Greater than $1.3 million spent in Denver college board election to this point

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With a little bit greater than every week till Election Day, spending within the Denver college board race has surpassed $1.36 million, fueled largely by one group that has spent large, together with on an assault advert that the focused candidate decried as a racist canine whistle.

That group — Higher Leaders, Stronger Faculties — is an impartial expenditure committee funded largely by Denver Households Motion, which is the political arm of a corporation referred to as Denver Households for Public Faculties. The group was based in 2021 with the backing of native constitution college networks and its board is populated by constitution leaders.

In Denver Public Faculties politics, pro-charter organizations like Denver Households Motion are on one facet and the Denver Classroom Academics Affiliation union is on the opposite. To this point, the constitution group is outspending the academics union by about 4 to 1.

Professional-charter organizations are combating to realize again a seat on the decision-making desk. After years of a pro-charter majority on the Denver college board, the stability of energy flipped in 2019. Right now, all seven present members of the Denver college board had been backed by the academics union. With simply three of the seven seats up for grabs Nov. 7, the election gained’t change the bulk. Nevertheless it may change the board’s discussions.

Although Denver college board races have been million-dollar elections for a number of cycles, this yr’s spending is notable. Professional-charter Higher Leaders, Stronger Faculties spent $250,000 on tv advertisements that includes Denver Mayor Mike Johnston endorsing three candidates who had been additionally endorsed by Denver Households Motion: John Youngquist, Marlene De La Rosa, and Kimberlee Sia. It’s the primary TV advert in reminiscence for Denver college board candidates. 

The professional-charter committee has additionally despatched a number of adverse mailers, together with one that includes a tragic white little one on one facet and candidate Kwame Spearman, who’s Black, on the opposite. 

In an interview, Spearman referred to as the juxtaposition “canine whistling.”

Clarence Burton, CEO of Denver Households Motion, didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Erica Meltzer / Chalkbeat

Unbiased expenditure committees do the soiled work in political campaigns. They aren’t allowed to coordinate with the candidates, and so they don’t must disclose their donors, which is why they’re sometimes called “darkish cash” or “exterior spending.”

The professional-charter spending appears extra concentrated and strategic this yr in that it’s being funneled by one committee slightly than a number of as in years previous. Higher Leaders, Stronger Faculties had spent a whopping $1 million complete as of Oct. 25, in accordance with marketing campaign finance studies on file with the Colorado Secretary of State’s workplace.

The massive spending began later than common, doubtless as a result of the Denver Classroom Academics Affiliation waited till early October to finalize its endorsements. The academics union is backing candidates Spearman, Charmaine Lindsay, and Scott Baldermann. The union has its personal impartial expenditure committee referred to as College students Deserve Higher.

The adverse mailer accuses Spearman, who’s working for an at-large seat on the board, of being a bully. Spearman is a DPS graduate and the son of an educator, and he co-owns the Tattered Cowl bookstores. The mailer notes that Tattered Cowl workers accused him of bullying whereas he was CEO. He has since stepped down from that position.

“To evoke and name me a bully, and on the opposite facet [of the mailer] to have a white little one, it’s very clear what they had been attempting to do,” Spearman stated.

The mailer additionally brings up feedback Spearman made about homelessness, crime, and immigration throughout his temporary run for Denver mayor earlier this yr. And it says he wrote “a number of sexist newspaper articles” when he was a school scholar. Spearman is 39 years previous.

“It’s very apparent Denver Households has some form of polling that signifies I’m doing very effectively,” Spearman stated, “and as an alternative of specializing in points and what they need to do for the district, they’ve dug up stuff from my school days to place collectively this stew to indicate that I’m a bully. 

“It’s a turning level on this race.”

Spearman referred to as on Johnston, who endorsed Spearman’s opponent, to denounce the mailer. 

“Mayor Johnston didn’t ship the mailer,” spokesperson Jordan Fuja stated in an electronic mail. “He endorsed candidates with sturdy instructional expertise who may carry change to the board.” 

Higher Leaders, Stronger Faculties has additionally despatched adverse mailers about Baldermann and Lindsay, the 2 incumbents within the race. Each Baldermann and Lindsay are white. The mailers focusing on them largely deal with their political information.

This isn’t the primary time a Denver college board candidate has raised considerations about adverse mailers being racist. In 2019, two Latina candidates decried a mailer despatched out by the academics union’s impartial expenditure committee they stated erased their identities by leaving off their Latino surnames. The union-funded committee apologized for the mailer.

In 2017, a union-funded committee despatched a mailer that includes pictures of former President Donald Trump and his Training Secretary Betsy DeVos alongside a photograph of Angela Cobián, a Latina candidate who gained her election. “I do know what racism looks like, so this isn’t new,” Cobián informed Chalkbeat on the time. “However I’m deeply pained.”

Chalkbeat Colorado Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer contributed to this report.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, overlaying Denver Public Faculties. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.