Cash In Mind: The Sky Is The Limit
![](http://greaterparkhill.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/10.17.LWV_.Peg-Perl-200x300.jpg)
Oct. 16 Forum To Highlight School Board Campaign Finance, Ballot Issues
By Sally Augden
League of Women Voters
A large chunk of everyone’s state income and local property taxes goes to support public schools, making it incumbent, one would think, on voters to pay close attention to the election of school board members who will be spending their money.
Yet school board races are notoriously ignored by many, especially those who do not have children in school.
And, few people know that there are no campaign limits for school board elections in Colorado. Nor do they really know who is funding these campaigns. This information applies not only to the city of Denver, but to all school board races in Colorado.
On Monday, Oct. 16, at 5:30 p.m., the League of Women Voters of Denver will hold a public briefing at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church on the funding of school board campaigns.
The forum falls three weeks before the Nov. 7 mail ballot election for four of seven Denver Public Schools board members. Up for election include an at-large member and two representatives whose districts represent portions of Park Hill (DPS candidate Q&As appear on pages 8-10 of this issue, including a question about top campaign funders). Ballots will be mailed in mid-October to all registered Denver voters.
Guest speaker Peg Perl was most recently senior counsel for Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan organization focusing on government ethics, campaign finance, fair elections, and open records. She currently directs her own agency, Democracy TNG, offering programs and workshops on democracy, education and civic empowerment.
She will be speaking on the issues surrounding school board campaign finance – outside spending, contributions to candidates and disclosures. She was part of the team that worked on the state legislation in 2016 to change reporting deadlines for school board races.
The League will also briefly cover ballot issues to be on the Nov. 7 ballot, including the Denver’s $937 million bond measure. Brochures detailing the pros and cons of proposals will be available.
Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church is at 1980 Dahlia St. The public briefing is free and open to the public.