By Van Schoales, DFER CO Advisory Board Member and the CEO of A+ Denver
This week marks an important turning point for DFER-CO as Jennifer Walmer starts as the first full-time executive director for the state office. Jen brings a rich track record of organizing education policy change, having helped orchestrate passage of Colorado’s landmark Great Teachers and Leaders bill (SB 191) while she was chief of staff for Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll (a founding DFER-CO board member) and later chief of staff for Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg.
Additionally, Jen has a deep history and strong relationships within the Colorado Democratic Party that will enable us to have an even greater impact on improving student achievement moving forward.
DFER-CO has grown steadily over the last five years, under the leadership of Moira Cullen (part-time!) and with strong support from a diverse group of education reformers, most of whom serve on the DFER-CO advisory board.
Moira has done a stellar job building the state office from an idea hatched by a few of us in 2008, when we joined forces with Joe Williams to organize the Ed Challenge for Change event. The event was sponsored by DFER and over 40 other education organizations the Sunday leading into the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It was the first major public gathering for Democrats committed to education reform connected to the party’s mission.
The event hosted by so many impactful Colorado Democratic leaders, including Federico Pena (former Denver mayor and US Secretary of Transportation), Barbara O’Brien (former CO Lt. Governor), Terrance Carroll (former CO Speaker of the House) and Mike Johnston (Co state Senator), made us realize we needed an organization in the state to support more Democrats committed to public education reform. So, we officially launched in late 2008.
Since then, DFER-CO has been at the forefront of a long list of political and policy change in Colorado that includes the passage of SB 191 (changing teacher tenure and evaluation) and SB 213 (rewrite of school finance with more funding and reform) and recently supporting high school graduation based on proficiency. DFER-CO also supported a number of successful school district and legislative races over the last four years.
With Jen Walmer now at the helm, DFER-CO will be able to focus more deeply on ensuring that Colorado’s legislature is committed to improving public education. This year promises to be another wild ride, with a teacher licensure bill being drafted by state Sen. Mike Johnston (a DFER-CO Advisory Board member) and the implementation of many recent reforms including Common Core State Standards and new teacher evaluations.
We are all excited to have Jen take the lead, welcome her to the DFER community and give a huge thanks to Moira for starting the first DFER outpost and making it a force to improve public education in Colorado.
Van Schoales is a Colorado DFER Advisory Board Member and the CEO of A+ Denver. He is a former high school teacher and school principal.