OUR VIEW: When you see the raw number of union operatives parachuting into Douglas County every week, the battle lines are clear — this is a fight between school reformers and the best machine politicians that the union power structure in this state can drum up.
A high profile union operative who raised thousands of dollars from the nation’s largest unions as a legislative candidate is the latest operative to parachute in to fight the school board in Douglas County.
Our Colorado News reports that Angela Engel kicked off a speaker series on Tuesday funded by anti-reform group Taxpayers for Public Education, who is also suing the Douglas County school district for its scholarship program.
In 2006, Engel ran a failed campaign against Republican State Representative Spencer Swalm in House District 37. During her campaign she managed to raise thousands from unions and Democrat heavies like Congressman Jared Polis and Rutt Bridges.
Here’s a snapshot from Follow the Money:
Engel, in keeping with her strong union affiliations, has been a vocal opponent of school reform.
From Our Colorado News:
Engel believes the impetus for education reform stems from faulty research and an inaccurate perception that the American education system is failing.
Douglas County, she said, is “the test case” for education reform…
“This reform movement is going to fail. It might take a long time. (But) there’s no evidence to support measuring learning improves education.”
What’s especially shocking about Engel’s extreme views is that she not only is an opponent of Douglas County’s reform but the entire idea of reforming education.
Engel is the second union operative, and failed candidate, just this week to declare war on Douglas County reform. Per The Colorado Observer‘s Devan Crean:
CASTLE ROCK — Last Friday’s protest of the Douglas County Education Foundation’s (DCEF) Love Our Schools luncheon was led in part by Susan Meek, who acted as spokeswoman for the anti-school board group.
Meek is a parent of two children attending Douglas County schools and the vice president of the Strong Schools Coalition, as well as a former employee of the district and ran a failed campaign for the District A seat on the Board of Education (BoE) in 2011.
Meek is not running for the BoE again, but she will manage and advise campaigns this fall. She has placed herself at the center of the race. She was recently featured in a story for Our Colorado News: Lone Tree Voice that highlighted her views and positions, rather than those of the campaigns she will manage.
While having a history of getting their @ss handed to them in Douglas County, union operatives are nonetheless throwing all they have against the reform-minded school board.
When you see the raw number of union operatives parachuting into Douglas County every week, the battle lines are clear — this is a fight between school reformers and the best machine politicians that the union power structure in this state can drum up.
Where is there evidence of any money coming into this race? Campaign finance records from a state house race in another area? Come on, this is not real reporting.
Dave Gill Wins and Angela Engel Loses.
Angela, your thoughts are remarkably devoid of fact and logic. I understand that you are a pro-union partisan and are not pleased with Douglas County's decision to pursue choice and empower parents. As you dodged the question of whether or not you live in Douglas County, it seems you don't. What is your interest in our schools? Are you paid for your involvement in a neighboring county's affairs?
Recently… You mean 7 years ago. I think it was GW Bush who coined that "funny math". I'm a fourth generation Colorado native I ran for the State House of Representatives in 2006. Why all of this personal interest in me?
Don't confuse the issues, Dave, you can't improve education by divesting in high performing neighborhood schools. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. In one post you say you want to"retain and reward great teacher" in the next post you promote giving tax dollars to schools where the teachers have zero accountability. The only consistent thing you have to say is that Unions are to blame.
That argument may work to polarize your audience but it does nothing to increase educational opportunities for students. Colorado has choice. Any parents can send their child to any of the 176 districts in the state. Citizens across the country have voted down vouchers because they want more opportunities for their kids, not less. It is why the DC BOE board acted unilaterally. If you need an example of how "choice" has been diminished go and visit the voucher districts in Milwaukee and Detroit where the public schools have deteriorated and the private schools score less on standardized tests than the public ones.
And if you think parents are irate now just wait until their children no longer have band, theater, athletics, foreign language, art, or business and technology programs. Those of us who oppose vouchers do it in the name of choice. Douglas County had some of the best schools in the state. True, it's mostly correlated to income but still people don't like it when you mess with their children. BTW those "scholastic standards" you reference are the one-size-fits-all model.
