DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. -- All four of the anti-school voucher candidates won seats on the seven-member Douglas County School Board Wednesday.
Chalkbeat.org reportedas of 12:30 a.m., with all ballots counted, members of the “CommUnity Matters” slate were ahead of their opponents by about 16 percentage points in unofficial results.
The race drew national interest and special interest money as it was seen as a proxy fight over school voucher programs nationwide.
In 2011, the school board launched the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program, which would have provided publicly-funded scholarships to 500 students wanting to attend private schools, including church-affiliated schools.
A pro-public school slate of candidates won three seats on the board in 2015, the same year the State Supreme Court ruled the voucher program was unconstitutional.
In June of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Colorado court must reconsider its 2015 ruling.
The newly-elected candidates are expected to end the district's legal battle to continue the voucher program.
