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Mike Johnson (Colorado)
Mike Johnson is the former District 3 representative on the Denver Public Schools school board in Colorado. First elected in 2013, Johnson lost a re-election campaign in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Biography
Johnson earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School. His work experience includes serving as legal counsel for the Colorado Building Excellent Schools Today program and as a school finance expert for school districts throughout the state. He served as the co-chair of the district's Mill Levy Planning Committee and as a member of the Denver School of the Arts Friends Foundation. Johnson and his wife have three daughters who attended district schools.[1]
Elections
2017
- See also: Denver Public Schools elections (2017)
Four of the seven seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education in Colorado were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. In her bid for re-election, at-large incumbent Barbara O'Brien defeated challengers Julie Banuelos and Robert Speth. The open District 2 race included Angela Cobian and Xochitl "Sochi" Gaytan, and Cobian won the seat. District 3 incumbent Mike Johnson was defeated by Carrie Olson. District 4 incumbent Rachele Espiritu ran against Tay Anderson and Jennifer Bacon, and Bacon won the seat.[2][3]
Results
| Denver Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Carrie Olson |
53.87% | 16,317 |
| Mike Johnson Incumbent | 46.13% | 13,975 |
| Total Votes | 30,292 | |
| Source: Denver Elections Division, "Coordinated Election November 7, 2017 Final Official Results," accessed November 27, 2017 | ||
Funding
Johnson reported $106,536.00 in contributions and $103,782.57 in expenditures to the Colorado Secretary of State, which left his campaign with $2,753.43 on hand in the election.[4]
Endorsements
Johnson was endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[5][6][7]
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Johnson was also endorsed by former officials and community members. Click here for a list of his supporters.
2013
- See also: Denver Public Schools elections (2013)
Johnson sought election to the District 3 seat against fellow challenger Meg Schomp.
Results
| 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 | ||||
Funding
Johnson reported $193,554.13 in contributions and $184,188.89 in expenditures to the Colorado Secretary of State, which left his campaign with $9,365.24 on hand in the election.[8]
Endorsements
Johnson received the following endorsements during the 2013 campaign:[9]
- Mayor Michael Hancock
- Ed Benton
- Colorado Board of Education Member Elaine Gantz Berman
- Carol Boigon
- Denver Councilman Albus Brooks
- CU Regent Michael Carrigan
Campaign themes
2017
Candidate website
Johnson highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Quality neighborhood schools and educational options
I promised to promote high quality neighborhood schools and educational options so that all students would have access to the program that fits them best. I am happy to report that our neighborhood schools in East Denver are the best in the city, our students have access to one of the widest varieties educational programs anywhere and more and more students are returning to DPS from private schools and the suburbs. In the next four years I will continue to build upon our successes, both in our community, and across the city. Reduce the size of the central office I promised to reduce the size of the central office and shift resources and decision-making to the teachers and principals who are on the ground working with students every day. As your representative on the School Board I led the fight to reduce the central office staff by 157 positions, to increase school-controlled budgets by $1,000 per student and to give schools the right to opt in or opt out of district curriculum, interim assessments and professional development. In the next four years I promise to continue to reduce the size of the central office and shift more resources and decision-making to schools until we transform the central office into the 'school support office.' Finanical transparency I brought transparency to DPS’s finances by publishing detailed school-by-school budgets so you can see how your tax dollars are spent in each school. In the next four years, I promise we will continue to refine the school-by-school budgets and publish them every year. To view the school-by-school budgets click here. Listening to you I’ve attended hundreds of meetings with you and your neighbors to keep you up to date, to listen to your concerns and to answer your questions about our schools. For a copy of the information I hand out at these meeting and more than 130 pages of answers to your questions click here. In the next four years, I promise to continue to listen to you and answer your questions one-on-one and wherever you and your neighbors assemble. Increase student learning and academic rigor The rate at which DPS students are growing in learning is the highest of all the state’s large school districts, and continues to improve; more than 6,500 DPS high school students earned college credit while still in