The 3rd District race features a known commodity and someone not well known outside Pueblo (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
Voters in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District — a huge area that includes blue-collar Pueblo, glitzy mountain resorts, conservative small towns and the Western Slope cities of Grand Junction, Montrose and Durango — is poised to play a key role in setting Colorado’s education agenda.
The race for the state Board of Education there pits incumbent Republican Marcia Neal, 80, a retired history teacher and former local school board member from Grand Junction, against Democrat Henry Roman, 66, a retired superintendent and former middle, high school and charter school administrator.
The district has elected Republicans to fill its state board seat for three elections running, and Republicans have a six percentage-point voter registration edge over Democrats.
One x-factor in this year’s race is spending by Raising Colorado, an independent political committee associated with Democrats for Education Reform. In a sign of the race’s importance, the group has sunk considerably more money into District 3 than .
The group has spent more than $126,000 on direct mail, radio ads and other media backing Roman and opposing Neal, according to most recent campaign finance reports filed this week.
has been criticized by some, Neal included, as being offensive and over the top. The group responsible says it’s fair and accurate.
Another piece highlights comments Neal made in a September board meeting in a discussion about the framework for Advanced Placement U.S. history. At the meeting, Neal said she had “lost track of how many times” the framework talked about slavery, women and Native Americans without covering the reasons people came to America, including free land and the chance to build a future.
The candidates — one a known quantity, the other little known outside Pueblo — undoubtedly offer contrasts.
Neal acknowledges the Common Core State Standards began as a state-led initiative. But she said it has since become of such importance to the federal government, it amounts to intrusion in part because the federal government has so much control over education funds earmarked for states.
Roman is a strong supporter of Common Core and Colorado’s participation in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a multistate testing effort.
Below, excerpts from our interviews this week with the candidates …
MARCIA NEAL
Marcia Neal
On the Common Core state standards in math and language arts adopted by Colorado:
“My desire is to keep high academic standards for Colorado kids and to keep that local control. I’m not going to disrupt and hurt our schools in the process. … I don’t have a problem with the standards. I have a problem with people using them to teach what they want to teach. I think the federal government has gotten its fingers into the education field in every area. I don’t think people realize how much power they have. I don’t like the federal role.”
On Colorado’s participation in the PARCC testing consortium, and a state task force that is meeting to make recommendations to the Legislature on assessments:
“One of my major concerns is the PARCC testing. When this group (the task force) comes back, depending on the election returns, I would not be averse from moving away from PARCC.”
On the increased attention and money in this year’s board races:
“In the past, we frankly had trouble getting people to pay attention. With all the concern about Common Core and PARCC testing, itap just become so much more partisan. I was surprised to find out about all the money spent on ads against me. I’m disappointed. I’m a retired history teacher, and I think I have a good reputation working for education. In another way, itap very representative of the times. We have become very partisan.”
On her comments at the September board meeting on the AP U.S. History debate:
“I am favor of teaching history – the good, the bad and the ugly. I am very much for traditional American history. They are really stretching there to accuse me of being in favor of not being in favor of teaching American history. In that AP discussion, we had the format outlined. I did count them up, and there were probably three-fourths negative things, like Indians and slavery and women’s rights. I know there are teachers in the classroom that overemphasize those elements. In general, a teacher has quite a bit of freedom to teach the way they want. But that is not anything I would take a position on because with local control, we have nothing to do with it. I just made a comment on it.”
On attempts by an independent political group to portray her as a Republican partisan:
“I thought it was odd that when I had a primary opponent, it was said I wasn’t partisan enough. Now I have an opponent who thinks I’m too partisan.”
HENRY ROMAN
Henry Roman
On what he would do to narrow student achievement gaps, one of his stated priorities:
“We can have more discussions with districts and legislators about what we have in place now that can be modified. The standards and assessments and alignment are good, and the intentions and goals are excellent. But over the course of the last few years, with so many mandates put on districts, that is diluting the overall effort. I think itap worth taking a step back and asking, ‘How do these initiatives all fit together?’ One example, on Senate Bill 191 (which ties student growth to teacher evaluations), teachers and principals should be held accountable. But right now, itap extremely cumbersome. In small districts, where there are only a few people available to do the evaluation, it is a burden. We are taking away from the the original effort to try to improve student achievement. Teachers say, ‘We have so many things on our plate right now, we don’t have the time do what we need to do, which is teach.’ That is where it connects back to the achievement gap.”
On education funding and the so-called “negative factor,” the work-around used to cut about $1 billion in funding in recent years despite constitutionally required increases in education spending:
“The negative factor started in the recession. But now, economic conditions are much brighter. Those dollars are available. … The board can only be advisory, and in an advocacy role, work with state legislators on that. Letap restore the money that was withheld under the negative factor.”
On why he believes the state should stick with Common Core standards and PARCC tests:
“I think we need to give a good, clear message to our staff, our teachers, our principals, and superintendents and local boards, that the message we gave a long time ago that we support the Common Core and PARCC is still our position. To not be in concert with the state Legislature really gives a mixed message to our staff. It is almost like we don’t have a good vision for K-12 education in our state.”
On what he makes of the backlash against Common Core and PARCC:
“I think itap really misunderstood. I truly believe if people are given the opportunity to receive good information in a way that makes sense, we will all understand the value of Common Core and the value of PARCC. On the other hand, if there are differences of opinion, letap listen and consider them. But letap wait a little bit. Letap give these things a chance to work.”
On the outside spending supporting his candidacy and opposing Neal’s:
“In this particular case, the support is in my favor. But I have mixed feelings because it could just as easily be against me. In both cases, I have no control over it. In this case, boy, itap great to have somebody’s support. … I think (the mailers) are factual. I think they emphasize my experience, which I hope is the message that gets out. Marcia is a wonderful lady. She has done six years on the board. But what I bring to the table, people outside Pueblo may not know, which is the depth of my experience, the range of my experience, and the currency of my experience.”
