Lynn Emrick, a Colorado statehouse candidate who helped co-found a private Christian school in Wheat Ridge, has pledged to “increase parental choice” in schools if she’s elected.
Emrick, a Republican, and five other mothers from the community co-founded Acts Academy, a school that promises a Bible-based education for kids from preschool through fifth grade, early last year.
“Introducing Acts Academy! Our goal is to grow and nurture disciples, students of character and children that really know Jesus,” Emrick wrote in a March 2021 Facebook post that has since been either made private or deleted. “We want to offer an affordable private education for families that might not of have had an option before, but now it can be!”
According to the school’s website, much of which is currently password-protected and inaccessible to the public, Acts Academy began in 2020 as a small homeschool co-op, then quickly grew to 42 students and 24 families. Now, classes are held at the Clear Creek Church on West 44th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. The school’s principal, Brittany Dunn, declined to say who sits on the board of directors.
Given that Emrick exercised the freedom to start a faith-based school along with other parents in the community, it’s not clear how she believes parental choice in Colorado schools needs to be expanded.
It’s also unclear how Emrick would vote on public school funding or policy if she’s elected. However, Emrick stated in her March 2021 Facebook post that, at least when it comes to her children’s schooling, she wants to see “Jesus in the forefront of [their] education.”
The Arvada Press recently reported that Emrick plans to “keep politics out” of the classroom if elected, and she also opposes the teaching of “sexualized content” and “gender identity vocabulary” without parents’ consent.
According to Emrick’s campaign website, one of her priorities will be to “demand parental transparency by keeping controversial issues out of the classroom and placing focusing back on the basics of math, reading, and writing.”
Emrick has not yet responded to requests for comment on this story.
Colorado Politics reported that a vacancy committee chose Emrick to be the GOP nominee for her Jefferson County house district after the previous candidate, Christina Carlino, dropped out of the race last month. Emrick is challenging incumbent state Rep. Brianna Titone (D-Arvada) for her House District 27 (HD 27) seat in the Legislature.