high school through AP and IB classes and courses at local colleges last year; and the number of students who graduate from DPS ready for college or career has increased by more than 80% since 2013. In the next four years, I promise to push DPS to continue to focus on learning and academic rigor and to do the work needed to make sure that every student graduates ready for college or career. Empowering our teachers Give teachers a bigger role in managing our schools, increase opportunities for teachers to collaborate and work as teams and better teacher training- With funding from the mill levy approved by Denver voters last fall, all DPS-managed schools now participate in our nationally renowned teacher leadership collaborative (TLC) through which: our best teachers coach, mentor and supervise less experienced teachers while still remaining in the classroom; teachers organize in teams to design and deliver school-based professional development that meets the specific needs of each school, replacing one size fits all PD provided from outside; teachers are responsible for evaluating other teachers, replacing evaluators from outside the school with true peer evaluations; and the effectiveness of principals is increased by freeing up more of their time to focus on the educational mission of the school. In the next four years, I promise to work with teachers and principals to continuously improve TLC and develop more and more opportunities for teachers to be involved in school management and in working together in teams to improve student learning. Expand early childhood education Early childhood education for all Denver kids – With the funding from a mill levy developed by the committee that I co-chaired, all Denver four-year olds now have access to early childhood education. In the next four years, I promise to fight to expand early childhood education even more so that all three-year olds as well as four-year olds have access to early childhood education. More arts, music, PE, and enrichment More arts, music, PE and enrichment – With the funding from the mill levy developed by the committee that I co-chaired, we expanded arts, music and PE by hiring additional teachers and we funded a significant expansion of the arts, music and enrichment instruction provided by our community partners. In the next four years, I promise to continue to advocate for more arts, music, PE and enrichment for all Denver kids.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[11] | ||
Chalkbeat Colorado survey
Johnson participated in the following survey conducted by Chalkbeat Colorado. The survey questions appear bolded, and Johnson's responses follow below.
Tell us a bit about yourself. How long have you lived in the school district? What do you do for a living?
| “ | I have lived in Denver for 38 years. I have practiced law for more than 40 years. I am a public finance lawyer with the Denver office of Kutak Rock LLP, representing states, school districts and other local governments and businesses throughout the United States. My clients include the State of Colorado, the Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado’s Building Excellent Schools Today statewide school capital construction program and more than 20 Colorado school districts.[10] | ” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
Tell us about your connection to the school district.
| “ | My three daughters attended DPS schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. I got involved with Denver Public Schools when my oldest daughter, Sarah, started kindergarten at Steck Elementary in 1998. In the 19 years since, I have volunteered in my daughters’ schools as a classroom assistant, field trip chaperone, chair of the school governance committee (CSC) and member of two principal selection committees and various fundraising committees. At the district level, I have served on the district’s School Improvement and Accountability Committee, the design committee for a new school, a regional planning committee, the Mill Levy Oversight Committee and the committees that designed and campaigned for the 2005 ProComp ballot question, the 2012 bond and mill levy ballot questions and the 2016 bond and mill levy ballot questions.
From 1998 until I first ran for the school board in 2013, I also served as DPS’s outside finance lawyer. I am in my fourth year on the school board. I am the Treasurer of the board and chair the Finance and Audit Committee. I have represented the board as a director of the Colorado Association of School Boards, the Luminary Learning Network Innovation Zone, the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, the Denver After-School Alliance and the City’s Be Healthy Denver initiative and on DPS’s Arts Strategic Planning Committee, Whole Child Task Force and Mill Levy Oversight Committee.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
The school board adopted a policy that calls for closing or replacing low-performing schools. Do you agree with it? Is there anything you’d change?
| “ | I agree with the policy with the recent revisions that were made based on community feedback to reduce reliance on subjective data and increase predictability for schools, the community and the district.
