Jeannie Kaplan, who served on the Denver school board for two terms, has been a sharp critic of the district’s devotion to charters and high-stakes testing. She has documented time and again that ten years of “reform” has produced nothing positive for students. Presently, the school board’s seven members are all corporate reformers. She hopes that this will change as parents and educators join together to fight DeVos, Corporate Greed, and Privatization.

The appearance of Betsy DeVos at the ALEC annual meeting was the setting for a protest that involved a thousand motivated activists.

Jeannie describes the joyous event here.

She felt the stirrings of the spirit of resistance from her 1960s youth. Ordinary people were standing up to corporate power and rightwing extremism and loudly saying, NO.

Why such emphasis in Denver? Because Denver has been at the center of the failing “education reform” movement for the past 12 years. And while many “reform” organizations keep trying to make Denver Public Schools look successful, the academic outcomes continue to be dreadful, opportunity gaps and segregation of schools keep increasing. Four of seven seats are up this November. Supporters of real public education, lead by Our Denver Our Schools are working hard to get these four candidates elected. Their election could stem the failing “reform.”

Xoxhitl (Sotchi) Gaytan, District 2, Southwest Denver

Dr. Carrie A. Olson, District 3, Central Denver

Tay Anderson, District 4, Northeast Denver

Robert Speth, At-large

And in spite of the incumbents’ attempts to distance themselves (one incumbent actually appeared at the rally long enough to have his picture taken with his anti-DeVos sign) from DeVos/Trump, here are some of the similarities:

* DeVos and the DPS Board support the privatization of public education, funneling public money to schools that are privately administered and serve corporate interests.
* DeVos and the DPS Board support punitive school closure policies based on high stakes testing forcing schools to compete to stay open.
* DeVos and the DPS Board support policies that have resulted in increased segregation and poor academic outcomes for students of color, children facing poverty and homelessness, English language learners and students with disabilities.
* DeVos and the DPS Board put the needs of competition and corporations before the welfare of kids and the communities in which they live.