Autumn is always welcome. The heat drops but it’s still warm; trees brighten but the leaves hold; tomatoes redden and late garden greens come up. In odd years like 2025, fall also means school board elections which have turned into brawls in certain parts of the state.
Denver Public Schools’ board elections are always contentious. A confab of pro-charter adults got together recently. They learned the academic gap between white students and low-income minority students is wider than ever based on 2024-2025 preliminary performance ratings. Over the decades, especially since Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet was superintendent of DPS, the promise from the charter school industry was charters would solve the achievement gap challenge. Twenty years later, it’s worse than ever.
Hispanic students comprise 52.6% of DPS and Blacks make up 12.9%. Whites comprise 24.6%. Somewhere between 31% and 36% of students are English Language Learners. Across the district, the academic spread between white students and minority/free-and-reduced lunch students is above 30% for reading and math…