I would change the policy to make it clearer that the district has already provided extensive additional guidance, training and resources in an effort to improve the school and that those interventions have not produced the results needed to make sure the school’s students are receiving the quality education they deserve. Although not a policy change, I believe the district needs to do a better job in communicating the data from DPS’s experience showing that, if a closure or replacement is done right (including allowing enough time to plan for the new program and transition), the students previously served by the old, underperforming school wind up in much better schools and have significantly better academic performance than before the closure or restart.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
There are over 200 public schools in Denver. More than half are charter and innovation schools, which operate with increased autonomy. What are your thoughts about the district’s “portfolio” approach?
| “ | My number one goal is that every student in every neighborhood has access to high-quality neighborhood schools and educational choices so that all students can attend a school that meets their needs. I am neutral on school model because I do not believe anyone has yet developed the one single school model that is right for every student.
Whenever we have an opportunity to approve a new school or a change in a school’s program, I will always vote for the school or program that I believe will provide the highest quality education to the school’s students.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
How should DPS rate schools? What factors should be taken into account and how much weight should they be given? Do you agree with adding an “equity indicator” that bases ratings partly on how well schools are educating traditionally underserved students?
| “ | DPS should rate schools based on: how much students are learning (academic growth); how well students are performing (status); parent satisfaction; whether the school is doing a good job educating traditionally underserved students; and school culture. School culture would be an addition to the current SPF and should include whether students feel safe, supported and challenged by the school and whether they feel there are adults in the building who will listen to and help them when they need it.
Academic growth should receive the most weight because it measures how much students are learning regardless of where they begin, whereas status largely measures the student’s socio-economic status and the education level of their parents. School culture should have significant weight because it directly affects the ability of students to learn. I agree with the equity indicator, but we need to provide more guidance and mentoring to schools that are having difficulty with it. I would change the format of the rating report to highlight sub-scores for each of the factors so parents can make choices based on the factors that are important to them and district supports can focus on areas in which the school needs the most help.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
Denver is gentrifying, and the district has formed a committee to investigate how those changes are impacting schools. What policies would you consider to combat the segregation and decreasing enrollment occurring in some schools?
| “ | Because neighborhoods are segregated and the number of students in many neighborhoods is decreasing, assigning students to schools based solely on their addresses results in schools that are segregated and schools that will not have enough students to continue to operate at a reasonable per-pupil cost. Policies we can use to combat segregation and decreasing enrollment include: placing special programs in locations that will attract students from multiple neighborhoods, continuing to improve our unified citywide choice process (which has reduced segregation since it was implemented in 2012), providing better transportation from home to school, creating shared attendance zones in which students in neighborhoods with different demographic characteristics are given preferential access to schools within the larger zone through the choice process (examples include the Park Hill/Stapleton middle school zone and the Sunnyside/Highlands/Berkeley middle school zone), drawing the boundaries for new schools to include a diverse community (the Northfield boundary is an example), free and reduced lunch 'floors' in which FRL students receive a choice preference and modifying some of our existing attendance boundaries.[10] | ” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
What is DPS doing particularly well right now?
| “ | Many things, including:
Improving academic learning with the highest combined academic growth rate of the state’s largest school districts for the seventh year in a row. Increasing graduation rates by 30 percentage points in the last 10 years and reducing the drop-out rate by two-thirds over the last 12 years. Increasing the number of DPS graduates who are college-ready by more than 80 percent since 2013. Increasing the number of students served by career and technical education from just over 5,000 three years ago to more than 18,000 last year. Expanding the role of teachers in training, supervising and evaluating other teachers through Teacher Leadership and Collaboration, which allows the best teachers to coach and grow other teachers in their schools while continuing teaching their own classroom of kids. Providing early childhood education to every four-year-old whose parents want it in cooperation with community providers, the Denver Preschool Program and the state. Improvements in K-3 reading scores by as much as 17 points in the last school year (students who took the Istation evaluation). Supporting the whole child by investing more than $33.5 million in this budget year for psychologists, social workers, counselors and other student supports.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
What is the most pressing thing the board should change?
| “ | The district must improve the frequency and quality of its community outreach. Doing a better job listening to the community, keeping them up to date and answering their questions would create more trust in the community and make it more likely that the community would support district initiatives and actions when they are presented to the community.
