Denver Public Schools
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It’s a relatively quiet odd-numbered election year in Colorado, but the weeks leading up to Election Day have still brought a flurry of spending on mailers and campaign advertising as voters make their decisions.
A combined total of more than $2.5 million has been spent by an array of outside groups seeking to influence school board races in some of Colorado’s largest public school districts. More than half of that has been spent on races for the Denver Public Schools board, where a deep-pocketed reform group hopes to wrest control away from candidates backed by teachers unions.
Colorado holds coordinated off-year elections to choose candidates for certain school boards, municipal offices and other local races, often alongside one or more statewide ballot issues. In 2025, Colorado lawmakers have referred two measures to the ballot, Propositions LL and MM, which would shore up funding for the state’s universal school meals program.
Election Day is Nov. 4. Voters who have already received their ballot can return it by dropping it off in a secure drop box or at an in-person polling location. It’s too late to return a ballot through the mail, or to receive a new or replacement ballot through the mail, but all eligible voters can still register and vote in person by visiting a polling location until 7 p.m. on Election Day.
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Information about ballot drop box and in-person service locations is available at local county clerks’ websites. Voters can sign up for the state’s BallotTrax system, which tracks the status of ballots and notifies voters when their ballot is received and counted.
Super PAC spending
Once again, board elections in Colorado’s largest public school district are being heavily influenced by an independent expenditure committee known as Better Leaders, Stronger Schools. The group spent more than $1 million on DPS races in 2023, helping its endorsed candidates sweep the three seats up for election that year, and it’s on pace to break the $1 million mark again in 2025.
Independent expenditure committees, also known as super PACs, can spend unlimited sums of money to influence elections but are barred from coordinating directly with candidates.
Colorado Newsline
The Better Leaders, Stronger Schools committee’s top donor, Denver Families Action, was founded in 2020 and has roots in the pro-charter “school reform” movement, though its leaders say they have broadened their focus to issues of declining enrollment and school safety, while pivoting away from past reform priorities like standardized testing. The group also received a $40,000 contribution from billionaire Republican megadonor Phil Anschutz in September, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The second-largest overall super PAC spender in 2025 is Students Deserve Better, a group funded by the Colorado Education Association, the statewide teachers union. The PAC has reported spending a combined total of $821,348 to support candidates in a half dozen school board races across the state. About a third of that total was spent to support union-backed DPS candidates.
Colorado Springs
Students Deserve Better has also spent $216,296 to influence board races in Colorado Springs School District 11, where seven candidates are vying for three seats elected at large. In 2024, the District 11 board’s conservative majority voted to end its collective bargaining agreement with the Colorado Springs Education Association, a decision that hundreds of teachers protested in a one-day strike earlier this month.
D11 Parents and Teachers, a new super PAC registered in September, has spent over $140,000 to support conservative candidates. Disclosures show that the group is wholly funded by Advance Colorado, a right-wing “dark money” group that does not disclose its donors.
Douglas County
In Douglas County, a suburban battleground where school board politics have been fractious in recent years, the biggest spender to date is Colorado Labor Action, a committee that has spent $129,815 to support a slate of union-backed candidates. The PAC reported receiving a single contribution of $130,000 from a group affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers in early October.
Meanwhile, a conservative slate of candidates in Douglas County has benefited from over $62,000 in spending by Neighbors for a Better Colorado, another newly registered super PAC. The group has also reported spending on behalf of conservative school board candidates in Durango and the campaign of veteran GOP operative Roger Hudson for Castle Pines mayor. It has received two contributions totaling $115,000 from RTR Research Inc., a nonprofit registered in Colorado last year. RTR Research’s articles of incorporation were filed by election attorney and former Republican secretary of state Scott Gessler.
Chase Woodruff, a former Westword staffer, is a senior reporter for Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Follow Colorado Newsline here.