Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Education policy

If 2025 Had a Playlist, These Songs Would Be on It
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

If 2025 Had a Playlist, These Songs Would Be on It

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This was a year that kept interrupting whatever you thought you were doing. It arrived unevenly. Some moments swallowed entire news cycles. Others barely registered at first, only making sense months later, once the consequences showed up.  Most of the arguments about 2025 focused on motives or ideology. The consequences were easier to feel than to argue about.  Music, oddly enough, ended up capturing that better than summaries or charts. Not as nostalgia or a clever hook, but as a record. If this year had a playlist, the following songs would be included. We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel Inflation wasn’t theoretical in 2025. After years of high accumulation, it continued to...
Federal Judge Rules Parents Must Be Informed on Student Gender Changes
I Stand for Freedom, Approved, National

Federal Judge Rules Parents Must Be Informed on Student Gender Changes

By Noah Stanton | I Stand for Freedom There’s something uniquely corrosive about a secret kept between a child and an institution, especially when that secret is deliberately hidden from the child’s own parents. It’s the kind of arrangement that should make any reasonable person uncomfortable. And yet, for years, that’s exactly what California’s public schools were doing, though most families had no idea. Under guidance from the California Department of Education, adopted by more than half the state’s school districts, teachers were explicitly prohibited from telling parents if their child began identifying as a different gender at school. A student could change their name, change their pronouns, and undergo what educators called “social transition”—all while mo...
Douglas County Sees Political Shift in 2025 After Home Rule Vote and School Board Elections
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Douglas County Sees Political Shift in 2025 After Home Rule Vote and School Board Elections

By Noah Festenstein | The Denver Gazette Douglas County this year failed to achieve home rule status, voters elected a progressive-leaning school board and officials completed a land transfer to build a massive regional sports complex. Home rule campaign fails Douglas County commissioners sought to become a home rule county, but voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal. The three commissioners argued that home rule status would allow the county to enact its own zoning policies, reorganize county departments or increase the number of commissioners. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Federal Civil Rights Complaint Accuses Cherry Creek Schools of Race-Based Discipline and Retaliation
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Federal Civil Rights Complaint Accuses Cherry Creek Schools of Race-Based Discipline and Retaliation

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Federal civil-rights complaints over equity policy are no longer confined to a single district in Colorado. Durango Public Schools is facing civil rights complaints, while a separate federal lawsuit challenges the state’s anti-discrimination law under House Bill 25-1312. A federal civil-rights complaint now puts Cherry Creek School District under scrutiny over allegations of race-based discrimination and retaliation. In its press release, America First Legal says Cherry Creek has “branded student misconduct ‘culturally appropriate’ and blocked discipline based on race,” claiming the district has replaced equal treatment with an unlawful double standard. Alleged Double Standard in Student Discipline ...
From Campus To Classroom How CRT and DEI Mandates Reach K-12 Schools
The Daily Signal, Approved, Commentary, National

From Campus To Classroom How CRT and DEI Mandates Reach K-12 Schools

By Reagan Dugan and Paul Runko | Commentary, The Daily Signal A recent report from Defending Education has found that more than half of collegiate social work programs appear to embed anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion standards into their core competencies, admissions requirements, and field work evaluations. This is not by accident. The sole accreditor of these schools, the Council on Social Work Education, requires adherence to these standards. This means, in practice, that left-wing ideologies—many of which promote discrimination on the basis of race—are de facto orthodoxy in most of the nation’s social work programs, just so the institution can remain accredited. This accreditation is required for graduates of these program...
Is Colorado witnessing a modern David versus Goliath moment?
Correspondence Theory, Approved, Commentary, State

Is Colorado witnessing a modern David versus Goliath moment?

By Kelly Notarfrancesco | Commentary, Correspondence Theory (Editor’s Note: This post is to highlight an important movement happening in Colorado. This could be the watershed moment that will affect Colorado, the USA, and the greater western world. Please read and consider helping.) In a time when political and social power are manipulated and controlled by powerful elites, a group of everyday Colorado citizens are engaged in a battle which has the potential to uphold truth and reaffirm the sovereign power of the individual citizen. Colorado has trapped children and families in a web of egregious laws which supplant individual rights with collective state authority. Colorado kids are forcibly taught gender ideology, compelled to socially transition their classm...
Teachers Union Pushes Polis To Block Federal Scholarship Option For Families
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Teachers Union Pushes Polis To Block Federal Scholarship Option For Families

By Ari Armstrong | Complete Colorado Will the Colorado teachers’ union be so spiteful toward private education options that they will deny Colorado families money from privately funded scholarships promoted by federal tax credits? We soon will find out. I first learned of the program in question when the Colorado Sun published Jay Stooksberry’s op-ed on the matter on August 19. As Stooksberry explains, buried within the One Big Beautiful Bill was the Education Choice for Children Act, which allows individuals to “make tax-deductible donations up to $1,700 to scholarship organizations.” Before a state’s families can take advantage, Stooksberry adds, the governor must opt in and “approve a list of qualifying scholarship organizations the year before the donations can ...
DPS Enrollment Drop Points To Deeper Budget Crisis Than School Closures Can Solve
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

DPS Enrollment Drop Points To Deeper Budget Crisis Than School Closures Can Solve

By Nico Brambila | The Denver Gazette Enrollment losses in Denver now outpace what school closures alone can address. Denver Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Alex Marrero is expected to present an update on the district’s enrollment to the board at its meeting this Thursday. During an October count, the district reported an enrollment decline of roughly 1,200 students and about $18 million in lost annual revenue, said Bill Good, a district spokesperson. Because of a practice known as “smoothing” — which averages pupil counts over three years, rather than a single year — the immediate impact has been reduced to about $9 million. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Charter Renewals, Transgender Athlete Rules Dominate Douglas County Board Debate
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Charter Renewals, Transgender Athlete Rules Dominate Douglas County Board Debate

By: Olivia Young | CBS Colorado Updated on: November 11, 2025 / 10:24 PM MST / CBS Colorado As of 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, the Douglas County School Board had not yet voted on a controversial resolution regarding charter schools in the Colorado county. Douglas County residents packed the final school board meeting under the current board. Last week, voters chose a progressive slate of school board candidates who ran on a campaign of data over politics, teacher retention and equal opportunities for students, flipping the board. Clark Callahan, Kyrzia Parker, Tony Ryan and Kelly Denzler are expected to be sworn in in early December, joining like-minded current members Brad Geiger, Susan Meek and Valerie Thompson. The outgoing board members are Kim Moore, Becky Meyers,...
Democratic Socialists Claim Local Victories in Colorado School Board Races
Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Democratic Socialists Claim Local Victories in Colorado School Board Races

By: Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado FORT COLLINS – An unusual twist on candidate support appears to have paid off for the Fort Collins chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – an overtly extreme left-wing organization. The socialism advocacy group officially “endorsed” just one candidate, Zoelle Lane in Fort Collins City Council District 5,  while “recommending” two dozen others in local races around northern Colorado the DSA said “represent our chapter’s best advice to voters,” including a pair of Republican school board candidates in Greeley. Although their lone endorsement lost her bid for city council, the group’s recommendations were successful in 15 out of 22 other races, including clean sweeps on both the Greeley Evans School District 6 and Poudre Schools b...