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November’s Denver school board election was the most expensive ever. Candidates and outside groups spent $2.35 million on ads, mailers, consultants, and other expenses, according to Chalkbeat’s tally of final campaign finance reports.
That total surpasses the nearly $2.3 million spent in 2019 and the $2.2 million spent in 2023.
Groups and donors supportive of charter schools outspent teachers unions by nearly 3 to 1 this year, according to Chalkbeat’s calculations. But the big spending didn’t pay off.
Propelled in part by a “blue wave” that swept the country, union-backed candidates won all four seats up for election, ensuring that control of Colorado’s largest school district remains in the hands of board members supported by the teachers union.
As has been the case for years, independent expenditure committees far outspent candidates. This type of spending is sometimes referred to as “dark money” because some of the organizations that fund the committees don’t have to disclose their donors.
Reports show that a committee called Better Leaders, Stronger Schools spent the most money at nearly $1.5 million in support of four candidates endorsed by a group called Denver Families Action: Alex Magaña, Timiya Jackson, Caron Blanke, and Mariana del Hierro. All four lost.
Denver Families Action is the political arm of the organization Denver Families for Public Schools. The group was founded in 2021 to elevate the voices of Denver charter school families, but its current platform is to push the district on issues that affect all students.
Denver Families Action contributed much of the funding to Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, reports show — dollars that the teachers union criticized as coming from “out-of-state billionaires.” Denver Families Action has received funding from an organization called City Fund Action, which has ties to Netflix founder Reed Hastings and Texas philanthropist John Arnold.
Individual donors also contributed to Better Leaders, Stronger Schools. Kent Thiry, the former CEO of dialysis provider DaVita, gave $192,495. That’s less than the $350,000 he contributed in 2023. Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz gave $40,000 this year and Stanton Dodge, a top corporate attorney for DraftKings Inc., gave $25,000.
Better Leaders, Stronger Schools spent more than $300,000 on television ads, more than $300,000 on mailers, and more than $500,000 on digital ads, campaign finance reports show. Independent expenditure committees cannot coordinate with the candidates and are more likely to send attack ads about their preferred candidates’ opponents, as happened this year.
Another, much smaller pro-reform independent expenditure committee called Colorado Families for Great Schools spent more than $95,000 on mailers, digital ads, and text messages. Its funding came from the national organization 50CAN, the Colorado League of Charter Schools Action Fund, and the conservative advocacy group Ready Colorado.
An independent expenditure committee funded by local teachers unions spent about $286,500, reports show. Called Students Deserve Better, the committee paid for mailers and digital ads in favor of four candidates endorsed by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association: Amy Klein Molk, Monica Hunter, Donald “DJ” Torres, and Xóchitl Gaytán. All four won.
In total, Colorado teachers unions also gave more than $250,000 directly to those four candidates, according to campaign finance reports. The candidates received the most money from the Denver and statewide teachers unions.
But the candidates also got small donations — between $200 and $2,000 each — from other local unions in districts including Jeffco, Adams 12, Boulder Valley, St. Vrain, Cherry Creek, 27J in Brighton, Littleton, and Pueblo 60. Denver union President Rob Gould said the giving was a new strategy by Colorado teachers unions to fight back against out-of-state money.
The candidates themselves spent far less than the independent expenditure committees. Klein Molk, who successfully ran for an at-large seat representing the entire city, spent the most at nearly $80,250.
Former board member Michelle Quattlebaum, who ran for reelection in northeast Denver’s District 4 but lost her seat to newcomer Hunter, spent the least at just over $11,250.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
