things like classroom supplies or field trips are common, asking parents and the public for money to pay lawyers is not. The heading on the donation page hosted by Ganahl’s group reads “Save Elizabeth School District,” with buttons underneath suggesting donations ranging from $250 to $10,000.

A conservative news outlet, Rocky Mountain Voice, is running a fundraising page for the district's legal costs.

It isn’t clear from publicly posted district financial records how much the Elizabeth School District has spent on the library book lawsuit. District officials declined to answer that question.

The plaintiffs in the case include two district students, a chapter of the NAACP, and the Authors Guild, a professional organization for writers. Their lawyers argue that the removal of the books violates federal and state free speech protections. Among the titles removed were “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, and “It’s Your World — If You Don’t Like It, Change It” by Mikki Halpin.

Lawyers for the district argue that the books were removed because of concerns they weren’t age-appropriate, lacked educational value, and included sensitive content such as graphic violence, explicit sexual references, extreme drug or alcohol use, and self harm ideation.

Elizabeth Superintendent Dan Snowberger declined a telephone interview with Chalkbeat, but wrote in a text that the district’s finances are sound and that the lawsuit’s genesis is what’s unusual about the situation.

“It’s unusual for a behemoth organization like the ACLU with a major financial war chest to come after a small rural district,” he wrote. “We will not allow them to impact the educational opportunities for our children in the district, and will do everything necessary to mobilize outside forces to protect our children.”

The Elizabeth School District has portrayed its legal fight against the ACLU as a David and Goliath story. On social media and in board meetings, some community members have supported the district’s decision to remove the books and its fight against the lawsuit. A common objection to the books is that some passages are too graphic for students, such as those that describe sexual assaults.

A pop-up window tells visitors to the Elizabeth district website how they can donate to cover legal fees.

Other community members oppose both the book removals and the fundraising campaign.

Jessica Capsel, an Elizabeth resident whose son attended school in the district until she switched him out last year, said she believes the time and money district officials are spending on the lawsuit are distracting them from educating kids.

“That pop up [window] begging for money pops up every time you change a page” on the district’s website, said Capsel, who won a lawsuit against the district over open meeting violations last spring but is not directly involved in the library book lawsuit. “So clearly that’s where their priority has been.”

Tim Macdonald, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, said by email that the organization didn’t “come after” Elizabeth. Instead, he said, district students and families wanted the district to comply with the Constitution and stop banning books that have content or viewpoints with which board members disagree.

“Fighting for the constitutional rights of students in Colorado is how we protect children; violating their constitutional rights is not protecting children,” he wrote.

Elizabeth’s legal costs and fundraiser totals are opaque

It’s unclear how much money the Elizabeth district has spent fighting the book removal lawsuit in the 10 months since it was filed.

Financial records on the district’s website suggest modest spending on the two primary law firms representing the district. Only about $6,500 was paid to First and Fourteenth, which has a location in Colorado Springs, and nothing was paid to Mitchell Law, located in Austin, Texas, during the first six months of 2025.

The district spent about $57,000 in that same period on a third firm, Miller, Farmer, Carlson Law. That firm typically handles routine matters for the district but is also listed in court documents as representing the district in the book removal case.

It’s also unclear much money has been raised to cover legal fees for the district’s lawsuit and where that money is going.

Ganahl, whose conservative news outlet Rocky Mountain Voice is running the online donation page titled “Save Elizabeth School District,” didn’t respond to Chalkbeat questions about how much her group has raised and whether the money is being sent to the school district.

She sent a statement that said in part, “Our fundraising assistance supports the board in exercising its authority to curate age-appropriate library content, responding to parental concerns about sensitive themes like explicit content or divisive topics.”

Julian Ellis, one of the district’s lawyers from First and Fourteenth Law, also didn’t respond to emailed questions about how much money he’s collected. The district’s website lists Ellis as the person designated to receive paper checks — payable to an Alexandria, Virginia, group called the Article III Foundation — to help cover the district’s legal costs.

Lori Gimelshteyn, executive director of the parents rights group Parents United America, which hosts an online donation page for Elizabeth’s legal costs, didn’t respond to Chalkbeat questions about how much her group raised and where the money is going.

A fourth partner in the Elizabeth district’s legal fee fundraising effort is Citizens Defending Freedom, based in Mulberry, Florida. The group last Thursday held a “Protect Our Children” fundraiser for Elizabeth at a Colorado Springs church, with the ticket proceeds going to Ganahl’s group. A flyer circulating on Facebook said the cost ranged from $100 for a single ticket to $2,000 for the “platinum” package, which included 10 tickets, VIP seating, and a private reception with the four speakers.

A spokesperson for Citizens Defending Freedom referred a question from Chalkbeat about fundraising totals to Bonnie Wallace, one of the event speakers. Wallace, a legislative liaison for Recovering America, an organization that promotes Biblical values in public policy, did not respond to multiple emails from Chalkbeat.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s 2026 Teacher of the Year is Greeley social studies teacher Stephen Paulson

2025-10-02T22:43:24+00:00

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Social studies teacher Stephen Paulson was named Colorado’s 2026 teacher of the year on Thursday — the first ever winner from the Greeley-Evans school district.

Paulson, who teaches at Greeley Central High School, was mobbed with celebrating students after a Thursday morning ceremony in the school’s gym.

A high school teacher for 11 years, Paulson has led the school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination or AVID program, which helps many first-generation students prepare for college and careers. He also spearheaded a mentorship project that matches 10th graders with local professionals and launched a school cleanup project that turned into a broader service effort.

Greeley Central High School students rally around teacher Stephen Paulson after he was named Colorado's 2026 Teacher of the Year on Thurs.

Paulson was among 419 applicants for the 2026 Colorado Teacher of the Year Award. State officials announced 22 semifinalists in June and eight finalists in September. As part of his award, he’ll receive a $5,000 check from the Boettcher Foundation. During his term as Colorado Teacher of the Year, which starts in January, he’ll attend NASA space camp.

Paulson will also represent Colorado in the National Teacher of the Year competition. Janet Damon, a Denver teacher who is the 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year, was one of four finalists selected for the national award last year. A high school English teacher from Pennsylvania was named the winner in April.

Paulson was described as a dedicated teacher who makes students feel seen and helps them realize their potential, according to a press release from the Colorado Department of Education.

Student Rodrigo Garcia, in a letter submitted to the state on Paulson’s behalf, wrote, “He pushes us not because he has to, but because he believes and has even more faith in us than we have in ourselves. … Mr. Paulson isn’t only preparing us for the next grade level, but for life. We will forever be grateful for him.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Will 24 new paraprofessionals help students in this Colorado school district become better readers?

2025-10-02T21:12:11+00:00

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The kindergartner in the light blue Bart Simpson T-shirt was quick to say “no” when Quianna Becenti asked him if “horse” starts with the “h” sound.

“Nooooo?” Becenti asked in an affectionate sing-song voice. “Listen to the beginning … horse.”

The 5-year-old gazed at the smiling cartoon horse on his worksheet and reconsidered. He repeated the word in a breathy voice, nodding as he heard the “h” sound.

The moment was a step on the little boy’s road to reading at Mesa Elementary School in the Westminster school district north of Denver. Becenti, a paraprofessional, is part of a new $1 million district effort to boost early reading skills by adding paraprofessionals to all kindergarten classrooms.

Quianna Becenti, whom students call Miss Kiki, works with kindergartners on the letter H.

At a time when many Colorado school districts are tightening their belts because of state and federal budget cuts, Westminster’s initiative represents a bet that offering kids more personalized help from trained adults will improve reading outcomes.

Like many districts, Westminster Public Schools, where about 40% of students are English language learners and most students come from low-income families, has struggled to get students back on track after the pandemic. Over the summer, district officials received discouraging news: After an eight-year reprieve, the 7,700-student district was back on the state watchlist for schools and districts with low ratings.

Ratings are largely based on state test results. Scores from last spring show that only about 23% of Westminster’s students are reading and writing at grade level, compared with 45% statewide.

Across Westminster’s 24 kindergarten classrooms, paras like Becenti give students more small group instruction and one-on-one attention than they would get with only a classroom teacher.

The new literacy effort won’t generate quick results on state tests, district leaders say. That’s partly because today’s kindergartners won’t be in third grade — the year state testing starts — for three more years.

It’s about playing the long game, said Mat Aubuchon, the district’s executive director of learning services. That means working harder to build foundational skills among the youngest students rather than simply offering remedial help as they get older.

“If you don’t develop a reader by the time they’re walking out of first grade, they have a hard time catching up,” he said. “This is intended to be an early investment to say, ‘How do we offset that?’”

Aubuchon said he expects the district will fund the effort for at least two years and possibly more.

The district used a multinational staffing company called Scoot Education to hire two dozen new kindergarten paras over the summer. Most get paid $22 an hour, with bilingual paras getting a little more. Compared with most other paras Scoot supplies to local schools, the early literacy paras in Westminster get more structure, support, and training, said Colleen O’Malley, an educational consultant at the company.

Becenti, who graduated from nearby Thornton High School and has completed some college, used to consider herself a “kid-hater.” Not anymore. After a stint at a swimming school, then a child care center, she found she loved working with children. At Mesa Elementary, she likes watching students make big learning gains.

“Even just from looking back at our first week and seeing where they were at versus now, it’s like, wow. It’s crazy,” said Becenti, who now aspires to become a teacher.

On a recent September morning, Becenti, whom students call Miss Kiki, worked with a group of four students on the letter H. She articulated the airy H sound over and over, adjusted their grip as they used crayons to draw the letter, and quizzed them on the beginning sound of heart, hat, house, and — just to make sure they got it — nest and monkey.

Nearby, teacher Kristina Cleveland worked with another small group on the letter L, practicing with words like “legs,” “lips,” and “lid.” A third staff member, who only spends a short time in the room each day, worked on letter flashcards with three children. Another handful of students practiced independently on computers.

A staff member in Kristina Cleveland's kindergarten classroom works with students on letter names and sounds.

With Becenti in the room, “It’s just nice because there’s more reinforcement,” Cleveland said. “My concern’s always been sending a kid away, especially a 5-year-old … and them practicing something I’ve taught them incorrectly.”

Research shows that small group instruction in phonemic awareness, a key early reading skill that enables children to identify and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words, can be more effective than whole class instruction.

During a morning break, Cleveland pulled up a chart tracking her students’ progress on the eight letters and sounds they’d learned over the previous few weeks. It had a lot more green than white — a good sign.

“I just did DIBELS testing,” Cleveland said, referring to a common elementary reading assessment. “We’re way ahead for first sound fluency at this part of the year than I think we’ve ever been, because they’re getting three doses” of practice.

Brandi Housewright, the other kindergarten teacher at Mesa Elementary, said her paraprofessional, Zatina Gardner, is also helping the kids make progress. By the end of the year, she hopes their students will have better blending skills than previous classes did. That is, the ability to look at a series of letters, such as C, A, and T, and smoothly combine the sounds to say “cat.”

“The jump from kinder to first grade, people don’t realize it’s a big jump,” Housewright said. “And with the second person, we’re going to be able to make that jump without having gaps.”

Teacher Brandi Housewright works with kindergarten students on early reading skills.

Gardner, who previously worked with teens as a mentor and tutor and is planning to earn her teaching license, was constantly in motion on a recent morning. She was standing before two boys and two girls in the pink reading group, the lowest in the class. She led them in a fast-paced letter-naming game. A boy in a Super Mario hoodie was particularly quick on the draw, soon amassing a stack of white cards with letters he’d called out first. Across the table, the other boy had no cards, often naming the letter a beat later than his groupmates or not answering at all.

Such struggles aren’t lost on Gardner or Housewright. The two meet regularly to talk about student needs, even delving into how to seat students so they are benefitting most from their nearest classmate.

Housewright said the early literacy effort is valuable because it puts an extra set of eyes in the classroom.

“If it gets taken away … I will cry and throw a fit like a kindergartner,” she said laughing.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Appeals court rules for Colorado and LGBTQ rights and against Catholic parishes in state preschool case

2025-09-30T23:25:08+00:00

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Preschoolers with LGBTQ parents or who identify as LGBTQ can’t be shut out of religious preschools that are part of Colorado’s state-funded preschool program, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The decision, which upholds a key part of a lower court decision, represents a major win for the state and a defeat for the two Denver-area Catholic preschools at the center of the case.

Tuesday’s decision provides the latest answer to a question being asked in several cases percolating in state and federal courts: Can private religious schools that accept public education dollars refuse to enroll certain kids based on religious principles?

Along with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, a Maine federal district court and a Utah state court are among those who have said no.

It’s possible the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually weigh in, though it’s not clear which case will advance to the high court.

In its 54-page ruling, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that it found no proof that the Colorado Department of Early Childhood took actions that “evidence religious hostility” as the two Catholic preschools claimed.

