Conservative School Board Members Recalled

Back in 2014, conservative members of the Jefferson County School Board questioned the content of the AP U.S. History Textbook---and received substantial blowback from the establishment for even daring to question the status quo.

Fast forward to September of this year, and these 3 conservative  school board  members became the subject of a recall election.

Last night, the three conservative members of the Jefferson County School Board were removed.

From the Huffington Post:

"Various estimates suggest that roughly $1 million was spent on the race, characterized as a“proxy war” between teachers unions and education reform advocates. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch, spent “in the low six figures” on television ads and mailers in support of the school board members at risk of being recalled. More than $277,000 was spent by individuals and groups, including teachers unions, in support of the recall."

Ken Witt, one of the recalled board members, stated to the media that  "sometimes it's difficult being the tip of the spear enacting change."

Conservative School Board Members become Target of a Recall Election

National Review posted an interesting story this morning, an update on three conservative school board members who had begun the work of reforming some bad policy and practices in Jefferson County, Colorado.

Now that this group of three conservatives has gone against the edcrat's grain, renegotiated a terrible contract, instituted merit pay, and televised bargaining sessions---powerful special interests and the teacher's unions are looking to have them all recalled in a special election to be held this November.

From "Coloradoans Vote on Recall of Conservative School Board Members"

"The education war in Jefferson County began in 2013, when voters dissatisfied with faltering schools elected a conservative majority to the school board. The incumbent superintendent promptly resigned, and the board went about implementing reforms such as fully funding charter schools, linking teacher pay to performance and empowering principals to make more decisions at the school level. The board also angered the local education–industrial complex by building a new school without incurring any new debt..Such refreshing transparency may have helped the board and the union come to an agreement on a new and improved contract last month. The 41-page document (down from 120 pages in the last contract) limits layoffs based purely on seniority, ends automatic deduction of union dues from teacher paychecks, and allows teams of teachers and administrators to make many decisions on training, school calendars, and caps on class sizes. But union president John Ford trashed the contract even after it was signed. “It’s a bad deal, we know it. We absolutely know it,” he said. “But we had to get rid of this distraction. . . . We have to get to work right now. We have a big lift in November,” with the recall..The Denver Post, which endorsed Barack Obama for president twice, calls the recall “nakedly political.”