It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since Face The State first publicly revealed an anti-school choice email tirade by state Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, where he wrote to fellow Democrat Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, that “there must be a special place in hell for these Privatizers, Charerizers [sic] and Voucherizers! They deserve it!”
As state legislative history would note, the scandal — which came to light in late March last year — was enough to force Merrifield to resign his chairmanship of the House education committee for the remainder of the 2007 legislative session.
While voters across the state were outraged about the comments, Colorado’s charter school and alternative education supporters and may be getting the last laugh. As has been widely reported this month, the Colorado state Board of Education voted to overturn a contentious, anti-school choice decision by the Colorado Springs and Harrison school districts. The result: Hope Online will be allowed to operate six "learning centers" in Merrifield’s home county of El Paso. Hope Online’s 67 learning centers serve more than 3,000 Colorado students.
In addition, Denver Public Schools students are also cheering school choice this month. The Denver School of Science and Technology, a charter high school with a high minority population, announced last week that all 79 of its seniors are graduating and that each of them will go on to college.
Compare these stats to Merrifield’s chosen method of conventional neighborhood schools and you’ll see that one out of three DPS students doesn’t even graduate from high school — let alone go on to college.
Of DPS’s 151 schools, 23 are now charters, with growing interest in opening more. Merrifield's "hell" promises to only become more crowded.