The state’s universal preschool program “went to great effort to be welcoming and inclusive of faith-based preschools’ participation,” the decision said.

The three-judge panel also found that the early childhood department, which runs the preschool program, had applied the state’s nondiscrimination policy in a neutral way to both religious and non-religious preschools.

The policy bars preschools in the universal preschool program from discriminating based on a variety of factors, including sexual orientation and gender identity. State officials cited the policy in denying the Catholic preschools a waiver that would have allowed them to keep LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families from enrolling if the preschools had joined the state-funded preschool program.

In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Jared Polis said, “We are building a Colorado for all, where every student is free from discrimination and this voter-approved initiative continues to enroll approximately 70% of all eligible four-year-olds each school year and many faith based and secular providers are operating terrific preschools that serve parents and children well.”

Tuesday’s ruling essentially upholds the status quo in the universal preschool program, meaning that participating preschools can’t shut out LGBTQ children or children with LGBTQ parents.

The three appeals court judges who ruled Tuesday were Gregory Phillips, Veronica Rossman, and Richard Federico. Phillips was appointed by President Barack Obama, and Rossman and Federico were appointed by President Joe Biden.

Nick Reaves, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, sent Chalkbeat a short statement about the ruling.

“Colorado is punishing religious schools and the families they serve for following their faith. The Tenth Circuit’s decision allows the state’s anti-religious gamesmanship to continue. We will keep fighting to ensure that every preschooler in Colorado can access quality, affordable education.”

Conflict arose as state preschool program rolled out

The Colorado case began in 2023 as the state was launching its new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. The $349 million program serves more than 40,000 children and allows families to choose from public, private, or religious preschools.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in the program this year, about 40 are religious.

In June 2024, a federal district court judge appointed by President Jimmy Carter largely ruled in the state’s favor.

He wrote of Colorado’s non-discrimination rules: “The purpose of the requirement is not to invade religious freedom but to further the implementation of a strongly embraced public value.”

The parishes quickly appealed.

Unfolding alongside the Catholic preschool case is a separate lawsuit over universal preschool brought by an evangelical Christian preschool in southern Colorado. Unlike the Catholic preschools, that school, Darren Patterson Christian Academy, joined the universal preschool program when it launched.

While officials there never sought to keep LGBTQ children or families out, their lawsuit said state non-discrimination rules could force the preschool to hire employees who don’t share its faith or to change school policies related to restrooms, pronouns, and dress codes.

In February, a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump ruled in favor of Darren Patterson Christian Academy.

The state appealed the ruling in May. The case is ongoing.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

New Colorado group focuses on student achievement, parent rights. Will it fan culture war flames?

2025-09-16T21:34:54+00:00

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Public education has lost its way, the presenter told the school board of District 49, which includes part of Colorado Springs and sprawls northeast.

Schools “have drifted further and further away from why we started,” he said. “We have taken on more and more responsibility. We’ve taken more and more away from parents.”

The speaker was Dan Snowberger, a longtime Colorado school superintendent and executive director of a fledgling group called Colorado Leaders for Academic Success, or CLAS. He was there last month pitching the District 49 school board on joining the group, which he described as focusing on boosting student achievement and protecting parent rights.

Formed in late 2023 as an affiliate of a national group with the same mission, CLAS has emerged at a time when conservative-fueled policies — ranging from library book removals to restrictions on transgender students — are in ascendance. And while the group’s leaders say it’s a nonpartisan nonprofit open to school boards of all stripes, its focus on parental rights, in particular, echoes messaging common in conservative circles.

The group, which is still in the recruiting phase, has six member districts spanning the state. At least half of them are involved in high-profile lawsuits over book bans or transgender students.

Liz Wilson, co-founder of The Pro-Colorado Education Project, a left-leaning group, said CLAS promotes the “parental rights of parents who believe certain things, not the parental rights of all parents.”

At the District 49 board meeting, Snowberger described his group’s parental rights focus this way: “Children come to school with the values instilled in them at home and they should go home with those values.”

The five-member District 49 board was divided about joining CLAS. Some members were enthusiastic.

Board member Deb Schmidt said, “I’m really glad to see somebody trying to dial back some of the vast overreach that this state has thrust upon us.”

But board member Mike Heil worried about what he sees as the group’s partisan bent.

“I don’t think we should be spending taxpayer resources to bring that into our district,” he said.

CLAS is small but growing

Most of CLAS’s six member districts are small and rural. They include Elizabeth, Woodland Park, Brush, Delta County Joint District 50J, Montezuma-Cortez, and Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, which authorizes and oversees a handful of online and brick-and-mortar schools. Some individual school board members from other districts have also joined.

District 49, which enrolls about 27,000 students, plans to join, a district spokesperson said by email.

For districts, the annual membership fee is $1,000. Snowberger said the group will hone board members’ leadership skills in “governance, professional development, communications, legislative outreach, networking, and policy.”

In the year and a half since CLAS launched, the group has had three executive directors. Snowberger took the helm in June. He works part time for CLAS, where he is the only employee, and full time as superintendent of the 2,700-student Elizabeth School District southeast of Denver.

Cortney Salt was the group’s original executive director. She now works at the Freedom Foundation, which describes itself as a “battle tank that’s battering the entrenched power of left-wing government union bosses.”

Beth Suppes, a school board member in Delta County Joint District 50J and one of three CLAS board members, said she’d like to see every school board in Colorado join the group.

Critics of CLAS, as well as some supporters, have described the group as a conservative version of the state’s primary group for school boards: the Colorado Association of School Boards. That group, which has 13 employees, offers leadership training, lobbying services, model policies, and annual conferences.

When Mike Lynch, a school board member in the Montezuma-Cortez-district and also a CLAS board member, pitched CLAS membership to his fellow Montezuma-Cortez members last November, politics was part of his message.

“The current association,” he said, referring to the Colorado Association of School Boards, “has what seems to be in some people’s eyes, as kind of a liberal viewpoint.”

Bryson Miller, a school board member in Brush, also referenced political leanings at a board meeting last October.

“CLAS in my understanding is… an organization that is focused on conservative values and ideologies when it comes to public schools,” he said.

Matt Cook, director of public policy and advocacy at the Colorado Association of School Boards, declined to comment on assertions that his group, which is often called CASB, is liberal and CLAS is conservative. He said by email that his group counts 177 of 178 school boards as members.

Snowberger said CLAS is partially funded by The Schuck Initiatives, a Colorado Springs-based foundation that describes itself as protecting and enhancing “capitalism, private property rights, and individual liberty.”

Both Snowberger and Suppes said CLAS is not meant to replace CASB and shied away from the idea that CLAS tilts right politically.

“If academic achievement and ensuring that parental rights and responsibilities are clearly outlined in policies … is political leaning, then guilty as charged,” said Snowberger, who said his district remains a member of CASB.

Suppes said, “I don’t see CLAS as a whole, as … left, right, Republican, Democrat. That’s not at all our driving force.”

At the same time, she said some of the sample school board policies crafted by CASB have “been concerning to me as a conservative.”

She cited one that came out following the passage of a 2024 law requiring school staff to use transgender students’ chosen names.

“It was written from CASB in a very parent notification-negative light,” she said.

CLAS offers networking and sample policies

CLAS holds monthly member calls, a summer policy summit, and a spring learning conference, among other events.

Snowberger, who described the “meat” of CLAS as networking opportunities, said the group helps districts focus on student achievement by highlighting research on the science of learning and training board members to support teachers, adopt curriculum, and establish budget priorities in line with that goal.

He said it’s the kind of assistance he doesn’t see other groups, including CASB, providing.

“In Colorado, four in 10 kids can read on grade level,” he said. “So, it’s really been frustrating as school districts, because there’s not been a whole lot of effort to support school boards and what they can do to try to change that pattern.”

Students in most of CLAS’s member districts, including Snowberger’s own, are performing below the Colorado average on state tests in math and literacy.

Besides networking and training, CLAS offers a policy bank with about 20 sample policies that school boards can adopt, Snowberger said. In contrast, the Colorado Association of School Boards offers more than 400 sample policies.

One CLAS sample policy that Snowberger shared with Chalkbeat covers a host of parent rights and responsibilities. For example, it states that parents have the right to know the credentials of teachers and administrators and the responsibility to review their children’s syllabi and assignments.

Heil, the District 49 board member, said he worries the parental rights prong of the CLAS agenda will focus on conservative causes that undermine education.

“I would argue these culture war issues only detract our attention away from student achievement,” he said.

Several CLAS districts are currently involved in lawsuits over such issues. Elizabeth is fighting to remove 19 books from its school libraries. Montezuma-Cortez and Education ReEnvisioned BOCES recently joined a lawsuit spearheaded by District 49 over state rules that allow transgender athletes to participate in school sports that align with their gender identity.

Asked about the many hours of debate the Elizabeth district devoted to the 19 library books instead of student achievement, Snowberger said, “I would agree that that took up a considerable amount of time, and that’s over. And we are moving on because we have learning of children that we’ve got to focus on.”

The lawsuit, brought by two students in the district, an NAACP chapter, and an authors group, is ongoing.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Matt Cook’s title. He is the director of public policy and advocacy at the Colorado Association of School Boards.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Two mothers and Trump’s Head Start rule: Child care shortages meet anti-immigrant politics

2025-09-15T12:00:00+00:00

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Solangel, a Venezuelan immigrant, is the mother of a 7-year-old who blossomed at the Head Start preschool program he attended in a Denver suburb.

He received therapy for his speech delay, came out of his shy shell, and grew to love books.

Her son is a U.S. citizen. But Solangel fears the Trump administration’s plan to bar undocumented children from the federally funded preschool program will hurt other children.

“They are little ones,” she said. “They need their education.”

But Carmit Poyras, a Sacramento mother, supports the new Head Start policy. She believes undocumented immigrants may be taking seats from citizens like her 7-year-old son, who spent around two years on Head Start waitlists when he was younger.

Poyras sees providing Head Start to undocumented children as irresponsible largesse.

“Are you going to go out and treat all of your coworkers to lobster and champagne … and come home and tell your child, ‘Oh sorry, I don’t have food for you’?” she said.

The two mothers represent opposite sides of a debate that came to a head in July, when the Trump administration unveiled a new policy barring undocumented children from Head Start. The announcement upended 60 years of precedent and played up a message that resonates with many Americans, including Trump’s base: Undocumented immigrants are taking scarce resources from citizens.

But in practice, the new Head Start policy may free up relatively few spots. And some providers fear that it will become harder to serve the most vulnerable children and families due to new logistical hoops.

The new policy, which is currently blocked by injunctions in two separate lawsuits,, comes after the White House made a short-lived push to cut all Head Start funding and disrupted the program in other ways. The administration has also pushed to make life in the U.S. more uncomfortable or wholly untenable for certain immigrants.

Advocates say that barring certain immigrant children from Head Start could keep them from learning English, getting developmental screenings, and preparing for kindergarten. But the ripple effects might not stop there.

“A lot of these attacks on public benefits, they are branded as being about … immigrants that supposedly are taking from the native-born population,” said Valerie LaCarte, a senior policy analyst at Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “But really what they do is that they are weakening the social safety nets for low-income people overall.”

Head Start has historically welcomed undocumented children

Since it was established by the federal government in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, Head Start has never required families to prove citizenship or divulge immigration status.

In fact, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, which serves about 25,000 young children, is specifically designed to serve the children of migrant farm workers, many of whom are immigrants.

Even when a landmark 1996 welfare reform law barred undocumented immigrants from getting most forms of government assistance, including child care subsidies, nothing changed for Head Start.

Walter Gilliam, executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, said the 1996 law treated the two programs differently because they have different histories and goals.

Child care subsidies, which help low-income families pay for child care, were “designed specifically and solely to support the employability of the parents,” he said.

In contrast, Head Start focuses on child development. Edward Zigler, one of the architects of Head Start, drew heavily from his own experiences as an immigrant child who benefited from the services offered by settlement houses, said Gilliam, who counted Zigler as a mentor.

There’s no solid data on how many Head Start seats are occupied by undocumented children.

On the low end, Trump administration officials have estimated that 12,000 of 719,000 Head Start participants, or 1.7%, are undocumented. On the high end, their estimate is 115,000 participants, or 16%.

Lisa Stone, executive director of Tri-County Head Start in southwestern Colorado, said she doesn’t know how many of the 275 children served by her program may be undocumented.

“If a child is living in the United States of America and they are income eligible, there’s no questions asked” about immigration status, she said. “I think that’s been a beautiful part of this program.”

U.S. Health and Human Services officials said in a press release the new rule barring undocumented participants from Head Start, would take effect immediately and provide an additional $374 million annually worth of Head Start services to Americans.

But the government’s own analysis and legal and regulatory filings suggest a much more modest impact.

