Earlier this week, Colorado Springs School District 49 voted to officially dissolve Education ReEnvisioned BOCES (ERBOCES), after growing scrutiny by state education officials who raised concerns about the constitution of the board, invalid contracts, and the use of public funds. The entity is one of many boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, in Colorado, which are public educational organizations designed to help school districts many of which but not all are in rural areas, share costs and management of special education instruction, expensive technology, grants, and other aspects of a public school district that would be unattainable without pooling resources. And while homeschooled students could access those programs, ERBOCES’ aggressive push to market its services to the homeschool community eventually led to legislative action.
After a decade in operation, however, and with an annual budget of around $45 million in taxpayer money, ERBOCES’ relentless stretching of the legal limits in pursuit of its founders’ religious right agenda finally caught up with it. The Colorado Times Recorder has been following ERBOCES since 2023, reporting on the group’s lawyer, Brad Miller, and executive director, Ken Witt, and their connections to controversies in school districts across the Front Range.
DAVIS: The Specialists: A Woodland Park Investigation – June 2023
After two years of acrimony caused by the board’s efforts to force a hyper-conservative agenda on the district, after protests and recalls and national news coverage, it was clear that the attempt to take over a school district had failed. The man at the center of the ideological crusade, Ken Witt, was thrown out on his ear. Attorney Brad Miller’s letter of resignation followed shortly after.
Funding Faith With Public Education Dollars – August 2023
Colorado’s universal pre-k program is the subject of two lawsuits by Christian schools. Both argue that the state’s nondiscrimination requirements, particularly with regard to LGBTQ individuals, to receive universal pre-k funds are a form of religious discrimination. In June, Darren Patterson Christian Academy (DPCA), a private Christian school in Buena Vista, filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program.
Colorado Springs Conservatives Host Town Halls For D11 Board Members Running For Reelection – September 2023
On Tuesday, Jorgenson took part in the “State of Education in El Paso County” event alongside Woodland Park Superintendent Ken Witt and charter school advocate Mark Hyatt. The event was hosted by Engage the Rockies, a nonprofit formed in 2022 by El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner and Cortney Salt, wife of Academy School District 20 board member Aaron Salt.
DAVIS: This November’s School Board Elections Are More Important Than You Think – October 2023
The most important school board races in Colorado this year are not on the Front Range and are rarely in the press. They are tucked into high valleys beyond the curtains of peaks, attracting little notice and even less money.
Leadership Institute Training: Action Items for Newly Conservative School Boards – November 2023
The afternoon session was presented by Ted Mische, who serves as the public/private partnership liaison for Woodland Park Superintendent Ken Witt’s ERBOCES, and is the trainer for the Truth and Liberty Coalition’s “Candidate Academy.”
Is the Elizabeth School District the next Woodland Park? – December 2023
Just after the Elizabeth board members resigned, the district’s newly-appointed superintendent, Dan Snowberger, began his official duties. Within a month, Snowberger introduced Miller to the board, who then received approval to take over the district’s legal representation. Snowberger, Witt and Miller worked together at Education ReEnvisioned BOCES.
The Daniels Fund: Funding Conservative Education Policy – February 2024In addition to funding Ascent Classical Academies, the Daniels Fund has also given funds to a number of other Colorado charter schools, including $113,000 in 2021 to Liberty Common School, whose headmaster, Bob Schaffer, is chair of the board for conservative training course Leadership Program of the Rockies — which received $2,500 from the Daniels Fund in 2021 — and $40,000 to controversial Woodland Park Superintendent Ken Witt’s ERBOCES.
Conservative Activists Oppose Charter School Accountability, Propose Ballot Initiative – March 2024
Conservative activist group Advance Colorado is leading the charge against House Bill 1363, “Charter Schools Accountability.” The bill would impose additional regulations on Colorado’s charter schools, removing automatic waivers for things like teacher licensure and readiness assessments, allowing community members to appeal a local board’s decision to approve a charter school, and granting boards broader powers to revoke or not renew a charter.
Company with Ties to Conservatives Files Lawsuit Challenging a Policy Aimed, in Part, at Bolstering State Retirement Program – June 2024
Tagg was founded in January 2018 by Trevor Miller, the son of Brad Miller — a conservative attorney who represents numerous charter schools and school boards across the state, including Woodland Park.
Conservative Christian Group’s Crusade Against Pueblo Public Schools – December 2025
Forging Pueblo’s interest in education doesn’t just extend to public schools in Pueblo. In 2023, Friberg launched Veritas Academy, a private K-5 school in Pueblo West. The school is funded in part with public funds for home school enrichment through ERBOCES, whose executive director is Ken Witt, the current superintendent of the embattled Woodland Park School District.
DAVIS: ‘Bleed it Dry, Then Get the Hell Out’ – The Fight for Tax Dollars in Woodland Park Schools – March 2025
When the Woodland Park City Council convened for a special meeting on Monday morning, no one expected the vote to be unanimous. No one was even quite sure which way the vote would go. By the time the adjourning gavel fell two and a half hours later, though, all seven members of the council had converged on the same page, determined to put an end to the latest crisis triggered by the town’s controversial school board.
Invisible Hand: The Man Behind Colorado Schools’ Efforts to Ban Trans Athletes – April 2025
Last week, dozens of Colorado school board members and administrators issued an open letter to the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), making what they called “an urgent and resolute demand” that the organization “immediately adopt rules” to ban trans-identifying teens from participating in high school athletics in Colorado. Signed by 80 signatories representing 14 public school districts, ten charter schools, and one BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), the letter references President Trump’s February 5 Executive Order, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” and suggests that CHSAA will be subject to federal investigation if it does not comply with the letter’s demands.
DAVIS: Cashing-In on the Classroom – June 2025
Last month, supporters of a would-be charter school made their case to the Montrose County School Board, hoping to receive an official charter which would allow it to open in the district. The meeting on May 20 was not the first time the leaders of Montrose Classical Academy sat before the county school board to discuss their charter application: this whole saga played out last year as well, and ended with the school board rejecting the classical school’s charter application.
Bully: The Crisis of Leadership in Montezuma-Cortez Schools – October 2025
The phone call came through around 9 p.m. while Cyndi Eldredge was watching television with her husband. On the other end of the line was her boss, Montezuma-Cortez School District superintendent Tom Burris, launching immediately into one of his frequent tirades. Eldredge thought he sounded impaired. Given everything that had been going on in the district, and her own increasing discomfort with it, she decided to listen to her intuition: she recorded the call.
CORRECTION: Due to an editor’s error, a previous version of this article characterized Colorado’s BOCES programs as being “designed for” rural districts and homeschool students, rather than for all districts and accessible by homeschoolers.
