Education culture wars have become the engine of Republican politics nationwide, tied to every race up government, as state legislators like Senator Kristin Phillips Hill and Representative Mike Jones, and U.S. Congressman Lloyd Smucker reflect in their endorsements of these extreme partisan candidates. These legislators support expanding “education vouchers” that siphon money from public schools, with the end game of privatizing the public education system.
As happened in Sarasota, ideologically aligned members filled the school board of the small mountain town of Woodland Park, Colorado, and in short order they forced out the superintendent; approved the community’s first charter school without public notice, giving it a third of the middle school building; and rejected grants that would retain mental health workers, as well as opted out of free student access to mental health services. By the way, the interim superintendent of the district operates Education ReEnvisioned charter schools.