For example, two-thirds of Head Start are programs run by charitable nonprofits, which are exempt from verifying immigration status under the 1996 welfare reform law. And Head Start is still open to some non-citizens, including immigrants who have been granted asylum, refugees and six other categories of “qualified aliens.”

Even for Head Start programs that are subject to the new rule — those run by public schools, cities, and counties — government lawyers wrote in court filings that there’s no danger of “sudden and major disruption.” That’s because students who are already enrolled in Head Start can stay enrolled through the year.

But some Head Start families and providers are already reacting out of fear.

Parents in multiple states have disenrolled their children from Head Start or declined services to avoid providing their home address, according to a recent court filing. In addition, some nonprofit Head Start providers are already trying to verify immigration status by checking birth certificates even though they’re exempt from the rule.

Although the rule technically took effect in mid-July, the government has yet to issue instructions explaining how to implement it.

Nationwide, there are far more children eligible for Head Start than available Head Start seats. But the new rule alone won’t solve that problem.

In fact, the Trump administration’s own analysis finds that verifying immigration status will cost providers money, reducing some new seats made available by excluding undocumented children. Some U.S. citizens may also struggle to provide the right documents.

Meanwhile, providers with low enrollment could be forced to close.

Two mothers, two different paths for their children

Poyras, the Sacramento mother, was eager to get her son into Early Head Start when he was 2.

“I was so excited,” she said. “I heard so many good things about the program from the beginning.”

But her son, who has a speech delay and learning disabilities, never got off the Early Head Start waitlist. When he turned 3, he started on a new waitlist for Head Start. When he finally was offered a seat, Poyras turned it down because her son, then 4, would have had a long bus ride to a neighborhood she didn’t consider safe.

Poyras, a single mother, now homeschools her son. She doesn’t know for sure that undocumented children are the reason he waited so long waiting for a spot.

But she’s heard people in her school district, San Juan Unified, say things like, “The school has so many immigrant children … and like, the schools are full and the waitlists are long.”

Solangel, the Colorado mother, took a plane to the United States with her family in 2018 and sought asylum. Water and electricity outages were routine in her native Venezuela, and there were always long lines for food and gas. Speaking out often led to political persecution, she said.

“You don’t have any lifestyle,” she said. “It’s just like doing lines and just waiting.”

The youngest of her three children, the one who participated in Head Start, was born here in 2019. Solangel, a single mother, is now a citizen.

Today, Solangel runs a maternal mental health program in the Denver area. She always recommends Head Start to her clients, who include many immigrant mothers. (Chalkbeat is not using Solangel’s last name due to privacy concerns.)

“If you start segregating immigrants like me, that is so bad,” she said. “It’s a fact that the migrants, they contribute a lot [to] this country,” she said.

Trump administration decisions put Head Start’s future in doubt

Polls show that many Americans oppose allowing undocumented immigrants to access public benefits, though they don’t ask specifically about preschool. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reflected that sentiment when he announced the rule change.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” he said in a July press release.

In reality, there’s little evidence that migrants are uprooting their lives for Head Start or other programs, said Cassandra Zimmer-Wong, an immigration policy analyst at the center-right Niskanen Center

“To suggest that it’s a pull factor for migrants, I think is pretty ridiculous,” she said.

Rather, the rule change on Head Start represents “low-hanging fruit” that can make Trump’s base feel like they’re getting a win, she said.

Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, agreed with Zimmer-Wong that Head Start and other welfare programs are not the main draw for immigrants. That said, he cited a famous quote from the economist Milton Friedman: “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”

Conservatives who have the president’s ear have long called for getting rid of Head Start entirely. In a draft budget proposal earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed cutting all Head Start funding, before backpedaling and proposing level funding at $12.3 billion.

But the new rule is among a host of recent disruptions, including sudden funding freezes, mass layoffs of federal workers, and closures of five regional Head Start offices that are undermining the program.

“They’re not eliminating the program at the federal level, but it’s like, community by community by community,” said Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, senior vice president of national policy at Start Early, a Chicago-based Head Start grantee.

But McCluskey, director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, said that Head Start is “not something the federal government should be doing.”

To Gilliam, the new Head Start rule would send negative effects rippling beyond undocumented children to their families and the broader community.

Amid the “national debate over who is entitled to what,” he said it’s easy to lose track of what the nation gains from programs like Head Start.

“It’s important to all of us to have families that are well functioning, to have children who are growing up succeeding and are likely to be contributing members to the American society,” Gilliam said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Evergreen High School shooting: Live updates

2025-09-11T22:51:54+00:00

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At least seven vigils for the victims of the Evergreen High School shooting will take place Thursday evening, according to the Jefferson County government Facebook page. Locations include:

Aspen Ridge Church, 5 p.m., 27154 N Turkey Creek Road, Evergreen

United Methodist Church, 5:30 p.m., 3757 Ponderosa Dr., Evergreen

Community Gathering, 6 p.m., Buchanan Park, 32003 Ellingwood Trail, Evergreen

Grace Hills Church, 6:30 p.m., 23338 Isoleta Road, Indian Hills

Ascent Church, 7 p.m., 29823 Troutdale Scenic Dr., Evergreen

Bergen Park Church, 7 p.m., 31919 Rocky Village Dr., Evergreen

Flatirons Community Church, west campus, 7 p.m., 24887 Genesee Trail Road, Golden

The Jeffco school board announced it would cancel its Thursday evening meeting so board members and district employees could attend a vigil. The board will hold a short virtual meeting Friday at 1 p.m. to review time-sensitive contracts and administrative approvals, according to a letter sent to Jeffco families.

One of two shooting victims identified

One victim of the Evergreen High School shooting has been identified as Matthew Silverstone, 18, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Silverstone’s name and photo, along with a statement from his family, were posted on X by the sheriff’s office Thursday afternoon.

Silverstone’s family said: “The family appreciates the community’s concern and support, but as we remain focused on our loved one’s recovery, we respectfully request privacy as we continue to heal and navigate the road ahead”

Matthew Silverstone, 18, has been identified as one of the Evergreen High shooting victims.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said the family of the second victim has declined to release the student’s name or photo or issue a statement.

Wednesday’s shooting left many Colorado students and community members on edge. Law enforcement officials in at least two districts — Boulder Valley and Douglas County — were alerted to potential threats on Thursday morning. In both cases, no credible threats were found.

In Boulder Valley, someone called police about a man they suspected of having a gun near Fairview High School. That school and Southern Hills Middle School were placed on lockdown and four other schools were placed on “secure” status.

The Boulder Police Department said on X, “The individual seen by the person who called to report the possible threat was confirmed to be wearing a weighted vest and holding his cell phone after going for a run.”

“Detectives interviewed him and he understood that this and the shooting in Jefferson County yesterday likely led to the report today.”

Fairview High School students were dismissed midday and after school sports and activities were cancelled, according to a district spokesperson. Southern Hills Middle resumed classes after the lockdown and students were dismissed at the regular time.

The potential threat in Douglas County was related to numerous tips to Colorado’s Safe2Tell tipline and a “concerning photo,” according to a post on X by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. It’s not clear what was pictured in the photo, but the sheriff’s office said it didn’t appear to be taken locally.

“Additionally, a Douglas County school was mistakenly identified as the impacted school,” the sheriff’s office X post said.

Shooting suspect may have been ‘radicalized’

The 16-year-old student who shot two students at Evergreen High School on Wednesday may have been radicalized by an extremist network, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday morning.

The shooter, who was identified by the sheriff’s office as Desmond Holly, rode the bus to school on Wednesday and opened fire around 12:30 p.m., reloading his revolver many times.

Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said, “He would fire and reload, fire and reload, fire and reload. This went on and on.”

She said some students fled to the nearby rec center and library and others into neighborhoods. One of the victims was shot on a street behind the school.

Many students and staff hid in locked classrooms.

“Lots of kids and teachers locked down in those rooms, did what they were supposed to do, and we know that it saved lives,” she said. “They’re heroes.”

Kelley said investigators don’t know what the shooter’s motive was and didn’t have additional information about the network that radicalized the teen. Investigators have search warrants for his home, locker, and phone and have been in contact with the shooter’s family, who are cooperating with law enforcement, she said.

Kelley said the full-time school resource officer normally assigned to Evergreen High is currently on medical leave and other resource officers have been rotating to the school on a part-time basis. One of those officers was on duty at the high school until about 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, but then was called to deal with a nearby accident, she said. Kelley called it “horrible timing,” but said that officer did nothing wrong and is free to leave the school to attend to other duties.

The families of the two victims are expected to release photos of their children on Thursday along with statements about the shooting, Kelley said. The sheriff’s office released a photo of the shooter from his driver’s license on X Thursday morning.

Evergreen shooting victims in critical condition

One of the two students shot at Evergreen High School on Wednesday remains in critical condition at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood and the other is in critical condition at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, according to spokespersons from each hospital.

The shooter, a male student, died Wednesday evening of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The shooting, which took place around noon Wednesday, terrified the mountain community of Evergreen, located 29 miles southwest of Denver, and the state at large. Colorado has experienced several high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including at a Boulder grocery store, a Colorado Springs night club, and a Highlands Ranch charter school.

The shooter’s identity and motive are still unclear, as is the identity of the two shooting victims.

It’s also unclear why Evergreen High School’s school resource officer was not on campus during the shooting. Jeffco Public Schools officials said Wednesday the district has an officer assigned to the high school, but the sheriff’s office said the officer was not at the school at the time of the shooting.

On Thursday, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office set up a resource and information center at Bergen Meadows Elementary School and asked that witnesses who have not yet spoken to investigators come to the center to do so. The center, which is at a Jeffco school that closed permanently in 2024, will also have mental health professionals, victims advocates, victims compensation representatives, and school personnel on hand.

Evergreen High School students and staff can get information about retrieving personal items and vehicles from the school at the center. The center is at 1928 S Hiwan Dr. in Evergreen and will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.

Evergreen High School, which has about 900 students, will be closed Thursday and Friday. In addition, nine other Jeffco schools in or near the town of Evergreen and the community of Conifer are closed on Thursday. They include Evergreen Middle, Conifer High, West Jefferson Middle, and Bergen, Wilmot, Parmalee, Elk Creek, Marshdale and West Jefferson Elementaries.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

More Colorado schools and districts earn high state ratings, but progress is uneven

2025-09-03T23:23:17+00:00

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Two-thirds of Colorado’s 1,700 schools and 55% of its 180 school districts earned high ratings from the state this year, according to preliminary state data released Wednesday. That’s slightly higher than the percentage that earned those preliminary ratings last year.

Despite little change in the overall numbers, there were bright spots and alarm bells for individual districts and schools. Denver Public Schools, Colorado’s largest district, jumped from a middle-tier yellow rating to the second-highest green rating. The last time DPS was green was in 2019, before the pandemic.

In a made-for-Instagram moment, Superintendent Alex Marrero celebrated by getting slimed by middle schoolers at Bear Valley International School as district staff recorded the moment for social media. The slime, ordered from Amazon, was green.

“This recognition is not just about numbers,” Marrero said before sitting in a kiddie pool of slime. “It reflects the collective effort of our entire DPS community.”

The preliminary ratings released by the Colorado Department of Education reflect the slow stop-and-start progress Colorado students have made toward their pre-pandemic achievement levels. The ratings are largely based on state standardized test results, which have inched up in recent years but have not yet hit pre-pandemic levels in all grades and subjects.

Schools and districts can appeal their ratings if they can present additional data to warrant a change. After considering appeals, the state will finalize the ratings later this fall.

Schools and districts with low ratings land on a state watchlist known as the accountability clock, because it ticks toward intervention. After five years on the clock, the State Board of Education must order schools or districts to undergo changes meant to improve student performance. Those changes could include closing a school or requiring a struggling district to merge with a better-performing one. But the State Board has avoided taking such drastic measures.

There are now 14 districts on the state’s accountability clock, up from 11 last year. Among the districts that are newly on the clock this year is Westminster Public Schools, which serves about 8,000 students just north of Denver. Westminster was last on the clock in 2017.

Brian Kosena, the district’s chief learning officer, said Westminster faced several challenges last school year, including a staff shortage. The district started last school year with 37 unfilled instructional positions, including seven unfilled multilingual interventionist roles. About 40% of Westminster students are learning English as a second language, and the district has enrolled more than 700 new immigrant students in recent years, Kosena said.

“With staffing shortages, we were not always able to provide the level of individualized instruction that students ultimately deserve,” he said.

That strain showed up in Westminster’s test scores for multilingual learners, Kosena said, which caused the district’s rating to drop. But he said Westminster is off to a better start this year.

The district had just seven unfilled positions at the start of school, Kosena said. Its pool of substitute teachers is also bigger, which means classroom teachers don’t have to give up their planning time to cover for one another. And the district has a new policy meant to incentivize teachers to take less time off by paying them more for unused vacation days.

