I know, I should have written this earlier, but for any of you who can vote in any of these races and who have not yet sent in your ballots, I have a couple of recommendations for School Board candidates.

First, in Boulder County (in the area where I live), I contacted all the candidates for the three races.

In District B, I endorse John Kettling over Lesley Smith.  (Smith is the only incumbent in any of the three races.) I do this despite Mr. Kettling’s membership in the CEA and NEA based on his statements that he does not fully support the unions’ political positions or tactics. Also, in Mr. Kettling’s response to me, he stated that he “does not support a tax increase under any condition right now.”

In District E, I endore Tom Miers over Jim Pollicita.  In his response to me, Mr. Miers suggests long-term support for competition in public education and well as support for merit pay.  Mr. Pollicita, on the other hand, tries to argue that merit pay isn’t a good idea because measuring “good teaching is too complex", a position I utterly reject.

In District F, I endorse Louise Benson over Jennie Belval.  Ms. Benson had the most compelling response to me of any of the 6 candidates, including noting the school district’s “bloated central administration…the largest percentage of admin costs of any large district in Colorado."  She is also opposed to more debt and higher taxes.

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In Jefferson County, I’d like to make two recommendations for the School Board elections:

In District 2, I endorse Laura Boggs.  Boggs supports budgetary transparency and seems to be the sort of out-of-the-box thinker that public education needs right now.  Her opponent is the incumbent School Board president and a darling of the left, receiving support from unions and far-left Democratic political figures.  If Laura Boggs has opponents like that, Mrs. Boggs must be an excellent choice for Jefferson County.

And in District 5, I endorse Rick Rush. Rush is currently the Secretary and Treasurer of the School Board. His business experience as an actuary and his apparent support for a more sensible (merit-based) pay structure for teachers is important.  In the meantime, his opponent has raised at least $9,000 from teachers’ unions, again showing that Mr. Rush must be the better choice (that is, if you care about good education for a good price.)