Teachers unions swarm small-town conservative school board that dares to reform public ed

Teachers unions are focused on a small-town school district because their influence and control are imperiled by a successful conservative school board. In the small Colorado town of Woodland Park, nestled on Pikes Peak’s north slope, only 28.6 percent of students scored at grade level in math last year. Just 45.3 percent can read at grade level. So after taking over 18 months ago, the conservative school board immediately sought to recoup the learning loss. But district leadership is now under siege — facing a deluge of integrated attacks from teachers unions resisting the board’s reform efforts. As the local union awaited a “crisis” designation and funding from the Colorado Education Association (CEA) — which recently condemned capitalism — other allied unions were coming to their aid.