A slate of teachers'-union-backed candidates has won control of Colorado’s Douglas County school board—ousting its pro-school-choice majority in a strongly Republican area.
The union victory will likely spell the end of the county’s pilot school voucher program as well as a high-profile lawsuit that could have become a vehicle for expanding vouchers across the country.
For that reason, the election for a local seven-member school board for a 68,000-student district drew outsized national interest and money. The American Federation of Teachers spent around $300,000 on the race, while a group backed by the pro-voucher billionaire Koch brothers, spent around $100,000, according to local media reports.