Voters say top issues for Denver schools are student safety and recruiting and retaining good teachers; nearly 90% undecided on At-Large school board race

DENVER — The Colorado Polling Institute (CPI) released the second part of its inaugural Denver public opinion survey, publishing polling data on voter attitudes about issues in Denver Public Schools (DPS).

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of voters support the policy of sending School Resource Officers (SROs) back into schools, with majority support across all political parties.

Other notable findings in the public opinion survey:

• The DPS School Board is deeply unpopular, with 22% of Denver voters having a favorable opinion to 55% of voters with an unfavorable opinion of the current school board. Among parents of school-aged children, the board’s unfavorable opinion rises to 66%;
• DPS parents are considerably more upbeat about education quality than non-parents: 50% of DPS parents give ratings of ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ while 48% say ‘fair’ or ‘poor.’ In contrast, non-parents give ratings of 21% excellent/good and 46% saying fair/poor (33% of non-parents are undecided);
• a slim majority (51%) think children are safe while attending Denver Public Schools while 38% think they are not safe. Among parents, however, 51% say schools are not safe, and;
• the At-Large school board race is wide open with John Youngquist at 4.8%, Ulcca Hansen at 4.5%, Kwame Spearman at 2.3% and Paul Ballenger at 1.2%. With a margin of error of +/-4.72% that means no candidate statistically has any support. (Note: The poll was conducted before Ulcca Joshi Hansen dropped out of the race.)

The poll was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of GOP pollster Cygnal and Democratic pollster Aspect Strategic from August 17-18 utilizing a 2024 likely voter model with a margin of error of +/-4.72%. The question about the At-Large school board race was done using a 2023 likely voter model to accurately represent the state of that race, allowing responses from only those likely to participate in the 2023 election.

When it comes to the upcoming school board campaign, voters say the two issues they most want candidates to address are student safety (49%) and recruiting and retaining good teachers (49%). Addressing student mental health was among the top two issues for 34% of voters, while academic achievement was a top two issue for 32%.

“Voters want to hear candidates talk about how they will keep kids safe in school, but also how they will ensure we have great teachers in the classroom,” said Democratic pollster Kevin Ingham of Aspect Strategic. “The school board race this fall is wide open — meaning  candidates will have to work hard to distinguish themselves and address those issues.”

The upcoming school board election is wide open, as 87% of voters are undecided on the At-Large race, with all declared candidates polling at or below the survey’s margin of error.

“Voters of all stripes support putting sworn law enforcement officers back into schools, but this election is not just about student safety,” said Republican pollster Brent Buchanan. “Voters want to hear from candidates about how they’ll support teachers, student mental health, and academic achievement as well – because they aren’t happy with how things are going with the schools”

CPI is a newly launched nonprofit whose mission is to elevate the public dialogue and promote informed decision-making through timely, trustworthy, and nonpartisan public opinion research on the most important issues facing Coloradans.

Note: Download toplines and crosstabs are attached. Additional analysis can be found online at: copollinginstitute.org