“We know that we’re better than any state label,” Kosena said. “That ‘priority improvement’ places an unfortunate label on the district right now. But we’re confident we’re going to be able to bounce back out of the ‘priority improvement’ and get to the ‘improvement.’”

Westminster district officials said staffing shortages last year made it hard to serve students adequately, including many recent arrivals who are English learners.

Montezuma-Cortez, a rural district with 2,400 students in southwestern Colorado, is also back on the clock after a reprieve of just one year. Two of Colorado’s 10 largest districts — Adams 12 in the Denver suburbs and District 49 near Colorado Springs — earned lower ratings this year than last year, dropping from green to yellow. They are not on the clock, however.

Adams 14, a long struggling 5,000-student district based in Commerce City, has spent the longest time on the clock: 12 years. In 2022, the state ordered the district to be reorganized but backed down in 2023 after community pushback.

Despite being on the watchlist for so long, Adams 14 made some modest gains. It earned more points toward the state rating calculation this year: 36.8% compared with 35.6% last year. One of its schools, Alsup Elementary, bumped up from the second lowest “priority improvement” rating to the next category, “improvement.” A few schools slipped in the ratings, most notably Rose Hill Elementary, which dropped from the second lowest rating to the lowest red “turnaround” rating. It’s the only red school in the district.

Statewide, 176 schools are now on the clock, down from 190 last year at this time. Denver’s Lake Middle School is among the schools that exited the clock for receiving back-to-back green ratings. But Denver’s Abraham Lincoln High School remains on the clock.

Denver’s superintendent unveiled a new policy this past spring that calls for the district to close or replace schools with four years of low ratings — before the State Board can step in. Known as the School Transformation Process, the policy went into effect last month.

Two Denver schools now have four years of low ratings: John F. Kennedy High School, which is run by the district, and Rocky Mountain Prep Noel, which is an independently run charter school. However, a spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Prep said the charter network, which is Denver’s second-largest, won’t be participating in the School Transformation Process.

Marrero had said the district would negotiate with Denver’s charter schools in the hopes they would agree to abide by the process. But essentially, it’s voluntary for those schools.

“We hold deep respect for Dr. Marrero and are firmly committed to accountability in all its forms,” the Rocky Mountain Prep spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to partner with DPS to share the academic outcomes being achieved at RMP Noel.”

John F. Kennedy High won’t be closed under the policy this year either. Instead, it could face what Marrero calls “reconfiguration,” which might include shrinking a school by removing some grade levels. The potential for school closure will start next year.

“We’re honoring the process, as painful as it is,” Marrero said.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Banana phones and cozy corners: Colorado’s third year of universal preschool gets off the ground

2025-09-02T23:28:49+00:00

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The little boy clung to his mother as she carried him through the wooden half-door of the preschool classroom on Tuesday morning. Tears streamed down his face. It was going to be a tough drop-off.

While other children finished bananas, raisin bagels, and milk, Vraja Johnson, the lead teacher, ushered the mother and son toward a cozy corner in the back of the classroom. She spoke softly in English and Spanish to the nervous preschooler. Several minutes later, when his mother had slipped away, the boy nestled into a large blue beanbag clutching Tucker the Turtle, a stuffed animal that helps preschoolers understand that it’s OK to retreat into your shell — and to come back out when you’re ready.

It was the first day of preschool in the Otters classroom at El Nidito, a bilingual child care program at The Family Center in Fort Collins. The little boy and his 11 classmates are among 40,000 children enrolled in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year. The $349 million program offers tuition-free preschool — typically a half day — to all children in the year before kindergarten.

Now entering its third year, Colorado’s preschool for all program has smoothed out since its rocky rollout in 2023. At the time, application system errors, glitches in the state’s preschool matching algorithm, and last-minute reductions in preschool hours for some children caused widespread confusion and frustration.

A national early childhood group recently ranked Colorado third in the country for the share of children served by state-funded preschool. Around 70% of the state’s 4-year-olds are enrolled in the program, which generally covers about $6,000 a year in preschool costs per child.

But wrinkles remain. The state is still fighting two lawsuits brought by religious preschools that objected to non-discrimination rules protecting LGBTQ children, families, and employees. Both suits are pending in federal appeals court. And the national early childhood group found that Colorado meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to ensure that preschool classrooms are high quality.

Currently, the “universal preschool” label doesn’t indicate anything about the caliber of classroom a child will join. Rather, it simply indicates the state is paying for 10 to 30 hours of class time. Of about 2,000 preschools participating in the program, some have the state’s lowest rating and meet only basic health and safety standards.

Others, including El Nidito, which has been around for 25 years, have the state’s highest rating.

A morning in Johnson’s classroom makes it easy to see why. She and her co-teacher, an experienced sub named Maria Chavira, are warm, cheerful, and organized. Their young charges are curious, silly, and always in motion.

Maria Chavira, a substitute teacher at the El Nidito child care program in Fort Collins, puts sunscreen on a preschool student before they go outside.

During breakfast, two boys held bananas up to their ears like phones.

“Ring, ring, ring. Hi, Henry,” one said as the other burst out laughing.

Nearby at the sensory table, as one little boy poured dried pinto beans through a cardboard tube, he said, “Did you ever watch ‘Boss Baby?’ The baby is a bossssss. Babies can’t be bosses!”

Meanwhile, the little boy who’d struggled to leave his mother was getting braver, slowly testing the waters of group play. One minute he crouched next to a little girl in front of a tree house play set. Later, he tried out bear and leopard hand puppets as the Boss Baby skeptic threw Tucker the Turtle up in the air next to him.

Johnson, who switched from a sales and marketing career to early childhood education in 2007, seems to have a sixth sense for detecting imminent meltdowns, skirmishes, and rule-bending.

She quickly peeled away from a conversation with a visitor when a little girl dressed in head-to-toe pink accidentally got a squiggle of red marker on her new cowboy boots.

“Your mom can get that out. The markers are washable,” Johnson said as tears welled in the preschooler’s eyes.

Then she averted the crisis with five words: “Do you want a hug?”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado science teacher wants students to understand how food gets to the dinner table

2025-08-26T20:28:56+00:00

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Mike Montgomery grew up in Denver, but visited relatives on their South Dakota ranch during the summer. That’s where he saw what it took to grow wheat, corn, soybeans, and feed hay.

As a high school teacher in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, he realized that most students don’t have such firsthand knowledge of food production.

Mike Montgomery, who leads the natural resources pathway at the EPIC career center in Littleton Public Schools.

“That was readily apparent after a big snowstorm when the transport chain was interrupted and students complained about the lack of fruit and vegetables,” Montgomery said.

To teach students where their food comes from, he incorporated “seed to table” lessons when he created the natural resources pathway at EPIC, his district’s 2-year-old career campus. Today, students learn hydroponic farming techniques, sending the leafy greens they grow to district cafeterias and local food banks.

Montgomery, who was named 2025 Outstanding Teacher by the nonprofit Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom, talked to Chalkbeat about how his ADHD impacts his teaching style, what he loves about his beekeeping mini-course, and how he connected with an introvert teen.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

Becoming a teacher was an evolution that developed over time, driven by my desire to spend my day talking about animals and plants. I have always liked the structure of the school day and the rhythm of the school year, so becoming a high school science teacher seemed to be a good fit in terms of the lifestyle I wanted to have and the work that I wanted to do.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

As a child, I had a splash of ADHD, so I gravitated toward learning experiences where I was using my hands, was up and doing things, and was creating some tangible piece of learning. Essentially, I wanted to do anything other than sit and listen to somebody talk. My teaching reflects that same learning style. I am continually looking to design learning experiences that give students opportunities to apply scientific content.

Mike Montgomery's high school students test river water samples and send their findings to the state.

For example, each month, students in my water classes travel to the South Platte River to collect and analyze water samples, and report to the state on the water quality in our community. Getting outside, working in a riparian environment, and then doing relevant work back in the classroom brings about learning that is more impactful than hearing a lecture from me.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

The EPIC campus has an extended school year, so each June, teachers are given an opportunity to teach a mini-course on a subject related to their pathway. I have kept bee hives at home for a number of years, so I asked and was given the opportunity to teach a three-week course on beekeeping. Those weeks each June are probably my favorite because students who take the course are genuinely interested in the work. There is no credit offered or certification to be earned. They just want to learn about these amazing insects.

Mike Montgomery teaches a three week mini-course on beekeeping to high school students.

The hives remain on campus all year and are a continual topic of conversation. The presence of an apiary at school gives me another opportunity to teach and talk about the importance of pollinators.

What does the natural resources pathway at EPIC include, and why is it an important offering for high-schoolers?

The natural resources pathway includes two tracks: one on plant science and horticulture and the other on water quality management and conservation ecology. Career and technical education programs are important because they provide opportunities for adolescents to explore areas that they might be interested in after they graduate and allow them to earn college credit or industry certifications.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what’s going on in your classroom?

I learned early on in my teaching career that adolescents have no idea where their food comes from and how it gets to the dinner table. We are fortunate to have a hydroponics farm on the EPIC campus. Students, while learning the science behind plant growth, are involved with seeding, transplanting, and harvesting leafy greens for distribution to the cafeterias in the high schools for the creation of “EPIC” salads.

We also provide some produce to community food banks. The students take great pride in this work, knowing that they are providing for those in the community who might be facing food scarcity. The conversations we have in class have shifted beyond plant science to food production, distribution, and the need to reduce food waste. Talk about impactful lessons!

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student or their family changed your perspective or approach.

I learned early on in my career that forming good relationships with students was key to their success in my class. Those relationships start with having zero preconceived notions about the child walking into my room.

As a life science teacher, I have always had live animals in my classroom, and I like snakes. They don’t smell, make noise, or demand a great deal of care, and when you bring one out, there is always a reaction from students. I had one boy in class who was introverted, did not seem to have a large circle of friends, and never appeared to have any interest in the lessons.

One day, he had to remain after class to finish classwork, and I had to tend to the reptiles. He asked to help, and “Whoa!” He knew all about snakes and showed me pictures of the ones he had at home. He opened up like never before. Humbled, I dropped my previous notions of his ability and allowed his strengths to be successful.

Tell us why and how you seek out conversations with students’ families?

Those conversations can be a little awkward at first but lead to improved instruction because I can adapt my lessons to better differentiate learning. At conferences, I always ask parents what they do for a living. That gives me an opportunity to bring their knowledge and expertise into class. It also helps me understand the dynamics for the child. Do they need to work? Have they worked with their parents at their business? Are they home alone because of their parents’ work schedule? What expectations do the parents have for the child? Those conversations help me identify the strengths and challenges that each student brings to class.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I used to just read one book at a time, finish it, and move on to the next. Then I got a Kindle. Now, I jump around, usually among three books — almost exclusively nonfiction. This is what’s currently in my queue:

“Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of ‘Born to Run’” by Peter Ames Carlin.
“The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler” by Thomas Hager.
“Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves” by Jaap de Roode.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado has a new child abuse reporting law. Here’s a guide for educators on the new requirements.

2025-08-22T15:00:00+00:00

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Teachers, child care providers, and other people who work with children will soon be subject to a new state law governing how and when suspected child abuse or neglect should be reported.

The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, includes several changes recommended by a state task force that spent two years considering reforms that clarify the responsibilities of mandatory reporters — people who work with kids and are legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect. The new law includes a provision aimed at reducing the disproportionate number of low-income families and families of color who are reported for suspected abuse or neglect.

Some of the task force’s recommendations didn’t make it into the new law because they would have cost more money than state lawmakers wanted to give in a tough budget year. They include a recommendation to require standardized recurring training for mandatory reporters.

Below are answers to common questions about the new law.

If I suspect child abuse or neglect at work, how soon do I have to report it?

The new law requires that mandated reporters make a report within 24 hours. The old law required a report “immediately” but did not define the term, which led some mandated reporters to wait 48 or 72 hours before reporting, according to members of the task force.

If I see signs that a child in my classroom is being abused or neglected, can I let my supervisor make the report instead of doing it myself?

No, you must make the report. The new law prohibits employees from delegating their duty to report to a colleague or supervisor who doesn’t have firsthand knowledge of the suspected abuse or neglect.

In the past, employers such as schools or hospitals sometimes had rules that required employees who suspected abuse to report it to their supervisors instead of going directly to authorities. The idea was that the supervisors would make the report to authorities, but in some cases, they never did. The new law attempts to close that loophole.

Schools and other employers can still require educators to report suspected abuse or neglect to supervisors or go through other internal procedures, but those educators must report to authorities as well.

If multiple mandated reporters at my job see signs of abuse or neglect at the same time, who should report it?

If you are a mandatory reporter, you should always report suspected abuse or neglect. However, if a colleague has reported the same instance you are calling about, you will not be required to make a full duplicate report. Instead, you will receive a referral identification number that fulfills your duty to report.

Does the new law take race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or disability status into account?

