Candidates for the Denver Public Schools Board of Education clashed Tuesday over Superintendent Alex Marrero’s leadership, declining enrollment, school closures, new limits on public comment, and how to address the district’s persistent achievement gaps — drawing sharp contrasts between incumbents defending their decisions and challengers calling for change.

Hosted by EDUCATE Denver, ChalkBeat and CBS News, the candidate forum at Regis University drew more than 100 people.

Next month, voters could change the direction of the district. Four of the board’s seven seats are up for grabs.

Dissatisfaction with the board’s leadership runs deep.

In April, a Keating Research poll found just 22% of voters hold a favorable opinion of the board.

With voter frustration rising and four seats on the line, this election could reshape who sets the tone for Denver’s schools.

Here are seven things to know about the school board races.

Marrero’s report card

The three incumbents — Directors Xóchitl Gaytán (District 2), Scott Esserman (District 3) and Michelle Quattlebaum (District 4), gave Marrero a thumbs up on his job performance while their challengers were largely skeptical.

“Overall, he’s missing it,” said candidate Alex Magaña, executive principal of the Beacon Network Schools.

Tension between Marrero and Magaña surfaced two years ago after Magaña publicly supported a state law giving innovation schools more recourse in disputes with district leadership. Soon after, Marrero revoked the innovation status of the schools he oversaw.

After citing the district’s graduation rate as the “highest” in DPS history, Gaytán expressed unmitigated support for Marrero.

“In a nutshell, the answer is yes,” said Gaytán, who is running for re-election for her District 2 seat in southwest Denver.

Contract extension controversy

Marrero’s early contract extension — which was approved on a split vote — also revealed a clear distinction between incumbents and their challengers.

Supporters and critics alike said privately that November’s election influenced the May 1 vote to extend his contract early (which had been set to expire in June 2026).

The two-year contract extension included significant changes that included a 5-2 supermajority requirement to remove Marerro without cause and 90-day notice, up from the 60-day notice that was previously required.

Jeremy Harris, who is running for the District 4 seat in northeast Denver held by Quattlebaum, blamed the board and it’s lack of oversight over Marrero. 

Harris has said he opposed the early extension as premature with an election that could change the board’s dynamics.

“It’s hard to hold him accountable with vague goals,” Harris said.

Charter v. the traditional school model

Despite years of political division over charter schools, most of the candidates vying for the school board — with the exception of Gaytán — said they supported charters as long as they effectively serve students.

Rather than drawing sharp ideological lines, the discussion focused on accountability and equity — with candidates emphasizing that every school, charter or district-run, should be held to the same performance standards.

“When we attack charter schools, we’re attacking the educators at those schools,” said Caron Blanke.

Blanke is running for the District 3 seat currently held by board President Carrie Olson, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

The way Gaytán sees it, charter schools are to blame for the bleak enrollment landscape in southwest Denver, which has lost roughly 20% of its students since 2019, the most profound decline in the district.

“Declining enrollment in southwest Denver isn’t happening in a vacuum,” said Gaytán, noting charters are siphoning off students.

The claim is an established belief in progressive circles, which view charter schools as competition for public dollars.

School closures and declining enrollment

Last year, the board voted to close seven schools and reconfigure three others because of declining enrollment.

After doing so, the board then voted to place a three-year moratorium on closures.

District officials have identified lower birth rates, skyrocketing home costs and gentrification as the major forces driving enrollment declines.

Birth rates have been declining nationally since 2008, but the Denver metro region had been largely spared until now because of domestic migration to Colorado.

After closing low-performing schools, the board created a guardrail prohibiting the superintendent from recommending closure solely based on test scores.

None of the candidates said they supported using test scores as a metric for closures.

At-large candidate Amy Klein Molk said academic data should be considered in context, not in isolation.

“Test scores alone are not a fair evaluation of how our students and our educators are doing,” Molk said.

School safety

School safety has been a heightened issue in the district since a student shot and wounded two administrators at East High School two years ago.

The shooting prompted the board to do an about-face and return armed police to the district’s comprehensive high schools after ending the practice in 2020 in the wake of the Black Lives Movement that swept the country that summer following the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a Black man, died at the hands of White police officers in Minneapolis.

The removal of school resource officers was the subject of hot debate among communities of color, who largely opposed their return because of a negative history with police.

The East shooting in 2023 also raised questions about how students who bring guns to school should be treated.

One of the more pointed exchanges Tuesday night came after Harris suggested random backpack checks and metal detectors.

“I don’t think a child should return to a classroom if they have brought a weapon to a school,” Harris said, noting he favored alternative schooling options.

His District 4 opponent, Monica Lynn Hunter, challenged his response, saying “Black and Latino students” would be criminalized under such a scenario.

“We know who will be affected by this,” Hunter said. “And, I will not support that.”

Public comment and transparency

Marathon meetings with lengthy public testimony prompted the school board to move community input to workshops held weeks before regular meetings — before an agenda is published.

Anyone wishing to speak during public comment is limited to agenda items.

No one — not even current board members — said they agreed with the change.

Candidates revealed their sentiments on the issue during a lightning round of questions in which they were asked to raise their hand if they agreed.

No one did.

“I want to see our community show up,” Molk said. “We need to listen to them.”

Among the incumbents who disagreed with the new policy was Gaytán, who previously said she was unconcerned about community members being unable to speak on agenda items.

“Those that are following and watching the videos will know the work we’re doing,” Gaytán has said. “We’ve made all of this known to the public.”

Achievement gap and accountability

After years of hand wringing over the learning loss students experienced in the pandemic learning disruption, the state’s standardized test showed Colorado students had nearly returned to 2019 levels.

But Denver students still trail the statewide recovery.

While mostly welcomed news to educators, the results also come with an all-too-familiar caveat: significant achievement gaps and lower growth continue to persist for students based on race and ethnicity, income, language and disability status.

Incumbents spoke in rosier language than those vying for their seats.

“I think we’re doing OK, but there’s still work to be done,” said Quattlebaum, who is running for re-election.

With 40.7% of Denver students reaching the English benchmark and 31.2% in math, the state test results make clear that most students are falling short of state standards.

“Many candidates will try and gaslight you to make you feel like things are going great,” Hunter said. “We see the data.”