If you have some chip on your shoulder or an axe to grind, address it without compromising kids. Douglas County students "were" getting a good education from good teachers. I'm looking forward to the Supreme Court ruling on the decision of vouchers and to watching how parents in the district respond to the way all of you have used their children as a political ploy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see…
Wrong again. Educational Choice is what the Unions oppose in an effort to prevent educational choice. The Douglas County voucher program (that was upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals) gives the parents a voucher to spend where they choose as long as their school of choice meets the required scholastic standards. Angela, If you recently ran for State House from District 37, is it fair to conclude you either don't live in Douglas County or if you do that you just moved here?
Your effort to equate educational choice with "one-size-fits-all approach to education" is 180 degrees wrong.
This is a joke. Had you done your homework you would have realized that the "DCSD Education reformers are ideologically aligned with unions. None of the Colorado Unions have challenged the one-size-fits-all approach to education and they have followed like puppy dogs with SB 186 and the dumb decision to evaluate every teacher by the exact same criteria. Unions don't get public tax dollars and neither do their "bosses"; that is a stupid argument. Teachers pay to be represented just like business leaders pay into Chambers of Commerce so they can have a collective voice. High performing neighborhood DC schools on the other hand do receive tax dollars. Those dollars are intended for the education of the students not political pissing contests.
The DC BOE has wrongly voted to direct taxpayer dollars to institutions that have no public oversight and operate outside of the accountability structures that deliver those dollars. Public money without public accountability is hijacking the education and future of Douglas County kids.That is what we're talking about…KIDS!
Douglas County Voters decided that the education of our County's students was too important to leave to self serving union bosses. Since then Our Board of Education has pursued reforms to create educational choice, to attract, reward, and retain excellent teachers, to move financial decisions to the individual schools, and to put funding back into the classroom. It's no wonder the unions feel threatened.
pssttt Jalut ~ it just makes sense… even liberals want that.
As a Republican accustomed to the main street media misrepresenting the views of people and organizations I agree with, I was saddened to read the incongruities in the Colorado Peak Politics view since I was at the Voices for Public Education’s presentation. There Engel presented the downward spiral created by one size fits all education and high stakes testing. As a true believer in each individual’s unique capability and as someone who personally knows that education does not reach all students in the same way, I agreed with Engel’s approach of Innovation versus the Reform movement’s single education goal set.
This article presents a classic Red Herring, trying to lead the reader to a false conclusion (a large number of union operatives convening although only Engle presented) through a plausible but irrelevant divisionary tactic not supported by the facts. If fellow conservative Republicans had done their research, they could have recognized Engel as a credible voice. She wrote the Republican sponsored Resolution and led the statewide effort to restore local control and send a clear message to the United States Department of Education that they had overstepped their reach. Unfortunately our very own Frank McNulty, following the demands of the heavily bureaucratic Colorado Department of Education, refused to move the bill forward for a vote. As a true alternative that brings education to the local level, the idea of innovation in education, where teachers with knowledge of their students tailor their curriculum to their circumstances, makes sense to any conservative who understands that every individual has their own needs in learning.
“This article is a huge reach. Angela ran in 2006 and has declined every request to run again. You are desperate because you have stepped out of line by directing tax dollars away from high performing neighborhood schools in Douglas County.
This is the truth.
A) Progressive Majority is not a union.
B) 6,400 out of over 40,000 that was raised is hardly an endorsement for unions.
C) Notice there are no teacher unions on the list – Firefighters, carpenters, and food workers make for a weak argument.
D) Angela lost by 1% hardly a defeat considering at the time the district had twice as many Republicans as Democrats.
E) You didn’t post this, but there were a substantial number of donations from Republicans.
F) It is important to note that the teacher’s unions would not endorse Angela because of her challenge to high-stakes testing and standardization (the one size fits all approach representative of reform).
Why is this issue front and center here, a political web site? Public education is supposed to be non-partisan. Why is it SO flipping important to keep the DC GOP folks seated on the DCSD BOE?
Shared!
So there are really two stories here. Big union money is being dumped into the district to try to overturn processes passed by a duly elected school board, and a couple of FAILED political candidates trying to advise anyone who wants to run against the existing board members.
I guess it really is just one story. Losers trying to break a system that is showing signs of making education better for the kids. After all, isn't that the rallying cry of the unions, "Do it for the kids!"?