The law prohibits reports due to these factors. Experts say this change came about because families of color and low-income families are disproportionately funneled into the child welfare system because manifestations of poverty, racial identity, ethnicity, or disability are sometimes conflated with abuse or neglect.

For example, if a child wears the same clothes four days in a row or tells the teacher they’ve been sleeping on the couch at their aunt’s house, it might not be neglect, but an outgrowth of financial problems, said Jessica Dotter, sexual assault resource prosecutor at the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council and a member of the state task force.

She said teachers should pause to ask questions like, “Is this neglect, or is this poverty? Is this neglect, or is this a kid with two parents who are disabled?”

As a teacher, I’m a mandated reporter. Does that mean I have to report suspected child abuse or neglect that I see outside my job?

No. The old law wasn’t clear on this point, but a 2019 Colorado Court of Appeals decision held that mandatory reporters are obligated to report suspected abuse or neglect even if it happened outside of work. The law change specifies that mandated reporters are not required to do this.

While mandated reporters don‘t have to report outside-of-work instances of suspected abuse or neglect — for example, something they saw at a kid’s soccer game — there’s nothing preventing them from reporting if they choose.

What happens to mandatory reporters if they fail to report suspected abuse or neglect?

If mandated reporters knowingly fail to report, they can be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of 120 days in jail and a fine of up to $740. But the likelihood of going to jail for violating the law is low, according to an analysis by Dotter.

She found there were 70 failure-to-report cases from 2010 to 2020, and 41 of them were dismissed. In only 19 cases, mandated reporters either pleaded guilty or were found guilty. They were all given probation or another sentencing option that did not include jail time.

“Even though there’s a possibility of jail,” said Dotter, “in 10 years, there was not one case where jail was the outcome.”

Am I a mandatory reporter?

There are more than 40 categories of mandatory reporters under Colorado law. They include public and private school employees, child care employees, nurses, psychologists, social workers, mental health professionals, and coaches. For a full list, check out the FAQ from the Colorado Department of Human Services.

Where can I find information or training on the new law?

The Colorado Department of Human Services offers free online training in English and Spanish for mandatory reporters. A new version of the two-hour training that includes information on the recent law change will be available starting Sept. 1.

For general information about child abuse reporting rules and resources, check the department’s CO4KIDS webpage.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s 2025 CMAS results: See how your school and district performed

2025-08-21T19:01:52+00:00

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The good news is that Colorado elementary and middle school students are now performing at or above their pre-pandemic achievement levels in most grades and subjects — with math gains a particular bright spot.

The bad news is that some groups of students, most notably English learners, are still achieving far below grade level.

These are some of the findings state education officials shared Thursday as they released results from last spring’s state tests, called the Colorado Measures of Academic Progress or CMAS, taken by students in grades 3 through 8. The release includes district and school level results, along with results for special populations, including English learners, students with disabilities, and students eligible from free or reduced-price meals, an indicator of poverty.

In some grades, only a tiny fraction of Colorado’s English learners — about 80% of whom speak Spanish as their first language — met or exceeded expectations in math or literacy.

For example, on math and English language arts tests, less than 3% of sixth grade English learners were proficient. Spanish-speaking students who were tested in Spanish didn’t fare much better: Only 16.5% of third graders and 13.1% of fourth graders met or exceeded expectations on the Spanish language arts test.

In several grades, English learners who took state tests last spring not only have proficiency rates well below their pre-pandemic counterparts, but their rates have slipped even lower than their 2024 peers.

Susana Córdova, Colorado’s education commissioner, said during a media briefing Tuesday that English learners have had a slower post-COVID recovery for various reasons, including because many attended schools that returned to in-person learning more slowly.

She noted that many English learners have enrolled in Colorado schools relatively recently and “are furthest from having proficiency in English.”

During the 2023-24 school year, thousands of migrant students arrived from South America.

Córdova said education department officials have also heard anecdotally about attendance problems among English learners, and that attendance data set to come out in a few weeks could shed more light on that issue.

Colorado’s PSAT and SAT 2025 scores: How did your school or district perform?

Colorado also administers standardized science tests to students in grades 5, 8, and 11. Students did better on the science tests this year compared to their counterparts in 2024.

Eighth graders made the biggest improvements, with about 36% meeting or exceeding expectations compared with about 32% the year before. A new state science test based on revised science standards was unveiled in 2023.

“This really speaks to the really good work that Colorado educators are doing, wrapping their heads around these science standards, and really teaching with fidelity,” said Christina Wirth-Hawkins, chief assessment officer for the Colorado Department of Education.

Many school districts saw test score gains

Statewide, the aggregate scores for all students in grades 3 through 8 show that 44.8% of students met or exceeded expectations on the CMAS literacy tests and 35.9% did so on the math tests. Both of those percentages are higher than in 2024.

Many Colorado school districts also saw their test scores tick up. For instance, 99 of the state’s 178 districts had the same or higher percentages of students meeting expectations on CMAS literacy tests this year than last year, with 69 districts seeing a decrease. Some districts did not have enough data for the state to publicly report aggregate scores across grade levels.

In math, 107 districts had the same or higher percentages of students meeting expectations, while 57 districts had lower percentages. Again, some districts didn’t have enough data.

About 42% of students in Denver Public Schools met or exceeded expectations on the CMAS literacy tests this past spring. That’s an increase from last year and nearly as high as the 42.8% of students who met expectations in 2019, before the pandemic.

In math, about 33% of Denver students met or exceeded expectations on CMAS this year, bringing the district’s math scores to just above pre-pandemic levels.

Jeffco Public Schools also surpassed its pre-pandemic scores, with 52.5% of students meeting or exceeding expectations in literacy this year and 42.8% doing so in math.

Aurora Public Schools, Adams 12 Five Star, Adams 14, Mapleton Public Schools, and the Brighton-based 27J district saw improvements in both literacy and math this year, but their scores remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Cherry Creek School District saw an improvement in math, bringing the district’s math scores nearly to what they were before the pandemic. But Cherry Creek’s literacy scores were essentially flat and still below pre-pandemic levels.

Some districts, including Harrison 2 in Colorado Springs, saw decreases in both subjects.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Paying for housing on a Colorado teacher’s salary? It’s not easy, report finds.

2025-08-13T22:11:04+00:00

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At one point, Cassidy Proctor, a social studies teacher in the Montezuma-Cortez district in southwest Colorado, spent half her $44,000 salary on housing costs. Another district teacher recruited from the Philippines said she rents a single room in a family’s house for $750 a month.

Forty miles away, a local nonprofit helped Nathan Van Arsdale, who works at the Durango district’s career center, with a down payment on his 450-square-foot condo.

These are a few of the stories highlighted in a new report from the Keystone Policy Center on the shortage of affordable housing for Colorado educators and district staff. It’s based on survey results from more than 3,200 respondents in 10 Colorado districts. The report doesn’t name all the participating districts, but Van Schoales, Keystone’s senior policy director, said they include urban, suburban, mountain resort, and remote rural districts.

Several of the educators featured in the report cite the negative impacts of pricey or hard-to-find housing: long commutes, crowded living conditions, and living paycheck to paycheck. Ultimately, these kinds of problems lead to teacher turnover.

Finding affordable housing has long been a problem for Colorado teachers — sometimes because there’s simply no housing available and other times because the cost of available units is too high. The average teacher salary in Colorado was about $73,000 last school year, with district averages ranging from $37,000 in the tiny Vilas district in the southeast corner of the state to $100,000 in Boulder Valley. Colorado’s median single family home price was $590,000 in July, according to the Colorado Association of Realtors.

One of the Keystone report’s key findings is that many teachers spend too much of their income on housing. In four districts that participated, more than half of survey respondents spend over 40% of their income on housing — well above the 30% level that’s a common rule of thumb.

Schoales said keeping housing costs under that threshold is especially important for middle-income earners.

“Obviously, if you’re making a million dollars a year, if you want to spend a third [on housing], you still have a lot of discretionary income,” he said. “But for teachers and for cops and firefighters, it’s a real problem.”

Greg Meshell, a middle school math teacher in Cortez, said before a recent pay raise, he was spending 47% of his salary on housing not including utilities, according to the report.

“After the raise, it still accounts for about 42% of my salary,” said Meshell, who earns about $60,000 a year plus stipends from coaching.

Schoales said one of the report’s findings that most surprised him was that 70% of survey respondents said they’d be comfortable with their school district as their landlord.

“If you had asked me a couple of years ago if teachers would be interested in workforce housing, I would say very, very few,” he said.

The report highlights a couple districts that have provided housing to teachers for many years. One is Byers 32-J east of Denver, which manages 10 apartments and two houses for employees. The district touts lower rental costs as a benefit to try to draw teachers. For example, according to the report, the district recently purchased a three-bedroom, one-bath house with a garage, carport, and yard, which it rents to teachers for $400 a month.

“We don’t have a lot of turnover. When my teachers are there, they realize the benefit, and there’s a lot of loyalty that comes with that,” said Superintendent Tom Turrell, according to the report.

Schoales noted that some school districts partner with groups that oversee workforce housing, so they may technically own the units, but don’t have day-to-day oversight.

“It’s not quite like … a mining company from 100 years ago where if they don’t like you, they can throw you out,” he said.

The Keystone report includes four recommendations to help solve the teaching housing problem. One advocates for an outside group of consultants that can help school districts think through possible solutions. Another recommends more state support to bring districts,especially small rural ones, together to build workforce housing.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Three takeaways from a new report on child care costs, supply in Colorado

2025-08-01T21:47:41+00:00

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In some Colorado counties, the cost of child care is equivalent to more than half a week’s salary at a minimum wage job, which leaves little money to pay for other expenses.

That’s one of the findings in a new report on licensed child care from the Common Sense Institute, a Colorado research organization. Overall, the report reiterates what many parents know intuitively: Child care is expensive and hard to find. But it also digs into county-by-county differences that highlight how the child care landscape differs by community.

One thing the report doesn’t account for is family, friend, and neighbor care, which is informal child care provided by a child’s relatives or others. The state doesn’t license such providers or track their prevalence, but they are the ones who often fill the gap when state-licensed care is in short supply or out of reach financially.

Here are three takeaways from the report:

Child care takes a big bite out of family income

In Colorado’s 10 largest counties, families are spending 18% to 25% of their monthly income on child care — far above the 7% affordability benchmark set by the federal government. It’s the worst in Weld County, where child care costs consume about $1,400 a month on average. That’s 25% of $5,600, the average monthly household income.

Families have it a bit better in Denver. There, child care costs nearly $1,600 a month per child on average, 18% of the monthly household income of nearly $8,600. Households in Arapahoe and Pueblo counties spend a similar share of their income on child care as those in Denver.

In populous counties, child care supply is best in Boulder, worst in Pueblo

Boulder County has 0.63 child care seats per child under 6 — more seats relative to the number of young children than Colorado’s other nine most populous counties. Jefferson and Douglas counties are close behind.

Lowest on the 10-county list is Pueblo, which has 0.29 seats per child under 6. Child care supply is even worse in some of Colorado’s least populous counties, including Elbert, Huerfano, Lake and Las Animas.

Four Colorado counties have enough slots for young children — technically

Four Colorado counties in the southwestern corner of the state have enough licensed child care seats to serve every child under 6 within their borders. The largest of them is La Plata, where Durango is the county seat. The county has about 400 children under age 6 and about 1,200 child care slots — though the report doesn’t account for children who may come to La Plata from nearby counties for child care.

The other three counties with the best child care supply relative to their child populations are all sparsely populated. They include San Juan, Mineral, and Hinsdale counties.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Health coverage for Colorado babies and toddlers could be disrupted by Trump administration policy

2025-07-29T23:41:58+00:00

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New guidance from the Trump administration has derailed an effort by Colorado to allow babies and toddlers covered by public health insurance to stay continuously enrolled until they turn 3.

Colorado had been planning to roll out its continuous coverage initiative on January 1, 2026. But the guidance, which was released earlier this month, now has advocates worried that thousands of young children from low-income families could lose health coverage at a critical time in their development, with downstream effects on schools, hospitals, and other institutions.

The Trump administration guidance will affect young children enrolled in Medicaid or Colorado’s Child Health Plan Plus program, or CHP+. Instead of allowing them to stay enrolled in the insurance plans until their third birthday, as Colorado leaders intended, their parents will have to fill out paperwork to re-confirm eligibility every 12 months. If they miss the deadline, skip the paperwork, or their income rises slightly above the government’s low-income threshold, their kids would lose coverage.

During the COVID pandemic, the federal government allowed people on public insurance programs like Medicaid and CHP+ to stay continuously enrolled without having to re-submit paperwork every year. When the pandemic ended, some states, including Colorado, sought federal approval to keep the policy going for certain vulnerable populations.

The Trump administration’s new guidance signals an end to that era.

