John Youngquist leads at-large race

Candidates supported by education reform groups were leading in the Denver school board election in the first returns Tuesday night, with the two incumbents in the race — Scott Baldermann and Charmaine Lindsay — trailing their challengers.

The three candidates — John Youngquist, Kimberlee Sia and Marlene De La Rosa —  backed by Denver Families Action, a deep-pocketed political group with charter-school ties, were ahead as initial election results were posted.

If the results hold, it would be the first time since 2021 that candidates who support education reform have held seats on the board, which flipped to a union-backed majority in 2019. Yet members backed by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association would still retain a majority of seats on the seven-member board.

In the at-large race, Youngquist, a former East High principal, was ahead with 50,579 — or 62.84% of the total — votes. Kwame Spearman, the former mayoral candidate and ex-CEO of the Tattered Cover bookstore chain, had 20,371 — or 25.31% — votes. Brittni Johnson, a community organizer and DPS parent, had 9,536 — or 11.85% — votes.

In the District 1 race, Baldermann had 9,394 — or 44.01% of the total — votes. Sia, the former head of the KIPP Colorado charter school network, had 11,951 — or 55.99% — votes.

In the District 5 race, Lindsay, who was appointed to the board in 2022, had — 3,330 or 23.79% of the total — votes. De La Rosa, a former DPS parent, had 8,287 — or 59.2% — votes. Parent Adam Slutzker had 2,382 — or 17.02% – votes.

This year’s election for three seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education garnered heightened interest from parents and community members, who sought to shake up the leadership of Colorado’s largest district following a shooting inside East High School in March.

Parents have formed two groups — Resign DPS Board and the Parents Safety Advocacy Group, or P-SAG — that have advocated for a change on the board, citing concerns about school safety and infighting among directors.

The school board election has drawn close to $2 million in political spending, including more than $1.3 million from an independent expenditure committee called Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, according to filings with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

The committee, which is funded largely by Denver Families Action, spent money on advertising, ranging from mailers to a television ad — a rarity in Denver school board elections — to support candidates Youngquist, Sia and  De La Rosa and to attack the three candidates with union support.

The teachers union endorsed incumbents Baldermann and Lindsay as well as Spearman.

The union has spent significantly less — just more than $167,400 — than reform groups during the election, according to filings with the Secretary of State’s Office.

The fact that a TV ad ran during a school board election “suggests that there are some major interests involved that have resources,” said pollster Floyd Ciruli, adding, “It suggests that it’s competitive and a lot is at stake.”

If the reform-backed candidates win seats Tuesday night, then the election could change the board’s priorities and even its leadership, such as who serves as president, he said.

The pandemic threw school boards across the U.S. into the spotlight as districts were faced with difficult decisions around school closures and board meetings turned into partisan battles over public health policies and classroom curriculums.

Unlike in districts elsewhere in Colorado and the country, the debates happening in Denver haven’t centered on classroom curriculums or book bans. Instead, the East shooting ignited interest in the election by highlighting the district’s discipline policies and the board’s decision to remove armed police officers from district buildings in 2020.