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Tag: Parental Rights

The golden rule of government: Who controls the funding shapes Colorado education policy
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

The golden rule of government: Who controls the funding shapes Colorado education policy

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado We have all heard the Golden Rule, based on Matthew 7:12, which commands that we treat others the way we would like to be treated. But have you heard of the Golden Rule of Money? This rule says that “He who has the gold makes the rules.” It is a truth based on ownership of resources, which we should be very familiar with here in Colorado. The part-time homeschool enrichment public funding conversations happening under the golden dome in Denver are an incredibly clear example of this golden rule. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) has asked for a bill* to be drafted that addresses Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) operating programs outside their member districts, defines “instructional time,” and clarif...
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The lobbying blueprint behind Colorado’s parental rights erosion
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The lobbying blueprint behind Colorado’s parental rights erosion

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note, April 28, 2026: HB26-1322 passed the House on April 2 and cleared Senate Judiciary on April 27. It is under Senate consideration. HB26-1309 passed House Judiciary on March 31 and is in House Appropriations. In 2019, a team of lawyers at one of the world's largest firms produced a document explaining, in precise detail, how to change the law around children and gender without the public knowing it was happening. That document is now a lens through which Colorado's last three legislative sessions make a different kind of sense. Formally titled "Only Adults? Good Practices in Legal Gender Recognition for Youth," the 65-page report was produced pro bono by Dentons — the world's largest law firm by att...
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Colorado Student Granted Religious Exemption From School’s Digital Monitoring System
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Westword, Approved, Local

Colorado Student Granted Religious Exemption From School’s Digital Monitoring System

By Hannah Metzger | Westword "The district is deeply committed to honoring parental rights." Hail Satan? A young member of the Satanic Temple was granted a religious accommodation from the Elizabeth School District, arguing that the district’s digital hall pass system conflicts with her beliefs. The parents of the Elizabeth High School student had requested that she be exempted from the system, but their request was initially denied, according to TST. That’s when the Temple’s lawyers stepped in. “This was a cut-and-dry case of a TST member’s bodily autonomy being violated by invasive digital controls,” says Eliphaz Costus, campaign director of the Temple’s Protect Children Project. Using the digital hall pass system to monitor and restric...
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Colorado parents packed the hearing room. Democrats didn’t ask a single question.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado parents packed the hearing room. Democrats didn’t ask a single question.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Twenty Coloradans showed up. Zero came to oppose. The resolution died anyway. By the time the House State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee finished Monday night, HCR 26-1004 was postponed indefinitely after a vote of 8 to 3.  Parents waited hours for their three minutes at the microphone. When it was over, the majority moved on to the next bill. The resolution was constitutionally modest.  It proposed inserting explicit language into the Colorado Constitution recognizing parents' right to direct the upbringing, education and care of their children. Sponsors argued throughout the hearing that the amendment would leave existing child abuse and neglect protections intact — the state would s...
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Supreme Court To Weigh Religious Freedom In Colorado Preschool Funding Case
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CNN, Approved, State

Supreme Court To Weigh Religious Freedom In Colorado Preschool Funding Case

By John Fritze | CNN The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a Colorado law that requires preschools receiving taxpayer money to enroll children of same-sex couples — setting up an important First Amendment showdown at the high court that pits religious rights against LGBTQ families. At the same time, the court declined to hear another high-profile case involving a Massachusetts couple who said their school began treating their middle school child as genderqueer against their wishes. After years of allowing religious schools in some settings to receive state funding alongside secular schools, the 6-3 conservative court will now decide what to do when school leaders assert that anti-discrimination laws intended to protect gay and transgender people conflict with their...
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What records show about Poudre School District’s role in student ICE walkouts
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

What records show about Poudre School District’s role in student ICE walkouts

By RMV Staff Nearly half of Lesher Middle School’s 766 students walked out of class on Feb. 2 to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of a wave of student demonstrations that Poudre School District says it neither encouraged nor discouraged. PSD is among the 10 largest school systems in Colorado. Emails and internal records reviewed by RMV suggest the situation may not have been as hands-off as described. What happened during the walkouts Over the following week, other district schools followed Lesher Middle School’s (LMS) lead, as nearly 900 6th–8th graders from over half of the district’s neighborhood middle schools and approximately 1,000 high school students walked out of class to protest ICE.  Students left school property, marched along Fort Colli...
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After Supreme Court ruling Colorado advances controversial counseling and parental rights bills
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

After Supreme Court ruling Colorado advances controversial counseling and parental rights bills

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Colorado may go down in history as the most ideologically extreme state in the nation. Between throwing President Trump off the ballot in 2024, persecuting Christian bakers and graphic designers, and banning free speech in religious counseling for minors dealing with sexual identity issues, Colorado is consistently striking out. The decisions made by our legal institutions are continually being overturned by the United States Supreme Court on basic constitutional arguments. Let’s take the state’s radical positions on gender theory. Just two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to reverse the Tenth Circuit decision on Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy for minors. The Court held that the Colorado...
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After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A Mesa County father didn’t show up to talk policy. He showed up to talk about kids. “My heart breaks for this generation and the technology that they face today,” Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis told lawmakers, describing a world where explicit material is “one click away” and often discovered long before children understand what they’re seeing. He talked about foster children, smartphones, and the quiet moments when exposure happens before parents even know it. “Right now, a 10-year-old boy is quietly absorbing scenes that teach him that women are objects,” Davis said. “Right now, a 12-year-old girl is comparing her natural developing body to the… performer she sees.” No one in the hearing questioned the problem. Kids are runn...
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Colorado bills spark concern over parental rights and religious freedom
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado bills spark concern over parental rights and religious freedom

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Colorado is becoming much more antagonistic towards families and people of faith. Our leadership appears to place more importance on ideology, secrecy, and crime when introducing and debating bills. The last few weeks have been an example of that mindset. The legislative session crossed the halfway mark in mid-March and is racing towards the finish line of May 13. SB26-018, Legal Protections for the Dignity of Minors, passed out of committee on March 25 and is headed for second and third reading in the State House this week. The most problematic section of the bill was stripped out in the Senate, but the secrecy provision for minors who request a name change for reasons including conforming to their new ...
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The record that removed a child: Allegations, filings and fallout
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

The record that removed a child: Allegations, filings and fallout

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice In Part 1, Fitzke describes how things unraveled at home and led into court. From there, the case played out through filings, testimony and what was said in court. Court filings show the case against Heather Fitzke relied on letters, testimony and screenshots. In one letter, a Basalt parent described the teen as fearful of returning home and said Fitzke had made life harder by withholding identification, taking money and posting about the teen online. Another letter included allegations that Fitzke yelled, threw items in the teen’s room, restricted access to medication and expressed beliefs about gender identity that concerned other parents. Screenshots submitted to the court show a series of text messages attributed to Fitzke. ...
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