The guidance emphasizes “fiscal and program integrity” as the rationale for ending continuous eligibility for some groups. It also comes amid a broad federal push to shrink a variety of safety net programs. The recent budget bill that Trump signed into law will make deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who’s running for Colorado governor, cited some of those cuts Tuesday in announcing a federal bill that would provide continuous public health coverage to enrolled children until they turn 6.

“Guaranteed, consistent coverage during a child’s critical stage of development is especially important now, as the Republican ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ will cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and CHIP, increase barriers to coverage … and add unnecessary red tape that will lead to people improperly losing their health care,” he said in a press release.

CHIP is a joint federal and state health insurance program for children who don’t qualify for Medicaid. CHP+ is Colorado’s name for CHIP.

With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, Bennet’s proposal may be a nonstarter.

Madi Ashour, director of K-12 education policy for the state advocacy group Colorado Children’s Campaign, said one of the biggest problems with the federal restriction on continuous eligibility for young children is that they’ll miss doctor visits that could uncover developmental problems and route them to important therapies.

“If a child is dropped for Medicaid coverage during that crucial 0-3 window, they may miss diagnoses or supports for developmental delays,” she said.

Ashour said Colorado’s continuous coverage initiative for babies and toddlers can be thought of as “a workload reduction effort for kindergarten and elementary teachers.”

“Kids who start preschool or kindergarten with undiagnosed or unaddressed developmental delays are much more likely, obviously, to struggle with early literacy, behavior, or even peer relationships,” she said. “That may require more intensive and costly interventions later in the school system.”

A 2023 Colorado law set the stage for the state’s plan to ensure continuous public health insurance coverage for two groups: young children during the first 36 months of their lives and adults in the first 12 months after release from state prison. The state received permission from the Biden administration in late 2024 to roll out the effort starting in 2026, but that permission needed to be renewed this coming December by the Trump administration. It now appears that won’t happen.

Marc Williams, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said in an email that plans underway for the Jan. 1 launch are “being urgently pulled back” now.

The department “is analyzing whether it needs to rework legislation and what the fiscal impact may be,” Williams wrote.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Are Colorado kindergartners showing up ready to learn? The picture is fuzzy, advocates say.

2025-07-28T21:44:34+00:00

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Are Colorado kids showing up ready for kindergarten? Are their early math and reading skills up to par? How’s their social and emotional development?

A new report from Early Milestones Colorado, a statewide research and policy group, argues that clear answers are unavailable because of missing or incomplete data.

The report arrives as Colorado is spending big on universal preschool, which launched in 2023 and aims to help prepare kids for kindergarten. Advocates say better kindergarten data could spotlight bright spots and weak areas in that program and help the state make informed decisions about improvements.

At the same time, Gov. Jared Polis is pushing for better data systems for all education levels as part of a multistate effort he’s spearheading for the National Governor’s Association. Part of the goal of the “Let’s Get Ready” initiative, he said in a recent press release, is to “bolster our capacity to measure what works and what doesn’t.”

For nearly a decade, a law known as CAP4K has required Colorado’s kindergarten teachers to collect information early in the school year on how students are doing in six areas: cognition, language, literacy, math, social-emotional development, and physical and motor development. Most schools use one of several state-approved assessments to collect the data, which is released annually in a report to lawmakers.

In 2024-25, the share of students considered ready for kindergarten ranged from 51% to 63% depending on the developmental area, according to the state report.

But advocates say the report lacks key information about certain student subgroups. That’s because schools are allowed to report as “unknown” a child’s race or ethnicity or whether the child is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, one measure of poverty. In the most recent report, about 10,000 children who met language expectations had unknown free and reduced-price meal status. The numbers were similar for the other five developmental areas.

In addition, the report contains no readiness data at all for thousands of kindergartners whose schools got waivers from using state-approved assessments. Such students make up about 7% of the more 50,000 kindergartners in the state’s public schools, according to the Early Milestones brief.

Jennifer Stedron, executive director of Early Milestones, said given that CAP4K’s goal was to boost student achievement, the lack of data about a key grade is “a little stunning.”

The Early Milestones report includes three recommendations:

Require reporting of students’ race/ethnicity, gender, and free-and-reduced-meal eligibility status as part of kindergarten readiness data. Eliminate the “unknown” option.
Require reporting of results for kindergartners whose schools received waivers from state-approved assessments.
Require reporting of the share of kindergartners who meet or exceed expectations across all six developmental areas.

Officials from the Colorado Department of Education say the State Board of Education would be in charge of making any changes to kindergarten assessment data requirements.

Tami Yetter, the department’s director of elementary literacy and school readiness, said data privacy rules are why free- and reduced-price-meal status is unknown for so many students in the kindergarten readiness report.

She noted that the state has kindergarten data for schools with waivers that allow them to use non-approved assessments, but historically hasn’t published it. She said state officials aren’t sure if such assessments are comparable to state-approved assessments, the most common of which is Teaching Strategies GOLD.

The State Board’s next scheduled review of kindergarten readiness data requirements will be in 2028, Yetter said.

Madi Ashour, director of K-12 education policy for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, said the state’s current kindergarten readiness report is “good, but could be better.”

She said requiring that all schools use state-approved kindergarten assessments would be the easiest way to ensure that the 7% of kindergarteners not currently represented in the kindergarten readiness report show up there. But she acknowledged that Colorado local control ethos makes that tricky.

Ashour also noted the state has made some progress over the years toward more accurately reporting kindergarten data. Indeed, the state’s kindergarten readiness report used to be even more opaque. In 2016, worries about data privacy and government intrusion prompted the State Board to drastically limit what data appeared in the report.

That eventually changed, but advocates say more is needed.

Ashour described the Early Milestones recommendations as a way to “further improve these systems that can really make a difference in how Colorado serves kids.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Lawsuit challenges Trump administration rules barring undocumented immigrants from federal programs

2025-07-21T20:30:25+00:00

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Twenty states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration over new rules that would bar undocumented immigrants and some visa holders from programs that provide early childhood education, career and technical education, and health care, among other services.

The lawsuit, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, argues that the Trump administration didn’t follow the proper procedures in establishing the rules, misinterprets federal welfare law, and puts excessive burden on local programs suddenly expected to verify the immigration status of thousands of people.

The Trump administration announced the change July 10, with the new rules taking effect a few days later, even before the public was allowed to comment. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a federal district court in Rhode Island, is the second legal challenge to the rules. A coalition of Head Start associations and parent groups last week are working to amend their April lawsuit to challenge the new rules.

“For decades, states like New York have built health, education, and family support systems that serve anyone in need,” said James in a press release. “Now, the federal government is pulling that foundation out from under us overnight, jeopardizing cancer screenings, early childhood education, primary care, and so much more.”

In addition to James, the plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuit include the attorneys generals of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C., Washington state, and Wisconsin. A coalition of states with Democratic attorneys general has sued the Trump administration repeatedly.

The lawsuit asks the court to halt implementation of the new rules and declare them unlawful.

Asked for a comment on the lawsuit, Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, referred a reporter to the department’s initial press release on the rule change.

The release said the new rules are necessary to “ensure that taxpayer-funded program benefits intended for the American people are not diverted to subsidize illegal aliens.”

At the heart of the new rules is the definition of the term “federal public benefit.”

For decades, programs that fall into this bucket — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, for example — have been off limits to undocumented immigrants. But a variety of other programs, including Head Start, career and technical education, mental health treatment, and community health centers, weren’t considered federal public benefits and so weren’t restricted in the same way.

The new Trump administration rules reclassified dozens of federally funded programs run by four federal agencies as federal public benefits, essentially closing them off to undocumented immigrants. In his department’s initial press release, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the change “restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”

But schools, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations that oppose the new rules fear that barring undocumented immigrants from certain programs will worsen health and education outcomes for those groups and, in turn, burden other parts of the system. These include K-12 schools, which the Supreme Court has ruled must serve students regardless of immigration status, and hospital emergency rooms, which cannot deny emergency treatment.

Some advocates also fear that by requiring checks of immigration status, the new rules will erode trust with the broader immigrant community, even those who are citizens or fall into other categories still entitled to federally funded services. Those categories include legal permanent residents, refugees, and those who’ve been granted asylum or humanitarian parole.

The lawsuit argues that many federal funded programs, such as crisis hotlines or homeless shelters, can’t easily institute immigration verification procedures before service is provided. But it also says vulnerable families and individuals — even if they are citizens — may not have the right paperwork readily available.

“For the first time, millions of people are facing a new demand before they can access the Nation’s most essential programs: ‘show me your papers,’ the lawsuit says.

The federal government has collected more than 200 public comments on the new rules so far, most in opposition.

One commenter noted that every dollar invested in Head Start saves taxpayers $7 in “downstream consequences.” The commenter added: “The fundamental flaw in the logic here is that documented citizens can somehow thrive in a vacuum disconnected from their neighbors and their community (locally and nationally).”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

She teaches college-level math in a diverse Colorado high school. This is her favorite lesson.

2025-07-18T23:25:28+00:00

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During Gayathri Ramkumar’s favorite lesson — a sort of mathematical guessing game — she’ll hear her students asking their partners things like, “Can you tell me the degree of the polynomial?”

Gayathri Ramkumar.

Not only does the back-and-forth get the high-schoolers talking precisely about mathematical problems, but it helps English learners boost their language skills without forcing them to talk in front of the whole class.

Ramkumar is a math and computer science teacher at Aurora Central High School, one of Colorado’s most diverse schools, where about half of the students are learning English.

She is also one of 22 Colorado educators named a semifinalist for the state’s 2026 Teacher of the Year award. The winner will be announced in October.

Ramkumar talked to Chalkbeat about why she switched careers, how she incorporates educational influences from India and America into her lessons, and what advice she gives to college-bound students.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

My journey into teaching wasn’t one of those stories where I always knew I wanted to be an educator. In fact, 25 years ago, fresh out of high school, I never would have imagined myself in a classroom. It was only after stepping away from engineering work to raise my kids that I unexpectedly discovered a love for teaching. Teaching them reading and math before they started school wasn’t just a responsibility; it became something I genuinely enjoyed. That experience sparked a passion in me, one I hadn’t realized was there, and it ultimately led me down the path to becoming a licensed teacher.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

I completed both my high school and bachelor’s degree in India, where the teaching style was very traditional. From an early age, I was used to taking extensive notes and doing a large volume of homework. Teaching in the U.S. has given me the opportunity to reflect on and compare both educational systems. I strive to integrate the best aspects of each into my own teaching approach. For example, when planning a math lesson, I draw inspiration from problem-based U.S. curricula such as Illustrative Mathematics and Desmos, which I’ve come to truly appreciate and enjoy. At the same time, I firmly believe in the value of practice, and I incorporate worksheets that I’ve found effective from my own experience as a math student in India.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

As a concurrent enrollment math teacher at the high school level, I strive to maintain the academic rigor of college-level math while also making it accessible, engaging, and developmentally appropriate for high school students. I always try to create lessons where students are engaging in content through exploration, discovery, and collaboration long before formal definitions or procedures are introduced.

One such lesson, adapted from Illustrative Math, was called “Info Gap.” The format supports precise mathematical communication and problem-solving. The lesson’s purpose was for students to put together what they have learned about sketching graphs of polynomials in factored form and factoring polynomials using division. Students worked in pairs, each receiving one of two card types. One student had the problem card with the problem that needed to be solved but lacked certain key details, such as its degree, intercepts, or end behavior. The other student held the data card containing the missing data, but they were not allowed to simply hand over the answers. Instead, the student with the problem card had to ask thoughtful, specific questions and explain their reasoning for needing that information to solve the problem.

One of the most powerful outcomes was the lesson’s support for multilingual learners. In whole-class settings, these students often hesitate to participate due to limited confidence with academic English. However, they had the chance to use vocabulary like “zeros,” “multiplicity,” and “degree” in a low-pressure context. This dialogue supported both math learning and language development.

There was not a dull moment in the classroom. Students were engaged in meaningful dialogue, constructing knowledge collectively, and supporting each other’s understanding. It was a moment that reaffirmed my belief in student-centered learning.

You help guide first-generation students through the college application process. What is your most important piece of advice for them?

I always encourage my students to take full advantage of Colorado’s Free Application Days by applying to all in-state public universities, even if they’re planning to go out of state. Plans can change unexpectedly, and having solid backup options can reduce stress later on. I also advise them to answer every question on the college application thoroughly, including those marked optional.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

One memorable moment that really shifted my perspective was when I received a message from my student’s mother after I was selected as a semifinalist for Teacher of the Year. She congratulated me warmly and said she was proud to see someone from the immigrant community being recognized. She also told me she would be sharing the news in parent group chats to celebrate the accomplishment.

