Pikes Peak State College is severing ties with its local educational services cooperative just weeks after Elizabeth School District did the same, leaving the Monument-based organization with only one member and casting uncertainty over its future.
Education ReEnvisioned BOCES has faced heavy scrutiny in recent months after helping open what its leaders described as Colorado’s “first public Christian school” in Pueblo County.
Colorado has 21 BOCES organizations, or boards of cooperative educational services, that work with more than 150 school districts. Each BOCES exists as a hub, helping make resources and services more accessible and affordable to districts, including special education services, technology support and bulk orders of supplies.
A BOCES needs at least two members to operate, including two school districts or one district and one higher education institution.
Matt Radcliffe, executive director of marketing and communications for Pikes Peak State College, wrote in an email to The Colorado Sun on Tuesday that the El Paso County community college is “resigning its membership” in Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, or ERBOCES, effective Aug. 15. Radcliffe declined to offer any more details.
This leaves ERBOCES with a single member, School District 49 in El Paso County, unless it can recruit another district or higher education institution by Aug. 15.
It is not clear whether ERBOCES will be able to continue operating. Ken Witt, executive director of ERBOCES, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the direction of the organization’s future.
Earlier this month, Elizabeth School District’s school board voted unanimously to cut ties with ERBOCES after joining the education organization in January. School District 49’s board considered ending its relationship with ERBOCE during a June 11 meeting but opted to continue working with the organization for at least one more year.
During that meeting, District 49 board Secretary Lori Thompson, who is also a board member of ERBOCES, said that other districts are thinking about signing onto ERBOCES.
The organization has been at the center of controversy in education circles, largely because of its role as the authorizer of Riverstone Academy, a school its leaders refer to as Colorado’s “first public Christian school.” The school, which was located outside the bounds of the districts that belonged to ERBOCES, closed in early June after about 10 months of educating students, Chalkbeat Colorado reported. Riverstone Academy was created, in part, as a vehicle for a conservative law firm to file a religious freedom lawsuit that its attorneys hoped would reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
State education officials questioned whether the Christian school was eligible for public funding.
Some lawmakers and education leaders have also objected to ERBOCES’ use of taxpayer funds to provide homeschool students and private school students enrichment programs, including some that offer ski passes, horseback riding and private music lessons, Chalkbeat Colorado reported. The legislature and state education department are now reining in homeschool enrichment programs with more regulations over where and how they operate.