When Denverites vote in this fall’s election, they will help decide who will lead Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest K-12 district.
Four of the seven seats on DPS’s Board of Education are up for grabs this year, meaning the majority could change depending on who voters elect to serve on the district’s governing body.
The election has already generated more than $250,000 in campaign spending, as candidates have secured endorsements from the teachers union and Denver Families Action, a political group with ties to charter schools.
Whoever is elected to serve on the school board will have to help DPS confront financial challenges as K-12 enrollment falls, and as state and federal funds are curtailed.
Among the decisions candidates are likely to face is whether to close additional schools if the budget cuts go deep enough. The election also comes as DPS is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over gender-neutral bathrooms and federal immigration policies.
Colorado voter guide: Stories and explainers for the 2025 election
The 11 candidates vying for seats on the board recently participated in a debate hosted by Chalkbeat Colorado, CBS Colorado and Educate Denver. During the debate, candidates were asked about a range of topics, from all-gender bathrooms to having armed police in schools.
They were also asked about their stances on school choice -- which allows parents to send their children to whichever school they want -- and charter schools.
Here's what the candidates said:
At-large candidates:
Deborah Sims Fard
Fard told Chalkbeat Colorado that she dropped out of the race due to an injury, but her name will still appear on ballots.
Alex Magaña
Magaña is the executive principal of Denver's Grant Beacon and Kepner Beacon middle schools. He will have to resign his position if elected to the board. Magaña is one of the four candidates endorsed by Denver Families.
Magaña said he supports school choice as well as charter and innovation schools, but not vouchers that use public money to send children to private schools.
He said during a recent debate that he supports using students’ preferred pronouns and names; letting parents opt children out of lessons; and the school board hiring its own attorney to negotiate the superintendent’s contract.
He does not support banning cellphones in schools or posting armed police inside school buildings.
Magaña said in a recent interview with The Denver Post that he would close schools for academics or low enrollment, if needed. “More work needs to be done determining how many schools need to be closed,” he said. “Based on the trend that is going, there is going to be less students."
Amy Klein Molk
Molk is a DPS parent, an entrepreneur and has worked as a special education paraprofessional. She is one of the four candidates endorsed by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
Molk said she supports using students’ preferred pronouns and names; letting parents opt children out of lessons; banning cellphones in schools; and the school board hiring its own attorney to negotiate the superintendent’s contract.
She said she doesn't support closing schools for either poor academics or low enrollment. She also doesn’t support armed police inside DPS high schools.
“We need to rebuild trust and we need to do that by ensuring that every single student has a great neighborhood school where their needs are met and they have the resources to thrive,” she said during the debate.
District 2 candidates:
Mariana del Hierro
Del Hierro is a DPS parent and the executive director of Re:Vision, a nonprofit focused on food insecurity in southwest Denver. She is endorsed by Denver Families.
She said, if elected, one of her top priorities as a board member would be to address academic achievement gaps that persist among Latino students.
“We are allowing the biggest population of our schools to fall through the cracks,” del Hierro said during the debate. “For me, that is unacceptable."
During the debate, del Hierro didn’t say directly whether she would vote to close schools. She said the board needs to have conversations with families, including related to falling enrollment.
Del Hierro said she believes in school choice and supports gender-neutral bathrooms in schools.
Xóchitl "Sochi" Gaytán
Gaytán, a real estate agent, was elected to the school board in 2021 and had a stint as the governing body's president. She is running for re-election to represent southwest Denver and is endorsed by the teachers union.
Gaytán voted in 2023 to reinstate armed police in schools after a high-profile shooting at East High School. She supports gender-neutral bathrooms.
She voted last year to close seven schools for low enrollment, but this summer supported a four-year hiatus on future closure decisions.
“The community needs time to heal,” Gaytán said of the pause on closures. She also opposes closing schools because of low academic outcomes.
Gaytán is critical of charter schools, which she said are to blame for falling enrollment because they are “siphoning away resources from our public schools, with little to no accountability, abusive work conditions, poor student outcomes.”
District 3 candidates:
Caron Blanke
Blanke is a DPS parent and former director of the Jewish Community Center Early Learning School in Denver, according to her website. She is endorsed by Denver Families.
