Denver Public Schools elections (2015)

2017 → ← 2013
2015 Denver Public Schools Elections
General Election date:
November 3, 2015
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
Colorado Denver Public Schools Denver County, Colorado ballot measures Local ballot measures, Colorado

Three seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.

District 1 incumbent Anne Rowe faced challenger Kristi Butkovich. Arturo Jimenez was unable to seek re-election to District 5 due to a four-year term limit. Michael Kiley and Lisa Flores were running to replace Jimenez. Robert Speth was running against incumbent Happy Haynes for an at-large seat.

Haynes was successful in securing re-election to the At-large seat and Rowe also won re-election to District 1. Newcomer Flores secured the District 5 seat.

The year 2015 was a year full of issues for the district. Its board, which has been mostly unanimous in its decisions since 2013, could be impacted in its unity as voters cast their ballots to potentially elect newcomers to the board. Since Jimenez reached his term limit, at least one new member was guaranteed. The district was also facing minority teacher retention issues and has been implementing programs to alleviate the problem. Additionally, the City of Denver has been divided over whether to use tax dollars to provide college scholarships to its high school graduates; this question shared the ballot with school board elections.

See also: What was at stake in the 2015 Denver Public Schools election?

About the district

See also: Denver Public Schools, Colorado

Denver Public Schools is located in Denver County, Colo.

Denver Public Schools is located in Denver County in central Colorado. The county seat of Denver County is Denver. Denver County was home to an estimated 663,862 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau. Denver Public Schools was the second-largest school district in Colorado, serving 83,377 students during the 2012-2013 school year.

Demographics

Denver County outperformed Colorado as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2009 to 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 42.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 37.0 percent for the state as a whole. The median household income in the county was $50,313, compared to $58,433 statewide. The poverty rate in Denver County was 19.1 percent, compared to 13.2 percent for the state.

Racial Demographics, 2014
Race	Denver County (%)	Colorado (%)
White	80.7	87.7
Black or African American	10.2	4.5
American Indian and Alaska Native	2.0	1.6
Asian	3.8	3.1
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.2	0.2
Two or More Races	3.1	2.9
Hispanic or Latino	30.8	21.2

Presidential Voting Pattern, Denver County
Year	Democratic vote	Republican vote	Other vote
2012	222,018	73,111	6,565
2008	204,882	62,567	9,667
2004	166,135	69,903	4,859

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information

The Denver Public Schools Board of Education consists of seven members who are elected to four-year terms. Two members are elected at large while five members are elected by district. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 3, 2015. Three seats were on the 2015 ballot.

Individuals interested in running for the board began circulating nominating petitions on August 5, 2015. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the 2015 general election was August 28, 2015, and the filing deadline to serve as a write-in candidate was August 31, 2015.

At-large

Happy Haynes		Robert Speth
	Incumbent Board member 2011-Present Colorado Commission on Higher Education 2008-2014		Works in telecommunications Volunteers at Escuela Valdez school

District 1

Anne Rowe		Kristi Butkovich
	Incumbent Community board experience Extensive involvement with DPS		Educational activist Co-founder of the Denver Alliance for Public Education

District 5

Lisa Flores		Michael Kiley
	Employee, Gates Family Foundation Served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer		Project manager, Kronos

Election results

At-large

Denver Public Schools, At-Large, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Happy Haynes Incumbent	50.4%	54,191
Robert Speth	49.6%	53,278
Total Votes		107,469
Source: City of Denver, "Denver Election Results," accessed December 21, 2015

District 1

Denver Public Schools, District 1, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Anne Rowe Incumbent	61.9%	16,084
Kristi Butkovich	38.1%	9,893
Total Votes		25,977
Source: City of Denver, "Denver Election Results," accessed December 21, 2015

District 5

Denver Public Schools, District 5, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lisa Flores	53.5%	10,756
Michael Kiley	46.5%	9,360
Total Votes		20,116
Source: City of Denver, "Denver Election Results," accessed December 21, 2015

Endorsements

The following is a list of endorsements made in the 2015 Denver Public School District elections:

Candidate endorsements
Endorsement	Kristi Butkovich	Lisa Flores	Happy Haynes	Michael Kiley	Anne Rowe	Robert Speth
Political parties
Democrats Against Common Core
Organizations
Denver Alliance for Public Education
Stand for Children Colorado
Individuals
Honorable Arturo Jimenez – Current School Board Member
Honorable Barbara O’Brien – Current School Board Member
Former Mayor Federico Peña
Dennis Gallagher – Former City Auditor
Honorable Happy Haynes – Current School Board Member
Jeannie Kaplan – Former School Board Member
Honorable Landri Taylor – Current School Board Member
Mayor Michael Hancock
Honorable Mike Johnson – Current School Board Member
Honorable Rosemary Rodriguez – Current School Board Member
Former Mayor Wellington Webb
Dr. Val Flores – State Board of Education

