Why It Matters
The decision by a Colorado school district to cut ties with a regional education cooperative highlights growing scrutiny of agencies that pursued a controversial model of publicly funded religious schooling — and the legal and financial consequences that followed.
What Happened
The Elizabeth School District board voted unanimously Tuesday to withdraw from Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, known as ERBOCES, a Monument-based board of cooperative educational services the district had joined only in January. Four of five board members were present for the vote; the fifth seat has been vacant since board treasurer Mike Calahan resigned in May.
Board president Rhonda Olsen said the district concluded after review that membership “was not providing sufficient benefits to justify continued participation.”
ERBOCES drew statewide attention after announcing in October — during a board meeting of School District 49 in Falcon — what it described as the first Christian public school in Colorado. That school, Riverstone Academy in Pueblo County, closed earlier this month after changes in state law disqualified it from receiving public funding. State education officials had raised questions last fall about whether a school with an explicit Christian identity could legally access taxpayer dollars.
According to public records, Riverstone Academy was created by a conservative law firm with the stated purpose of laying the groundwork for a religious freedom legal challenge potentially destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.
By the Numbers
Colorado has 21 BOCES agencies that collectively work with more than 150 school districts across the state. ERBOCES, however, has only two member districts — Elizabeth and D49. ERBOCES also operates more than 50 homeschool enrichment programs statewide.
Recent changes to state law restrict those enrichment programs to activities typically available to public school students, barring private school students from programs that rely on public funding. Lawmakers estimated those restrictions could save the state tens of millions of dollars annually.
D49 Also Weighing a Split
School District 49 in Falcon, which serves as ERBOCES’s fiscal sponsor and hosted the October announcement of Riverstone Academy, is scheduled to take up the question of its own ERBOCES membership at a board meeting Thursday. If D49 withdraws, it would effectively leave ERBOCES without any member districts.
Board treasurer Mike Heil described the ERBOCES model as one designed to obscure its methods from public view. “The design was to authorize and operate schools in a way that most people have no idea what was happening,” he said.
Zoom Out
The Riverstone Academy situation reflects a broader national debate over public funding for religious institutions, a question that has moved steadily through federal courts. Several U.S. Supreme Court rulings in recent years have expanded the circumstances under which religious schools can access public dollars, but Colorado officials concluded that ERBOCES’s approach went beyond what current law permits. The episode illustrates the friction between that evolving legal landscape and state-level funding rules.
Colorado’s legislature has now acted to tighten the rules governing BOCES enrichment programs broadly, a move that carries significant fiscal implications beyond just ERBOCES. The change affects how all 21 agencies in the state may use public money for homeschool-connected programming.
What’s Next
The immediate question is whether D49’s board will follow Elizabeth’s lead when it meets Thursday. A D49 withdrawal would leave ERBOCES without member districts and raise further questions about the agency’s future operations. Riverstone Academy itself has already closed, but the legal strategy behind it — seeking a case that could reach the Supreme Court — may outlast the school’s brief existence.
Colorado’s broader education policy debate is also ongoing. Other legislative changes affecting school funding and program eligibility are moving through the state’s political process ahead of the June 30 Democratic gubernatorial primary, where education policy is among the issues separating the major candidates.