She did not directly say whether she would vote to close schools.
“Nobody wants to close any school,” Blanke said. “I would take an honest and thoughtful approach to these decisions. We can expect an 8% decline in enrollment by 2029, so we need to be proactive in the way we are thinking about this.”
Blanke said she opposes armed police inside schools and supports gender-neutral bathrooms in schools.
Charter and innovation schools are public schools in Denver, part of the district’s portfolio -- and "necessary to ensure that we’re providing equitable, high-quality educational experiences for all of our students,” she said.
Scott Esserman
Esserman was elected to the board’s at-large seat in 2021, but is now running to represent the district that he calls “home.”
He voted against reinstating armed police to schools in 2023. Esserman also voted during his tenure to close schools because of low enrollment, but more recently supported a four-year pause on such decisions. He opposes closing schools because of poor academic performance.
Esserman supports gender-neutral bathrooms in schools, but not armed police.
Children -- and most parents — don’t care if they go to a charter, innovation or district-run school, Esserman said.
“This question is problematic,” he said. “This question has become part of the. narrative of what we talk about in Denver public schools and it doesn’t serve students."
Donald “DJ” Torres
Torres is a DPS parent and former special education educator. He is endorsed by the teachers union.
He said during the debate that he does not support closing schools for either academics or enrollment. He opposes armed police inside schools, but does support schools having gender-neutral bathrooms.
Torres acknowledged that charter schools are part of the DPS system, but said the district needs to do more to hold the schools accountable.
“It’s the responsibility of the board to make sure that we are interrogating all of the options that our families have at an equitable level,” Torres said.
District 4 candidates:
Jeremy Harris
Harris is a DPS parent and runs Harris Funeral Directors in Aurora.
He opposes teaching elementary and middle school students lessons that include topics such as sexuality, racism and gender identity. He also supports history lessons that promote “appreciation for American values,” according to his website.
Harris said during the debate that he supports school choice and DPS having gender-neutral bathrooms, but would not vote to close schools for either low performance or enrollment.
He also said DPS schools need metal detectors and should do random background checks at “high-need schools” to protect students against gun violence. Harris said during the debate that he does not believe DPS is heading in the right direction.
“We have lost trust not only in our school board, but we have also lost trust in our superintendent," Harris said. “It’s time for a new era in education.”
Monica Hunter
Hunter is a DPS parent and taught in the district she is now hoping to serve, participating in the 2019 teacher strike. Hunter, who is endorsed by the teachers union, also started the DCTA Black Educators Caucus, according to her website.
Hunter does not support metal detectors in schools, saying they "criminalize Black and Latino students.”
“We have to ensure that we look at it holistically,” Hunter said about gun violence. “Safety is a mental health concern.”
Hunter said she supports gender-neutral bathrooms in schools, but does not support closing schools for either poor academics or low enrollment.
She said she supports parents’ ability to pick what school to send their children to, but that charter schools need more accountability.
Timiya Jackson
Jackson is a DPS parent and endorsed by Denver Families.
She said she supports school choice, saying all schools -- regardless of their governance model — need to be held accountable by the board. She also supports gender-neutral bathrooms in schools.
Jackson said she would not vote to close a school with low test scores, but didn’t say how she would vote if the superintendent recommends shutting a building because of low enrollment. She said the board doesn’t spend enough time discussing academic data.
“Too many of our students are lacking a sense of belonging in their school environments, and therefore, they are left to ask, ‘What is the purpose of education?” Jackson said. “We need to be focused on engaging our students and their learning at a young age so that they find their passions.”
Michelle Quattlebaum
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She has voted to close schools for low enrollment, but this year backed a four-year hiatus on such decisions. She said during an interview with The Post that should would not vote to close schools because of poor academics
“The goal is not to close schools,” Quattlebaum said in the interview. “The goal is not to give up on educators and students. I can’t support that.”
Quattlebaum voted against reinstating school resource officers in 2023 and instead proposed using community resource officers to respond when needed. She said during the debate that she supports school choice and gender-neutral bathrooms.
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