Why teachers unions are trying to block outside intervention in Colorado schools

Teachers have a lot at stake in what happens in their classrooms, but does that give them legal standing to challenge outside intervention in low-performing schools and districts?

That’s the first question a Denver district judge must answer in two lawsuits brought by teachers unions to block external managers from taking control of the Adams 14 school district in Commerce City and a struggling middle school in the Pueblo 60 district in southern Colorado.

In both cases, the local school board entered into a contract with the for-profit education consulting firm MGT after the Colorado State Board of Education ordered them to seek outside help. The Adams 14 district and Risley International Academy of Innovation in Pueblo have spent eight years on a state watchlist for schools and districts with consistently low test scores.

These are the first state-ordered outside interventions under Colorado’s 2009 accountability law, and the outcome of these lawsuits will clarify the state’s authority to tell school districts what to do.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2019/08/02/colorado-schools-intervention-teachers-union/