From the 9/6/2023 Courier:

Grassroots support for school board candidates

Which candidates are the choice of the parents and taxpayers in Teller County for the RE-2 school board? Interesting question. Looking at each of the candidates’ publicly available contributions, Barkley, Bryant and Knott each have over a hundred local donors while the incumbents have just a handful. Events put on by Barkley, Bryant and Knott are wildly successful with turnout from community members from across all walks of life…a nice representation of our community. Collectively, the new candidates have raised over $30K, mostly from local parents and taxpayers. What an impressive grassroots effort for three parents wanting to remove partisan politics from the school board.

Looking at all the candidates’ data, the incumbents appear to be beholden to a small group of big money donors while Barkley, Bryant and Knott appear to be beholden to the families and taxpayers of the Woodland Park School District as a whole. What’s also interesting is the number of teachers that feel safe to have their contributions publicly reported for the incumbents. Begs the question, would there be more teacher donations to Barkley, Bryant and Knott if there was no gag order or concern about retribution if the incumbents win in November? Who do you think represents our community more? The choice seems clear to me.

Elizabeth Douglass, Florissant