October 10, 2025 by Amy Bounds for the Boulder Daily Camera

Link to the original article

Boulder Valley school board candidates fielded questions about budget priorities, school safety, bilingual education and declining enrollment at a Thursday forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County and the District Parent Council.

The Boulder Valley School District will have one contested school board race in November, with four candidates running for three open seats. School board members represent different geographic areas but are elected by voters in the entire district.

The two candidates vying for the District E seat, representing Louisville and east Boulder, are Jeff Anderson and Deann Bucher.

Anderson is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who serves as the co-chairperson of the school district’s Long Range Advisory Committee and served on school and district accountability committees. Bucher, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 2021, retired from teaching social studies at Louisville’s Monarch High School and now works at Fusion Academy in Louisville.

The other two races are uncontested. Incumbent Nicole Rajpal, the current board president, will represent District B. Representing District F is Ana Temu Otting, who owns Corazón Printing, is a pro-immigrant policy advocate and serves on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. Though their races are uncontested, both participated in Thursday’s forum.

One of the school board’s main jobs is setting budget priorities.

Bucher said the biggest budget challenge is shrinking enrollment, which means less state funding. The value that’s most important to her in guiding the budget, she said, is that resources are distributed equitably.

Anderson said his budget values include transparency and clear communication while making data driven decisions. He added that his time in the Long Range Advisory Committee working on declining enrollment has shown him that “there is no short term solution that is going to get us more students back into the district.”

“Hard decisions are going to have to be made, and I am up for making hard, data driven decisions,” he said.

On safety, Temu Otting said ensuring students feel a sense of belonging is one way to increase school safety, adding she can connect with students by sharing her own story as the daughter of immigrants.

”When you share your story, you’re really opening up a space to bridge a gap for someone to connect to you,” she said.

Anderson echoed her comments, adding it’s important for the district and board to make sure schools are following board policies. He said the school climate previously “went off the rails” at some of the district’s high schools. 

“The most important thing for safety is our students must feel welcomed, included and valued,” he said.

Bucher said she works with students who left traditional high schools, including those who left because they didn’t feel physically safe at school and were worried about classmates with weapons. Improving achievement for all students, she said, can improve safety.

“If kids are achieving, they’re less likely to bring weapons into the schools and be angry,” she said.

All four candidates said they would continue to support the district’s programs for second language students, which include dual-immersion bilingual schools and support for learning a second language through the state Seal of Biliteracy.

Anderson said that, if the federal government withdraws funding for English-as-a-second language support services and bilingual programs, he would make continuing to fund those targeted services a budget priority.

“Continuing to fund those things is essential,” he said.

Bucher said she’s concerned that students are waiving their right to receive English-as-a-second language services so they can attend their neighborhood school, because those services aren’t provided at every school.

“We need to figure out a way to provide services to all the kids who really need it,” she said.

When asked about what policies they would pursue as school board members, Anderson said he would recommend creating a committee that includes community experts to advise the board on an AI policy.

Bucher said she wants to review how resources are distributed among schools, saying Boulder schools can be viewed as more important. She also wants to boost substitute teacher numbers to ensure teachers have the classroom coverage they need.

Temu Otting said she expects financial insecurity to be a big topic for the board in the next few years, which will require creativity and transparency as the board makes decisions. Rajpal said she tries to elevate policy changes based on “what am I hearing from the community, what is percolating up.”

“The board in the last four years has addressed a lot of what I would call the hot button policies,” she said.

A recording of the candidate forum is available on the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education Meetings YouTube channel.