The big story from Tuesday’s school board elections is regrettable yet unsurprising: Teachers ’unions still reign in and around Denver. But they’re not impervious.

Union-endorsed candidates win 70% of the time, as The Denver Gazette reported — even though fewer than a third of district teachers are often union members. Talk about a massively outsized impact.

Nowhere is this clearer than Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest district, where all four candidates backed and funded by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association won.

Two years ago, voters flipped three union seats after back-to-back shootings at East High School and an illegal closed-door executive session.

They were also fed up with disgraced ex-board member Auon’tai Anderson, whose outrageous antics, tone-deaf statements, and 2021 misconduct investigation (resulting in a censure) tanked his approval to 9% — and sent him running from reelection.

It took a galvanizing jolt to beat the machine. This year, there wasn’t the same unifying spark. Endorsements of non-union candidates by Mayor Mike Johnston couldn’t slow juggernaut.

But here’s the thing: The public’s disgust at the previous four years of dysfunction still worried the union. Incumbents Scott Esserman and Michelle Quattlebaum were so damaging to the school board’s image that even the DCTA abandoned their reelection bids after supporting them the first time — classic buyer’s remorse.

As The Denver Gazette editorialized, the duo allied with Tay Anderson during their overlapping years — waging culture-war battles, drowning the board in unending drama and crippling progress. No wonder they hired Anderson to help run their campaigns both cycles

The union stuck with Sochi Gaytán, who won big, likely because she wasn’t a flashpoint and at times tried to rein them in as board president. She’ll presumably lead the union majority with Monica Hunter, Amy Klein Molk and DJ Torres. A clean sweep — made possible only after curing buyer’s remorse and bowing to the public’s demand for “less theater, more governance” by cutting off Esserman and Quattlebaum.

Will the new board deliver and finally focus on academics and safety? Stay tuned.

Union-backed progressives also swept right-leaning Douglas County. Under the refreshing, non-union majority, DougCo became the metro area’s top-rated district, recovered learning loss ahead of peers and pushed politics out of classrooms.

They also hired Erin Kane, an extraordinarily competent superintendent — a sharp contrast to Denver’s failed Dr. Alex Marrero. The new board would be wise to keep Kane.

DougCo’s swing isn’t surprising. The county regularly flips between reform and union-beholden majorities. Four years ago, voters tossed a union majority. This is another turn of the wheel — in a county still right-leaning but unavoidably drifting with Colorado’s leftward trend.

That helps explain the union victory when only 20% of DougCo teachers are estimated to be members, and the district hasn’t had collective bargaining since 2012.

Speaking of: The four new members wouldn’t give straight answers on unionization. Watch for a push to revive collective bargaining — despite less than a quarter of teachers being members and little community appetite for the unionization trap.

Unlike DougCo, Jefferson County Schools — Colorado’s second largest — bargains with union bosses even though only 30% of teachers are members, per a senior HR official.

The Jefferson County Education Association kept its majority Tuesday, although they lost one seat. Some news coverage credited the union with ousting board President Mary Parker.

Not so fast. Parker was their candidate last time. Whether she dropped them or they dropped her, it’s more buyer’s remorse — letting the union posture as “opposed” to a board they installed.

How unpopular? Glossy mailers from union outfit Students Deserve Better — backed by $830,000 in Colorado Education Association cash — screamed “NO CONFIDENCE,” claiming Superintendent Tracy Dorland “puts kids at risk” while the board “stood by and did nothing.”

Let’s be real: The current board is the union’s board. But the mailers named Parker and three other candidates who aren’t even members.

Parents are fed up with endless sexual abuse and misconduct cases in Jeffco Schools, enabled by “trusted adult” policies fueling a culture of secrecy. Perhaps the most infamous is former Chief of Schools David Weiss, who died by suicide at New Year’s while under investigation for child pornography. Parent group Jeffco Kids First has identified over 30 other cases.

In that climate, the union was forced to yank its support from Michael Yocum, 26, after public revelations of his sealed juvenile sex-offense record, which he admitted. Yocum was endorsed by the union; his original campaign manager, Katie Winner, also ran the other union campaigns.

Yet it sure looked like they still wanted him to win. There’s no sign the union asked for its $10,000 back, and they conveniently left him off their well-financed attack mailers.

Fortunately, former educator Denine Echevarria won 65-35, becoming Jeffco’s second non-union-backed board member in over a decade.

Let’s be clear: Jeffco must clean up its sexual-misconduct crisis — a scandal Yocum’s union-vetted candidacy epitomized. The district’s mess is the union’s mess. They kept two seats, but if the union’s “Cleanup Crew” is serious about cleaning house, Yocum’s defeat signals a Day One mandate. Will the board take it up?

Tuesday’s election underscored how teachers ’unions still dominate Colorado’s school boards — even where few teachers belong to the club. But it also exposed an obvious pattern: Unions win, then defend the indefensible until voters force a correction. Buyer’s remorse always catches up. The only question is how much damage has to come first.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.