In my four years on the board, I’ve attended hundreds of meetings in our schools, with neighborhood organizations and with other large and small groups of DPS parents and community members in East Denver to listen to their concerns, keep them up to date and answer their questions. Doing this right has been a challenge because the district historically has not provided staff to support regular community outreach that is not directly tied to a particular district initiative or action. With help from other board members, I have convinced the district to provide some minimal staffing for regular community outreach going forward. But in order to build long-term relationships and more trust with the community, we need to institutionalize regular community outreach by providing the staffing and resources required to make regular community outreach a normal part of the district’s day-to-day work.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
What are the most pressing issues in the geographic area you’re seeking to represent and what policy changes would you suggest to address them?
| “ | The most pressing issues in East Denver’s District 3 are making sure that: our high-quality neighborhood schools maintain their quality, our schools that are not quite there improve to become high-quality and we increase the number of options available to students in East Denver.
One of my jobs is to continue to visit the schools that students in East Denver attend to observe classrooms and meet with students, parents, school leadership and teachers to collect up-to-date information so that I can be a liaison between the school and the central office to make sure that the school’s successes are celebrated downtown and issues receive the attention from downtown that is required to solve them. Policy changes that would address issues in East Denver include locating more school options in or close to East Denver and improving transportation so that all students can get to and from their schools quickly and safely.[10] |
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2017)[12] | ||
2013
Johnson explained his reasons for running for a school board seat on his campaign website:
| “ | I’m running for the Denver School Board because I believe every kid deserves a great education. My parents worked hard to make sure I had the opportunities they never had, and I know how important school can be in the lives of children.
I will do everything in my power to make sure every Denver student has the opportunity to obtain the best education possible – no matter where they live. I’m running as a proud dad, active DPS parent and expert in how schools work. I believe in our school system and I want to continue to make our schools better because that’s what every Denver kid deserves. We’ve made progress, but we have a long way to go. As a school-board representative, I will fight for what makes a difference in the lives our kids. Early childhood education and all-day kindergarten for all Denver kids – so that all kids start their educational career with the tools they need to succeed.
|
” |
| —Mike Johnson (2013)[13] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Mike Johnson Denver Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Denver Public Schools, Colorado
- Denver Public Schools elections (2017)
- Denver Public Schools elections (2013)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Mike Johnson for School Board, "About Mike," accessed October 29, 2013
- ↑ Denver Public Schools, "Running For School Board: Candidate Tracking," accessed September 2, 2017
- ↑ Denver Elections Division, "Election Summary Report," accessed November 7, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "TRACER: Candidate Search," accessed December 15, 2017
- ↑ Chalkbeat Colorado, "Stand for Children chooses not to endorse in northeast Denver school board race," September 19, 2017
- ↑ Mike Johnson for Denver Kids, "Endorsements," accessed October 23, 2017
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Support these reformers in Denver schools election," October 20, 2017
- ↑ Colorado TRACER, "Candidate Detail," accessed December 20, 2013
- ↑ Mike Johnson for School Board, "We Like Mike," accessed October 29, 2013
- ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Mike Johnson for Denver Kids, "Issues," accessed October 23, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 Chalkbeat Colorado, "We sent surveys to all the 2017 Denver school board candidates. Read their answers here." October 5, 2017
- ↑ Mike Johnson for School Board, "Why I'm Running," accessed October 29, 2013
| Denver Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Denver County, Colorado | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Barbara O'Brien • Julie Banuelos • Robert Speth District 2: • Angela Cobian • Xochitl "Sochi" Gaytan District 3: • Incumbent, Mike Johnson • Carrie Olson District 4: • Incumbent, Rachele Espiritu • Auon'tai Anderson • Jennifer Bacon |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
| ||||||||||