That message meant a great deal to me. It reminded me that the work I do doesn’t go unnoticed. It helped me realize that beyond academics, I’m serving as a role model and a source of representation for families in our school community. It was a humbling moment that gave me a deeper sense of purpose and a renewed commitment to advocacy, especially for students and families who may not always feel seen or heard.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on in your classroom?

One thing that deeply influences my classroom is the current political climate and the emotional toll it takes on our community, especially immigrant families and first-generation college students. Many of my students are navigating fear, financial instability, and uncertainty about their futures, all while trying to succeed academically. These pressures create setbacks in the classroom, but not because of a lack of ability or motivation.

As an educator, my role extends beyond academics. I advocate for my students by helping connect them with school counselors, former students, and college access programs. I collaborate with families to ensure they feel informed and supported. I also offer extra academic support through flexible office hours, tutoring sessions, and culturally responsive teaching strategies that validate students’ identities. My ultimate goal is to help students not just survive, but thrive, and to remind them that college and long-term success are within their reach, even when the path feels uncertain.

What was your biggest misconception that you initially brought to teaching?

When I first started my licensure process, I didn’t realize how much advocacy teachers do for their students, their colleagues, and the community in general. Teachers are constantly and relentlessly advocating for better and equitable school policies and systemic structure in addition to teaching the content that they are actually hired for.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I enjoy reading historical fiction books, specifically by Ken Follett. Recently, I have been enjoying fantasy fiction.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Rural Colorado district takes aim at LGBTQ policy protections, seeks to join trans athlete lawsuit

2025-07-17T23:40:21+00:00

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A rural school district in southwest Colorado on Tuesday removed nondiscrimination policy protections for LGBTQ people, following a Trump administration push to eliminate such safeguards.

The school board in the conservative-leaning Montezuma-Cortez district unanimously approved changes removing references to “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” from the policy. Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board introduced a policy that would ban transgender students from joining school sports that match their gender identity — one that could permanently replace an emergency version adopted by the board in June.

Such moves are growing more common in school districts around the country, spurred by new federal policies and a charged political environment that’s elevating culture war issues to the top of the agenda in some communities. Montezuma-Cortez, along with two other Colorado districts, three charter schools, and a Board of Cooperative Educational Services are now seeking to join a lawsuit over the issue of transgender student athletes.

District 49 in the Colorado Springs area spearheaded the lawsuit in May, suing the state and the Colorado High School Activities Association over policies that allow transgender youth to play on school sports teams that match their gender identity.

Court documents filed Tuesday indicate that the Montezuma-Cortez, Academy 20, and Colorado Springs 11 districts, along with Monument Academy, The Classical Academy, James Irwin Charter Schools, and Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, have asked to join as plaintiffs.

Sherri Wright, who represents western and southern Colorado on the State Board of Education and previously worked as a teacher in Cortez, weighed in against transgender girls on girls sports teams at the Montezuma-Cortez board meeting Tuesday.

“We do not need to endanger our girls,” she said, citing the possibility of injury if cisgender girls and transgender girls play sports together.

There’s no nationwide data showing the number of transgender girls who compete on girls teams at school or the number of injuries that occur in such situations.

Trump has targeted transgender rights since his first day in office, but many legal experts say his administration cannot, on its own, exclude transgender people from federal anti-discrimination law and that Colorado law, which includes protections for LGBTQ people, supersedes school district policy anyway.

Still, they say efforts to remove LGBTQ protections at the local level send harmful messages about who is valued and deserves protection from discrimination.

At a May school board meeting in Montezuma-Cortez, board member Mike Lynch said the policy change was needed because of Trump’s threats to withhold funding from schools that “support certain previously protected classes like sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity.” He later clarified that Trump has not threatened to withhold funding over protections based on sexual orientation. Still, the term wasn’t restored to the policy.

Lynch, who chairs the district committee that drafted the new nondiscrimination policy, said not every group must be explicitly named in the policy to have protection from discrimination.

Noting that the policy talks about unlawful discrimination, he said, “If it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, then the policy covers it.”

The policy adopted Tuesday now cites 10 instead of 13 protected characteristics in a section prohibiting harassment. The 10 include disability, race, creed, color, sex, marital status, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services.

Some community members objected to the nondiscrimination policy changes.

Emily Christenson, a parent in the 2,400-student district, said even though Colorado law contains protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, including the terms in school district policy is important.

“You may feel … that it’s redundant to list them there, but to remove only some of the protected classes from your policy clearly states that you condone harassment inflicted upon these groups of our community,” she said.

Cayce Hamerschlag, who spoke about both the nondiscrimination policy and the transgender student athlete policy, said the board is choosing to deny rights to some students with no legal requirement to do so.

“In the spirit of transparency,” she told the board, “perhaps you should change your slogan from ‘Every Student. Every Day.’ to ‘Certain Students. Some Days.’”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Head Start advocates pursue legal challenge to new Trump policy barring undocumented children

2025-07-16T22:54:23+00:00

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Several state Head Start associations and parent groups are fighting a Trump administration effort to bar undocumented children from the federally funded Head Start program.

The groups, which are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, asked a federal district court on Tuesday to amend an April lawsuit they filed against the Trump administration over Head Start changes. They want to add a challenge to the government’s July 14 directive calling for the exclusion of undocumented children from the program.

Tuesday’s motion marks the second time the plaintiffs have sought to update their lawsuit in an effort to keep up with what they see as a series of abrupt and harmful changes that are chipping away at the 60-year-old program. The groups’ original lawsuit came after the Trump administration closed five regional Head Start offices, cut 60% of Head Start staff, and banned federal grant recipients, including Head Start providers, from promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility.

Ming-Qi Chu, deputy director of the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, said the Trump administration’s July 14 directive represents another step in the government strategy to kill Head Start by continually weakening the program.

“The message of reserving Head Start for U.S. citizens is really at odds with a core purpose of Head Start — to be able to serve immigrant communities,” she said.

While a July 10 press release from the Department of Health and Human Services said Head Start would be “reserved for American citizens from now on,” federal officials later clarified that certain immigrants would still qualify, including legal permanent residents, children who’ve been granted asylum, refugees, and children with humanitarian parole.

Chu said the court hasn’t yet ruled on whether the ACLU can amend the lawsuit to include arguments against the new federal directive, but said she’s optimistic the court will allow it.

The plaintiffs in the case include Parent Voices Oakland, Family Forward Oregon, and Head Start associations from four states: Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Head Start provides free child care, preschool, and various other services to about 750,000 children from low-income families annually. Conservatives have criticized the safety net program for years, but attacks have ramped up in recent years. Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda released in 2023, called for its elimination. In April, a leaked version of the president’s draft budget did the same — though Trump backpedaled on that plan a few weeks later.

Despite escaping the budget knife for now, Head Start has felt the impact of temporary funding freezes, confusing federal directives, and layoffs of federal Head Start workers. Some Head Start programs have closed and laid off workers, halting services to hundreds of children and families.

The Trump administration’s July 14 directive, published a few days after Department of Health and Human Services officials announced the new policy, is the latest wrench to hit Head Start providers and families.

For decades, Head Start was not considered a “federal public benefit” like Medicaid, SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — all of which aren’t available to undocumented immigrants. The Trump administration has now reinterpreted the definition of federal public benefit to include Head Start, essentially shutting out undocumented children.

Chu said it’s the job of Congress, not the presidential administration, to determine whether Head Start should be considered a federal public benefit. When Congress did define the term in a 1996 welfare reform law, it specifically cited “postsecondary education” as a federal public benefit, but did not include early childhood or K-12 education.

In the landmark 1982 Plyler v. Doe case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children have a right to a free public education regardless of immigration status, but that case focused on K-12 education.

The July 14 directive says the rule change aligns with several recent Trump actions “that reflect the will of the American people that aliens should not burden our public benefits system and that our public benefits system should not serve as a magnet for illegal immigration.”

Aside from the definition of federal public benefits, Chu cited other problems with the new Head Start policy. By making it effective immediately, the Trump administration skipped over key processes meant to delay rule changes until the public has a chance to comment and that require a thorough cost-benefit analysis, she said.

“We know that [the Health and Human Services Department] didn’t try to grapple at all with the enormous cost this would have on immigrant families that relied on Head Start for decades,” she said.

It’s unclear how many children the new Trump administration rule could bar from Head Start.

The federal directive states, “The Department anticipates that numerous unqualified aliens will no longer receive benefits under Federally funded programs due to this notice.”

It’s not clear yet whether all Head Start providers would have to verify a child’s immigration status before enrolling them. Some Head Start providers have pointed to language in federal law that exempts nonprofit charities from verifying the immigration status of beneficiaries. Head Start providers include private nonprofits as well as school districts and other public entities. Still, the Health and Human Services Department has not yet issued guidance on what providers will be asked to do.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Inside a Colorado district’s debate about what gets taught in fourth grade social studies

2025-07-02T21:30:34+00:00

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A committee of fourth grade teachers in western Colorado spent months this past school year reviewing potential social studies curriculums. The one they chose was written by Colorado historians and is widely used in schools across the state.

But in April, the school board in Mesa County Valley District 51, a 20,000-student district based in Grand Junction, rejected that curriculum, called “The Colorado Story.” Some board members felt its mention of the Black Lives Matter movement was not age appropriate and that it portrayed historical figures such as Christopher Columbus in a negative light, among other concerns.

Barb Evanson, the District 51 board member who was most vocal in her opposition, said in an interview that she felt the curriculum wrongly portrayed Columbus as solely responsible for harm to indigenous people in the Americas.

“Were there people that were doing bad things? Were there people that were absolutely there with ill intention? Absolutely,” she said. “Was it Christopher Columbus? No.”

The controversy in District 51 echoes current culture war battles over how American history is taught and whether schoolchildren can grapple with challenging subjects like race, racism, and flawed historical figures. The Trump administration has joined the fray, too — launching an effort in May that asks national parks visitors to report signage that disparages past or living Americans.

Liz Wallace, publisher and president at Gibbs Smith Education, which publishes “The Colorado Story,” said what happened in District 51 was a first.

“Prior to this year, I have never had a board reject one of our books,” she said.

Curriculum decision split the community

Instead of “The Colorado Story,” the District 51 school board chose a different fourth grade social studies curriculum in May. Called “Exploring Social Studies: Colorado,” it got lower marks from the teacher committee. The district will spend about $116,000 to purchase the second-choice curriculum, including textbooks, teacher guides, activities, and digital access. A district spokesperson couldn’t provide the cost of the first-choice option, because she said district officials never got far enough into the process.

The vote wasn’t unanimous. In a microcosm of national politics, both the board and the community were split over what fourth graders in Grand Junction should learn. The board voted 3-2 in April to reject “The Colorado Story.” In May, it voted 4-1 to adopt “Exploring Social Studies: Colorado.”

Board Vice President Will Jones, who ultimately voted to adopt the second-choice curriculum, expressed frustration with the process and said topics like Black Lives Matter are part of history and should be taught.

“Where I get frustrated is the committee that we put together chose the first book overwhelmingly,” he said. “And we’re taking the word of a few of us that may not like something.”

Board President Andrea Haitz said during an April meeting that she felt “The Colorado Story” discussion of Black Lives Matter, covered on two pages of the textbook’s 290-page third edition, would be too heavy for her soon-to-be fourth grade son.

“I don’t know that this activism stuff is really appropriate for him at fourth grade,” she said. “As a parent, I’m not ready to have that conversation with him.”

But board member Jośe Luis Chávez, the only board member to vote against the second-choice curriculum, said it’s a fact of life in some communities.

“The activism stuff, my daughter knew that probably in first grade,” he said.

A popular textbook is a victim of ‘time and place’

On April 1, when District 51 administrators recommended “The Colorado Story” during a school board presentation, there were no hints of controversy. A curriculum specialist talked about why the seven-member teacher committee thought it was the strongest contender. He described it as “visually stunning” and noted that community members at a public feedback session called it a wonderful curriculum that includes diverse perspectives and aligns well to state standards.

But weeks later, Evanson and other board members said they wanted a different option.

Evanson, who homeschools her two children, said at one meeting that because there is no bibliography in the “The Colorado Story” textbook, she considered it opinion-based. In an interview, she acknowledged that 9- and 10-year-olds might not consult a bibliography, but said parents like her would.

Wallace said it’s not typical for fourth grade textbooks to have bibliographies and that the teacher’s guide has links to a variety of sources, including materials from the Colorado Ute tribes and History Colorado, which runs museums and historic sites around the state.

“The Colorado Story” textbook is authored by Tom Noel, a former state historian whose nickname is “Dr. Colorado,” and Debra Faulkner, a historian at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. Noel and Faulkner declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson for History Colorado, which includes “The Colorado Story” on its list of recommended textbooks, said no one from the organization was available to comment.

Fourth grade is when Colorado students learn state history. In recent years, District 51 hasn’t had a uniform fourth grade social studies curriculum, instead cobbling together old materials.

