I want you to imagine for a moment that you’re back in high school. You were a child pretty recently and you’ll be an adult pretty soon, but for now, things are weird. Your body and brain are both changing, you smell weird sometimes. You’re in the years-long process of both creation and discovery, carving your own identity out of a formless block of stone, trying to separate what you really like from what you think it would be cool to be seen as liking. Sometimes, you worry that all of your friends might secretly hate you, or that you’re ugly, or that you’re the only one who occasionally smells weird.
education
Invisible Hand: The Man Behind Colorado Schools’ Efforts to Ban Trans Athletes
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: Familiar Faces Bring Education Crusade to Southwest Colorado
In the dusty, red-hued southwestern corner of Colorado, a rural school district finds itself mired in a saga of drama and controversy which, despite receiving coverage in the local paper, has not yet broken into Front Range news outlets. On the surface, it’s a local affair, but the ongoing story in the Montezuma-Cortez School District is noteworthy for its ties to attorneys, administrators, and activists associated with Colorado’s network of right-wing education reformers, and for the way their actions in the district are flipping the script which they and their allies have run in districts across the country.
DAVIS: John Birch Never Dies
Right-wing activists have escalated their assault on the country’s public education system, birthing what The New York Times calls an “increasing tempo of radical right attacks on local government, libraries, school boards, [and] parent-teacher associations.”
ACLU Takes Action Against School District’s Book Ban
Elizabeth School District is the proud up-and-coming conservative venue in Colorado’s public education scene, rising to the far-right agenda with their recent book banning. 19 books, all of which contain content about racism, homophobia, mental health, or social injustice against minorities, were banned by the district’s curriculum committee.
DAVIS: I Need Your Help
If you have read anything I have written over the last few years, you know that I believe that Christian nationalism is the most pressing threat to American democracy. I have been harping on this for years, since well before the Heritage Foundation crafted Project 2025, and well before Christian nationalism became the animating force behind Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Unfortunately, during the time I have been writing about the risks Christian nationalism poses to both democracy and Christianity, history has repeatedly proven my concerns to be justified. Now that Trump has returned to office and Project 2025 is well on its way to completion, there is not much utility in shouting from the rooftops that Christian nationalism is coming for us all. It has already arrived.
DAVIS: ‘Bleed it Dry, Then Get the Hell Out’ – The Fight for Tax Dollars in Woodland Park Schools
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 council had converged on the same page, determined to put an end to the latest crisis triggered by the town’s controversial school board.
Christian Homeschoolers Join Progressives in Opposition to School Choice Amendment
Progressive public education advocates in Colorado have found an unlikely ally in their opposition to Amendment 80 — Christian homeschoolers.
DAVIS: Secret Audio Recording Reveals Inner-Workings of Woodland Park Takeover
The other thing we ask is no recording,” the Freedom Foundation moderator can be heard saying on the recording I recently obtained. The recording, which was provided by a source who wishes to remain anonymous, is of a panel discussion at a recent conference and prominently features Brad Miller, the controversial attorney for the Woodland Park school board. “If you guys want these guys to be frank, to be open with you guys, they don’t want to be on YouTube. I don’t want to be on YouTube. So if we can, just make sure that there is no recording.”