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2013 Denver Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Barbara O'Brien 59.3% 63,554      Nonpartisan Michael Kiley 31.2% 33,440      Nonpartisan Joan Poston 9.4% 10,112 Total Votes 107,106 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Final Official Election Results," accessed December 13, 2013 Denver Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Rosemary Rodriguez 61.8% 9,305      Nonpartisan Rosario C. de Baca 38.2% 5,743 Total Votes 15,048 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Final Official Election Results," accessed December 13, 2013 Denver Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Mike Johnson 57.1% 16,111      Nonpartisan Meg Schomp 42.9% 12,122 Total Votes 28,233 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Final Official Election Results," accessed December 13, 2013 Denver Public Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Landri Taylor Incumbent 65.5% 16,380      Nonpartisan Roger Kilgore 34.5% 8,616 Total Votes 24,996 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Final Official Election Results," accessed December 13, 2013 2011 Denver Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Allegra "Happy" Haynes 59.2% 53,891      Nonpartisan Roger Kilgore 11.4% 10,374      Nonpartisan Jacqueline Carole Shumway 10.8% 9,871      Nonpartisan Frank E. Deserino 9.8% 8,937      Nonpartisan John Daniel 8.7% 7,925 Total Votes 90,998 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Coordinated Election Summary Report", accessed October 12, 2015 Denver Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Anne Rowe 65.2% 15,249      Nonpartisan Emily Sirota 34.8% 8,142 Total Votes 23,391 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Coordinated Election Summary Report", accessed October 12, 2015 Denver Public Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Arturo Jimenez 50.5% 7,874      Nonpartisan Jennifer Draper Carson 49.5% 7,732 Total Votes 15,606 Source: Denver County Clerk and Recorder, "Coordinated Election Summary Report", accessed October 12, 2015

What was at stake?

2015

Three of the seven seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education were up for election on November 3, 2015. According to Chalkbeat Colorado, this election had the potential to either cause the board to become more divided or united. The article goes on to explain,

“	The current board is significantly less fractious than previous iterations. Since 2013, the DPS board has approved every agenda item presented by district officials. When items have not passed unanimously, District 5 board member Arturo Jimenez, who represents northwest Denver, has been the sole dissenting vote in every instance since late 2014. The seat is term-limited and Jimenez will leave his seat this year.	”
—Chalkbeat Colorado

A change like this, whether in the direction of unity or dissent, could have greatly impacted what was the two-year status quo for the board.

Issues in the election

Candidate forums highlight differences

A series of three candidate forums took place during which Denver school board candidates debated on a variety of issues in the district. The first forum featured Rowe and Butkovich, who both vied for the District 1 seat on the board. The candidates displayed differing views on standardized testing, charter schools and school enrollment zones. The second forum involved Flores and Kiley who were competing for the District 5 seat. Their main disagreements were school integration and teacher retention. Lastly, the concluding forum was between Haynes and Speth, who raced for the at-large seat on the board. The debate highlighted their differences of opinion on charter schools and concerns about the district's increasingly large achievement gap and teacher turnover rates.

Sales tax to increase college affordability

City of Denver

On November 3, 2015, Denver voters weighed in on whether to increase sales taxes to provide college scholarships through a College Affordability Fund. The initiative proposed that a tax of 0.08 percent be added to the current 7.65 percent, increasing the total tax to 7.73 percent. According to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, the initiative was “an opportunity for us as a city to say we believe in our future, we believe in our need to develop our workforce, and we believe in the importance of making sure you can pursue your dreams in higher education or a certificate program.” Those who opposed the tax, such as 70-year Denver resident Irma Zamora, did not think it is the city's responsibility to provide funds for college education. Zamora raised the question: “If this measure passes, what precedent does it set for Denver to duplicate other state-funded activities? An idea to do something new is not a valid reason to increase taxes.” The tax was estimated to add $10 million a year to the College Affordability Fund and would expire in 10 years.

Lack of minority teachers

A Chalkbeat report pointed out the lack of minority teachers who work and remain in the Denver district. Several reasons were listed why the problem exists:

“	Professionals of color have more, often better-paying options open to them than they did four decades ago. Schools and school districts are riddled with “unconscious bias” that make them feel like inhospitable places for minority teachers to work. Relatively few black and Latino students enroll in schools of education, and even fewer graduate. In Denver, black teachers are fired at a slightly higher rate than teachers of other racial and ethnic groups.	”
—Chalkbeat Colorado

To bring in more minority teachers, DPS has set up programs such as the “Mile High Showcase”, a project which brought minority candidates to Denver, aiming to convince them to teach in district schools. The program was mostly a success with 14 of the 18 candidates accepting teaching jobs. The focus has turned to retaining these and other minority teachers in the district.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Denver Public Schools election in 2015:

Deadline	Event
August 5, 2015	First day to file for placement on the general election ballot
August 28, 2015	Last day to file for placement on the general election ballot
August 31, 2015	Last day for write-in candidates to file an affidavit
October 26, 2015	Voter registration deadline
November 3, 2015	General Election Day

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Colorado elections, 2015

In addition to the school board elections, Denver residents voted on three questions.

Question 2A proposed to increase a sales and use tax, with the revenue contributing to a college scholarship fund. (See also: Denver "College Affordability" Sales Tax)

Question 2B proposed to retain and spend all 2014 revenues derived from a marijuana sales tax that was originally instated on November 3, 2013.

Question 2C proposed to increase the City and County of Denver's debt in order to finance tourism-related projects.

Finally, Colorado residents voted on the Colorado Marijuana TABOR Refund Measure.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Denver Public Schools Colorado. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Denver Public Schools elections (2015) - Google News

See also

Denver Public Schools	Colorado	School Boards
Denver Public Schools elections (2013) List of school districts in Colorado	Colorado school board elections, 2015 Public education in Colorado Local ballot measures, Colorado	School board elections, 2015 School board elections, 2014 School board election data analysis, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Denver Public Schools
• Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder
• Colorado Secretary of State
• Denver Classroom Teachers Association