Schools in about 100 of Colorado’s 179 districts use the second or third edition of “The Colorado Story,” Wallace said. The third edition came out a few years ago and aligns with the state’s 2022 social studies standards.

Wallace said those standards are among the most progressive in the country and that some of what board members objected to in “The Colorado Story” was included because of the standards.

A social studies teacher in District 51, who asked not to be named so he could speak freely about school board decisions, said he thinks “The Colorado Story” was a victim of “time and place.”

Mesa County is a conservative-leaning community where 61% of voters went for Trump in the last presidential election.

The teacher said the prevailing approach to controversial or challenging topics is “no longer just, ‘You have your view and I’ll have my view.’ It’s, ‘I don’t want that in the classroom.’”

Issues like the Black Lives Matter movement can be taught in an age-appropriate way, he said. Educators can be trusted to understand what’s suitable for their classrooms, and students often enjoy contemporary topics like Black Lives Matter because they don’t feel “like ancient history,” he said.

Critics focus on depiction of Columbus, colonizers

In critiques of “The Colorado Story,” some District 51 board members repeatedly voiced concerns about people or groups they felt weren’t depicted fairly, including Christopher Columbus, Spanish “colonizers,” gold prospectors, and modern day police officers.

Evanson said the book contained only “snippets” about Columbus.

“It didn’t give the totality of Christopher Columbus,” she said. “If we’re not going to teach the whole truth, why would we teach a portion of it?”

The textbook devotes a handful of paragraphs to Columbus.

Next to a picture of him, the text says, “When the Spanish arrived in the New World, they claimed the land for Spain. They did not want to be friends with the Native people. Instead, the Spanish attacked their villages, taking whatever they wanted. Indigenous people fought back, but the Spanish had more powerful weapons.”

Wallace noted that the curriculum’s teacher guide includes an activity called “Columbus: Hero or Villain?”

The idea, she said, is that, “students explore this complex person and the complex history associated with him and form their own conclusions.”

Evanson also said “The Colorado Story” paints gold prospectors as greedy and environmentally reckless. The book mentions early that they dug tunnels, felled trees, and left “ugly scars” on the land. Later it explains that they wanted to get rich because many prospectors didn’t have jobs, and “gold brought a glimmer of hope.”

Evanson, who previously worked in law enforcement, and Haitz objected to a mention of Elijah McClain in a short section called “Activism Today” that features Black Lives Matter. McClain was a young Black man who died after police restrained him in Aurora in 2019. In addition to McClain, the book briefly mentions George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

Haitz said, “The book pinpointed specific events that seemed to villainize law enforcement specifically, but did not give full context around the entire case.”

In both cases, police officers who restrained the men were convicted of crimes.

Haitz said she felt the second-choice curriculum handled the activism topic in a more age appropriate way — by highlighting Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, a famous immigrant rights activist from Denver.

But “The Colorado Story,” the rejected curriculum, also features Gonzales in a two-page section about the Chicano movement in Colorado.

Three of the five District 51 board members — Jones, Chávez, and Angele Lema — either declined to be interviewed for this story or did not respond to requests for comment. Evanson and Haitz both said their concerns with “Colorado Story” were not fueled by conservative political views.

“I really did look at this as an age appropriate context,” said Haitz. “This was not left, right, conservative, liberal.”

She said some district residents upset about the rejected curriculum wrote to the board saying it was trying to whitewash history.

“I never once said I didn’t want kids to learn about Black Lives Matter,” Haitz said. “I totally want kids to learn about that. Just let’s learn about it in its full context, and let’s learn about it a little bit later when we can talk about it more robustly.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Coming in 2026: A drop-in child care center at the Denver airport

2025-06-17T21:08:07+00:00

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Denver airport officials plan to open a small drop-in child care center in 2026 and are studying the possibility of opening another child care center that would serve more employees in the future.

The drop-in center will have room for 20 children and be located on the fourth level of the airport’s hotel and transit center, within a new training facility called the Center of Equity and Excellence in Aviation. The child care center is meant to provide occasional care and will primarily serve the children of airport employees or community members who are participating in training center activities.

While the planned center would serve only a tiny fraction of the airport’s more than 40,000 employees, it represents a first step toward boosting the number of child care seats in an area with limited supply. Officials at the airport, which is the nation’s third busiest, began studying the possibility of a child care center at or near the airport’s far northeast Denver campus earlier this year.

That area of the city has so few state-licensed child care slots, it’s considered a child care desert.

The Denver airport will soon join a few other U.S. airports with on- or near-site child care facilities. They include Los Angeles International Airport, which operates a center for the children of employees a few blocks from the airport campus, and Pittsburgh International Airport, which runs a center in a converted terminal. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is slated to open a center on its campus this year. The three centers are bigger than what’s planned at Denver’s airport.

Denver’s drop-in center will have two classrooms — one for babies and toddlers and one for preschoolers — and a separate play area. It will be open 10 to 12 hours a day Monday through Friday year-round, including on holidays, according to the airport’s recent request for proposals, which seeks an operator to run the child care center.

Parents participating in activities at the airport training center will pay nothing for care. Some airport employees not participating in training activities also will be allowed to use the child care center for back-up care, but will have to pay a fee.

Ashley Forest, an airport spokesperson, said by email that she couldn’t provide information on which employees will be eligible for back-up care at the center or whether they will pay a discounted fee. She also couldn’t provide details on whether families will be limited to a certain number of weekly or monthly hours of care at the center.

Forest said plans for the drop-in center came out of the second phase of the airport’s three-phase child care feasibility study. The third phase will look at the possibility of “an airportwide child care solution,” which could be a second child care center on or near the airport campus.

Earlier this spring, airport officials estimated that 19,000 of more than 40,000 airport employees fall into the 20- to 39-year-old age range, but said they still needed more information about how many of those employees have young children and need child care.

The airport is working with a business-oriented group, Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, on the child care feasibility study. Forest said she expects a recommendation to come out of phase three later this year.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Meet Terita Walker, the Denver principal up for a national award

2025-06-16T23:16:08+00:00

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When Terita Walker was a middle schooler at Beasley Academic Center in Chicago, she remembers watching in awe as her principal, Ollie McLemore, hosted Bill Clinton at the school during his first presidential campaign in 1992.

When McLemore presented Clinton with a bright green Beasley Bees sweatshirt, the candidate quickly jettisoned his suit jacket and put it on, drawing an explosion of cheers from students, parents, and teachers. The future president described the K-8 magnet school as “a model for what we wish all schools would be.” He later invited McLemore to inauguration events as one of “50 Faces of Hope,” a group of inspiring people he’d met on the campaign trail.

Today, Walker is principal of Denver’s East High School, which serves about 2,300 students in one of the district’s grandest old buildings. She looks back on McLemore and the other educators who molded her as exemplars of educational leadership.

East High School Principal Terita Walker

“These were individuals who did not just lead — they inspired, they nurtured, and they expected the very best from us,” Walker said.

Today, she aims to follow in their footsteps.

Along with principals from Medford, New Jersey, and Ogden, Utah, Walker was recently named one of three finalists for the National High School Principal of the Year award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The winner will be announced on July 9.

Walker, who is also president-elect of the Colorado Association of Secondary School Principals, talked to Chalkbeat about why she changed careers, what she learned from a patient mother, and how she thinks about school safety after two deans were shot by an East High student in 2023.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was your first education job, and what sparked your interest in the field?

Education was actually a second career for me. After spending time in the corporate world, I realized I wasn’t fully inspired by the work. While in the midst of “figuring it out,” someone suggested that I try substitute teaching.

That suggestion led me back to a very familiar and special place: my alma mater, Beasley Academic Center, a K-8 magnet school. Beasley had given me some of the most memorable and meaningful moments of my life, and experiencing it as an educator sparked something in me.

I wanted to be just like the educators who shaped me. One of those incredible individuals was my 8th grade teacher from 1993, Barbara Lanair, who later became my teacher supervisor during graduate school.

How did your own school experiences impact you and shape your approach to being a principal?

I had great school experiences in the Chicago Public School system, and those experiences shaped my approach to being a principal.

All of my school principals were strong, intelligent, powerful, caring, and nurturing Black women. Many of my teachers were as well. They weren’t just educators; they were role models who embodied excellence in everything they did. They could command a room within seconds and hold the attention of students, staff, parents, and community members alike.

As a principal today, I try to embody that same visibility, advocacy, and connection with students, staff, and the community.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

One memorable experience that really shifted my perspective happened during a meeting with a student and his mother. During our conversation, the student kept asking his mom, “Why? But why not?” To my surprise, she patiently responded to every single question. I remember sitting there thinking, “That is so disrespectful!”

Based on how I was raised, questioning an adult — especially asking “why” — was often seen as defiant. So in the moment, I jokingly said to the mom, “Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned answer from a parent of...‘Because I said so!’” She just gave a small shrug and left the building.

Later, a colleague who overheard the exchange pulled me aside, and we had a thoughtful conversation that completely changed the way I saw that moment. We talked about how important it is for students to feel empowered to ask questions, to be curious, and to seek understanding. Those “why” questions are not about being disrespectful — they’re about learning how to think critically, form opinions, and challenge what doesn’t align with their values.

That conversation led me to call the student’s mother — not just to apologize, but to thank her. I told her how much I admired the way she calmly engaged with her child’s questions, and how her approach taught me something important about the kind of learners we’re trying to cultivate.

Since then, I’ve learned not to take it personally when students don’t simply accept what I say at face value. Of course, there’s always room for respect and boundaries, but now I see inquisitiveness and curiosity as strengths.

The East High community went through a lot in 2023, with multiple shootings on or near campus. How do you make students and staff feel safe?

Safety is a shared responsibility at East. Teachers, administrators, and staff members actively monitor transitions, manage hallway and outdoor movement, and stay vigilant throughout the day. Our safety team treats every report with urgency and care.

Following the incredibly difficult events of 2023, our commitment to safety has only deepened. One of the most important things we’ve learned is that safety is not just about procedures or physical security; it’s about trust, communication, and shared responsibility. That’s why we involve our entire school community in safety conversations before implementing new measures.

We’ve increased the number of campus safety officers in the building to ensure a visible presence and maintain consistent coverage throughout the hallways and around the perimeter of the school. We’ve also strengthened our relationship with the two Student Resource Officers. Our goal is for these officers to be trusted members of our school community who students and staff feel comfortable approaching.

You host monthly coffee chats with parents and students. What’s an example of something you learned from those discussions, and how you addressed it?

These monthly chats give me a chance to hear directly from students and families about what’s working and what isn’t. I want everyone to love our school, because why not? It’s an amazing place to be! But I also understand how important it is to remain open, reflective, and committed to growth.

One specific example came up first semester when parents expressed frustration over a lack of direct communication regarding student absences. The district had recently introduced a new electronic absence reporting system, but it wasn’t meeting all of our families’ needs.

After that coffee chat, we reached out to more families to better understand the issue. As a result, we hired a new attendance support staff member to bring back the human element. This person is now a direct point of contact for parents who need to report absences, ask questions, or resolve issues. Since making that shift, we’ve received positive feedback about the improved clarity and responsiveness of our attendance process.

What issue in the education policy realm is having a big impact on your school right now? How are you addressing it?

One of the most pressing issues impacting our school is the growing need to support student mental health and well-being. At East High School, we recognize that mental health support is not a luxury — it is a necessity.

Despite significant efforts and investments, the need continues to outpace available support. East High has the largest school counseling team in the district, yet our counselors still carry caseloads larger than the national average. We also have four full-time psychologists and three social workers on staff, and we regularly collaborate with outside agencies, like WellPower and Denver Health.

In the face of recent funding cuts, East made a deliberate decision to retain a full-time prevention and therapeutic specialist. This individual educates students on the effects of drugs and alcohol and leads both preventative programming and intervention workshops as part of a restorative disciplinary approach.

What’s the best advice about educational leadership that you ever received?

The best advice didn’t come in the form of a direct conversation. It came during one of the most challenging periods of my career: the post-COVID era. My leadership team and I were exploring the implementation of an advisory period. After countless hours of research and brainstorming, we found ourselves overwhelmed and exhausted.

Then, almost by accident, I stumbled across a graphic that simply read: “Everything is Figureoutable.”

At the time, it felt more like wishful thinking than truth. But that phrase stuck with me. I later discovered it was the title of a book by Marie Forleo. Her message is simple but profound: with enough effort, determination, and creativity, any problem can be solved.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I’m finishing “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins, and I’ve also started listening to the accompanying podcast. The book and podcast have really inspired me with their constant reminders about the importance of choosing joy and staying grounded.

One of my favorite quotes from Mel Robbins is: “There will always be someone who can’t see your worth. Don’t let it be you.” It’s a powerful reminder to stay true to myself, to lead with confidence, and to never lose sight of my own value — especially in a profession like education, where we pour so much of ourselves into others.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.