We saw the 2021 Woodland Park school board elections bring politics to a school board election with the ‘conservative choice’ candidates winning in November. Now in our 2023 election cycle, the partisanship of the board incumbents is only increasing. At the July 4th celebration in Memorial Park, board members were seen hanging out in the Teller County Republicans’ booth:
Next up for this overtly-conservative group of incumbents is this Saturday’s “Teller County Republicans Big Tent Event” at the Cultural Center. The event page proudly advertises that the three board incumbents will be present (Illingworth, Bates, Kimbrell).
On the other hand, the three school board challengers (Knott, Bryant, Barkley) are so far avoiding any outward political affiliation.
One uncertain thing about this Saturday’s event is whether all three candidates will actually be present at the same time. Doing so would constitute a quorum and thus require the meeting to be open to the public at no charge (cost is otherwise $50 in advance or $60 at the door).
I read one perspective, that “The goal of having nonpartisan elections is not to remove all politics from governing but to remove a conflict point that keeps a school board from doing its job” (source). I would blame policies, not politics, for the conflict this board has experienced since taking office, but in general, it seems like a wise move to reduce the impact of politics in school boards, not encourage and increase it.