A slate of anti-school voucher candidates won a contentious race Tuesday night for the Douglas County School Board, effectively killing the district’s controversial voucher program and entirely remaking the seven-member board.

The race, because it revolved around school vouchers, drew plenty of media attention, big money and bitterness from both sides.



2017 Results Douglas County Schools

But members of the winning CommUnity Matters slate said they wanted to concentrate on bringing unity to the district and calming down a school board often roiled by controversy.

“It is time to return our attention locally — to the students, teachers and community of all Douglas County public schools — while restoring our attention locally,” said Anthony Graziano. “I look forward to working with my fellow board members in a collaborative and transparent manner…”

Graziano was a member of the CommUnity Matters slate that included Chris Schor, Kevin Leung and Krista Holtzmann. They see vouchers as an attack on public schools and claim that siphoning off tax dollars from schools hurts more children while benefiting only a few.

Graziano said the voucher program has been a “distraction to the district.”

The four-member Elevate group, had it won, would have likely continued its legal fight to introduce school vouchers, an effort that began six years ago but has since been caught in legal wrangling. The Elevate candidates were Ryan Abresch, Randy Mills, Grant Nelson and Deborah Scheffel.

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The CommUnity Matters candidates won with nearly 60 percent of the vote in head-to-head match-ups with Elevate candidates.

Under the school district’s voucher plan, Douglas County families can use tax dollars to send children to participating private schools approved by the district.

Proponents see vouchers as an avenue for parents to make better educational decisions for their kids, giving them a chance to succeed in a more high-performing school.

The district began its school voucher program in 2011 but has since been stalled in the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court this year asked the state Supreme Court — which ruled the Douglas County system unconstitutional — to reconsider its decision.

There are other issues, including frayed relations between the board and the district’s teachers that started in 2009 with the election of a group of four reform-minded candidates with backing of the Republican Party.

The board ended the collective bargaining agreement with the district’s teachers union and replaced the traditional salary schedule based on time served and education with a “market-based” system.

The current board is a 4-3 split, with the reformers holding a slim majority. But the remaining reformers declined to seek re-election.

The race has attracted almost unprecedented funding for a school board race. The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union, has poured $300,000 into the race to support the CommUnity slate. Meanwhile, a committee backed by the state’s Republican donor class has spent more than $200,000 on mailers and consultants to help the Elevate slate.