The State Board and the Department of Education it controls is a huge department of Colorado government and usually uses 1/3 (down to 28% for 2026 due to increased spending on medicaid) of the state budget. The only bigger line item in the “Long Bill” is medicaid—and the Feds pay over half of Medicaid costs. The board and department do not report to the Governor. This is not the small board of 1948.

We must flip the State Board of Education from 5/4 leftist-D to 5/4 moderate-R to allow conservative changes; this happens if I’m elected because only 3 seats (CD1, CD3, CD7) are up for election in 2026, and CD1 and CD7 are the only 2 seats with D incumbents. CD7 is likely the only seat capturable because CD1 (Denver) has a huge D voter registration advantage.

The board effectively controls teacher licensing, state mandated exams for students, dispenses Federal block grants and State funds to public libraries and school districts, accredits school districts & online schools, funds and regulates trade schools, sets too many procedures and rules applicable to districts, and recommends policies and curriculum to school districts among other duties.‍ ‍It is not supposed to run schools or interact with students or parents directly. Each school district has a locally-elected board that is supposed to run the schools in that district, although many boards delegate much of this work to superintendents. If the Federal department of education is closed, the State Board and Department will assume some of its role.