Face The State Staff Report
Despite crushing losses across Colorado for the state's Republican party, the GOP is eagerly greeting the news that it will still be in charge of the State Board of Education.
With the crucial election of Marcia Neal to the board, Republicans will maintain their current 4-3 edge over Democrats. It was a close victory for Neal, a retired Grand Junction High School teacher and former Mesa County Valley School District Board member, who squeaked by her Democrat opponent. She defeated Jill Brake of Pueblo, by less than 3 percentage points in the race to represent the 3rd Congressional District.
Neal will be the only teacher to serve on the current board and attributed her victory to support she received from voters across the vast congressional district. But she said she was always concerned her candidacy would be harmed because it was down ballot and because she thought electors had other voting priorities.
“I had a lot of help from volunteers and it was a good campaign even though it was not a high priority for a lot of voters,” Neal said.
Neal succeeded Pamela Jo Suckla, the sitting chair of the SBOE, who chose not to run for re-election. Suckla was often criticized by conservatives for frequently voting with the Democrats on the board and she faced flack over controversial spending decisions.
Peggy Littleton, a Republican from Colorado Springs representing the 5th Congressional District, said she’s looking forward to working with Neal, who she thinks will be a much more reliable conservative vote than Suckla.
“It will be nice to get some real business done with four actual Republicans on the board,” Littleton said.
According to Littleton, Suckla all but endorsed Brake in her race against Neal.
Bob Schaffer, who will continue to serve on the SBOE after unsuccessfully running for the U.S. Senate, said he was glad to see Republicans maintain control of the board. Schaffer, the current vice-chair, said he did not want to speculate about who would be elected to serve as the board's next chairman, but said he was ready to continue his service.
A vacancy committee will replace board member Evie Hudak since she was elected to the state Senate to represent north Jefferson County. Hudak secured a narrow victory over Republican Libby Szabo in Senate District 19.
Littleton said she hoping Schaffer was headed to Washington and thought Hudak could potentially do a lot more damage to the school choice and charter school movement in the state legislature that she would have on the board. Littleton said she considers school choice and charter schools to be one of the most important reasons she is on the board.
In January, Neal will join Republicans Littleton, Schaffer, and Randy DeHoff as well as Democrats Elaine Berman, Jane Goff and a yet-to-be-appointed replacement for Hudak on the board.