Charter Schools & School Choice
I support high quality public charter schools and public school choice as part of a strong public system. We should continue to be a strong charter school authorizer and manage all our school options to advance our community’s values of inclusion and school quality.
I will work to help the district ensure our charter schools serve their students well and that any future proposals for low-quality or inappropriate charter applications are denied.
About 40 percent of Boulder Valley families choose their public school. Like thousands of Boulder Valley School District families, I support the wide variety of public schools in the district that offer unique and innovative approaches, including our neighborhood schools, focus schools, charters, non-traditional schools, and Alternative Education Campuses, as well as our open-enrollment process.
We should manage all our school options and the open enrollment process to advance our values as a community around school quality, inclusion, and student equity.
I firmly oppose using public money to pay for private schools, including any policy that provides public money to schools that discriminate, teach religious doctrine as truth, or fail to provide services that students require, including services for students with disabilities or English learners.
My own children attended public schools near our home in Table Mesa. My wife and I chose Community Montessori when our kids were little because we liked the Montessori approach; its student population was more diverse; it was near our home; and it offered a pre-school option, which was atypical at the time. Our kids later attended our neighborhood schools, Southern Hills Middle School and Fairview High School.
In my career, I have worked in the charter school sector in various roles. My goal has been to help districts and other authorizers do their charter authorizing work well. That includes ensuring only high-quality applications for schools that will succeed are approved, and implementing strong oversight that protects the rights of all students, families, and staff.
Professionally, I have advised Boulder Valley School District on its charter school oversight -- including their most recent decisions regarding charter applications for the Ascent Classical Academy and the Summit Middle School Expansion. I supported the district’s decisions regarding both of these proposals.
I also led a state effort to remove obstacles to enrollment for students with disabilities in charter schools or any other public school choice option. That inititaive resulted in new state rules that prohibit asking about a student’s disability status prior to enrolling them in a charter school or through any open enrollment process.
Boulder Valley School District has many public options for families to choose from, including neighborhood schools, focus schools, charter schools, virtual learning, alternative education campuses, non-traditional high schools, and post-secondary enrollment options. We also have a unified open-enrollment system that facilitates families’ choice of the public school they want for their kids.
Thousands of families and students Boulder Valley School District choose their public school. The district plays an important role in managing all its public schools and our choice process. This work is crucial to advancing student equity, innovation, and the public interest.