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A deep-pocketed advocacy organization has endorsed four candidates in November’s Denver school board election. Four of the seven board seats — and political control of the state’s largest school district — are up for grabs.
Denver Families Action has endorsed:
- Alex Magaña for an at-large seat representing the entire city.
- Mariana del Hierro for a seat representing District 2 in southwest Denver.
- Caron Blanke for a seat representing District 3 in central-east Denver.
- Timiya Jackson for a seat representing District 4 in northeast Denver.
In the last Denver school board election in 2023, Denver Families Action contributed $950,000 to an independent expenditure committee that outspent a committee funded by the Denver teachers union by 5 to 1, according to campaign finance reports.
The big spending was successful. All three of the candidates backed by Denver Families Action in 2023 — John Youngquist, Marlene De La Rosa, and Kimberlee Sia — won their seats.
Denver Families Action is the political arm of an organization called Denver Families for Public Schools. Launched in 2021, Denver Families for Public Schools was originally formed to elevate the voices of the thousands of charter school families in Denver Public Schools. But its current platform, released last year, is to push DPS on three issues that affect all students, whether they attend charter schools or not: mental health, safety, and academics.
The board of directors of Denver Families Action is made up of a retired University of Colorado professor, two members who previously worked for Denver-based charter school networks, and the former head of Teach for America in Colorado, who now works for the Denver Health Foundation.
While Denver Families Action’s staff and board chair made the final decisions on which school board candidates to endorse, their decision was influenced by the opinion of a 37-member community panel, said Denver Families Action CEO Clarence Burton Jr.
“We don’t just talk about community voice. We make sure community has a seat at the table,” Burton said. “What we’ve heard again and again from Denver families across the city is pretty simple: They want a school board that puts students and teachers first.
“That’s what these endorsements reflect,” he said.
Burton praised that the four endorsed candidates — Magaña, del Hierro, Blanke, and Jackson — are all parents of current DPS students or DPS graduates. All four have either worked in schools or with public school families, Burton said.
Several of the candidates’ opponents are also DPS parents and former educators. But Burton said these four stood out for their commitment to “being the chief advocates for what the community wants to see in their public schools.” That’s an obligation he said members of the community panel felt that the current board has not taken seriously.
The four candidates expressed support for all types of DPS schools, Burton said. DPS has 94 traditional district-run schools; 52 charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run; and 46 innovation schools, which are district-run but have more autonomy.
“We want to support great public schools no matter the model, as long as they’re working for families,” Burton said. “We think that is a differentiation.”
Magaña and Jackson participated in a 10-month leadership development program run by Denver Families Action called the LEAD Fellowship. Candidate DJ Torres, who is running in District 3 but did not get the Denver Families Action endorsement, also participated.
Manda Troutman, a former DPS teacher whose three children graduated from Northfield High School, served on the Denver Families Action community panel and helped to interview candidates for the at-large and District 4 seats. While Northfield High is run by the district, Troutman’s children attended a charter elementary and middle school.
Troutman said the candidates that Denver Families Action endorsed — Magaña for the at-large seat and Jackson in District 4 — came across as authentic and knowledgeable. She was impressed that both have been active in DPS and the larger community. Magaña is a DPS principal and Jackson is the former head of a youth-focused Denver nonprofit organization.
“Both Alex and Timiya were engaging in community action that elevates parents’ and students’ voices,” Troutman said. “We need more leadership in Denver that cares about what’s happening inside of classrooms and less about the politics behind the scenes.”
Gavin Triplett also served on Denver Families Action’s community panel. Triplett is a DPS teacher and building representative for the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. That’s notable because the teachers union and Denver Families Action have historically endorsed different candidates, which pits the organizations against each other, election-wise.
Triplett said he often had a different opinion than the other community panelists. For instance, he said most panelists liked hearing from the candidates that they would listen to the community when making their decisions. But to him, it sounded like a non-answer.
“That, to me, sounds like rhetoric,” said Triplett, who is entering his second full year of teaching at Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment, a district-run elementary with innovation status.
But Triplett said Denver Families Actions’ endorsements lined up with the views of most panelists, even if they didn’t align perfectly with his.
“It did seem like the people they endorsed, the community panelists were the warmest toward,” Triplett said. “I would be sitting there like, ‘Wait, really? You guys all disagree with me?’”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
