Local issues trumped larger statewide debates in this year’s race for two open seats on the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education.
Unlike dozens of other Colorado school boards, Cherry Creek never took an official position on Amendment 66 in the weeks leading up to the election earlier this month. Cherry Creek board members stayed mum about the constitutional amendment that would have pumped nearly $1 billion into the state’s K-12 education system. The amendment’s overwhelming defeat didn’t faze victors Randy Perlis and Karen Fisher.
The silence came despite the fact that Amendment 66, also known as the Tax Increase for Education Initiative, would have increased annual state funding for Cherry Creek from $336 million to $371 million. As returning incumbent Perlis and newcomer Fisher prepare to be sworn in during the Cherry Creek board meeting on Nov. 18, neither seem to be mourning the statewide amendment’s defeat.
“I think it was a little too ambiguous for the entire state. I think some districts were getting this and some were getting that,” said Perlis, who defeated Brian Arnold in the race for the District D Director position. “I think people were kind of confused about it.”
Both Perlis and Fisher pointed to priorities and challenges that are specific to Cherry Creek. Thanks to the passage of $150 million in mill and bond issues last year, the coming months will see progress in millions of dollars’ worth of construction projects across the district. The board is intent on seeing Cherry Creek earning the “Accreditation with Distinction” title from the state Department of Education. There’s also a new elementary school on track to open by next fall, the still-unnamed Elementary #43 on Radcliff Parkway in Centennial.
Fisher, a former banking executive and longtime district volunteer, sees a validation of that hyper-local focus in the defeat of Amendment 66. Both Cherry Creek and Aurora Public Schools passed local funding issues in 2008 and 2012, she pointed out, and that success shows that voters aren’t entirely unwilling to pay to help upkeep their local public schools.
“Local control is what our constituents want to see and want us to maintain,” Fisher said. “I don’t think the defeat of 66 is a setback. I think it got more people engaged. I think it’s a stepping off point and I think we can do a little bit better.
“I think it will continue and some good things will eventually come out of it,” she added.
Cherry Creek wasn’t at the top of the list of districts that would have benefited from the amendment. Because of measures tied to poverty levels and English language learners, the added money from 66 wouldn’t have been the kind of financial windfall that it could have been for APS. But Cherry Creek has still seen millions of dollars cut from their state funding in the past five years. While board members have publicly called for changes to the state’s education funding system in the past few years, the approach looks like it will remained rooted in their respective districts.
“When we go at it, we try to tell people specifically what the money is going to be used for,” Perlis said, referring to the passage of 3A and 3B last year. “There’s a continuing expectation of going the course that we’re going.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com