E-mail bashing charter schools leaves bad taste

DENVER - Education-reform proponents were outraged Thursday about an e-mail in which House Education Committee Chairman Mike Merrifield said, “There must be a special place in Hell” for advocates of vouchers and private and charter schools.

Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, said his statement was directed specifically at former Colorado Springs School District 11 board members and their backers who supported those ideas.

Merrifield sent the e-mail to Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Sue Windels, D-Arvada, on Dec. 8. It was released Thursday by Face the State, a conservative Web site that Windels said requested her e-mail communications under the Open Records Act two weeks ago.

Merrifield's comments are part of a running dialogue that he and Windels said they had regarding the idea of repealing the Charter School Institute, a state-run organization that sets up charter schools in districts that do not have sole authority to do so.

The plan was dropped after Gov. Bill Ritter did not come out in support of it, and it was replaced by a bill passed by the Legislature that reins in the state charter agency, Windels said.

Merrifield first wrote in the e-mail of dealing with the main charter school backer in his party, writing: “Am sure (Rep.) T(errance) Carroll would freak, but who cares, if we have the votes, which I think we would have with Ritter’s support.” He then bemoans the “so-called board” in Colorado Springs and speaks of the “evil twins,” whom he identified Thursday as Eric Christen and Sandy Shakes, who were recalled in December.

“There must be a special place in Hell for these Privatizers, Charerizers (sic) and Voucherizers!” Merrifield wrote. “They deserve it!”

The retired music teacher said Thursday that he sent the e-mail from his home account and didn’t intend for it to be made public.

Nevertheless, he stood by his statements, saying he was venting frustration in the midst of a bitter recall campaign.

“I think in a private conversation we say a lot of things that we don’t say in a public conversation,” Merrifield said. “I don’t think it was inappropriate. If I’d known that it was going to be discussed . . . I wouldn’t have stated it this strongly.”

Charter school advocates, though, said Merrifield had crossed the line from merely taking a shot at two reform backers and has revealed his antagonism toward all schoolchoice supporters.

The fifth-year legislator has consistently voted against procharter bills, but this message showed it’s personal rather than opposition to the concept, said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools.

Roughly 53,500 children attend the 135 charter schools in the state, including 17 schools in El Paso County, he said.

“It’s sad that the chair of the House Education Committee, who certainly oversees policy for public schools in Colorado, has that level of disdain and disgust for 7 percent of Colorado’s kids,” Griffin said. “If there was a question about . . . how much hostility there is at the Capitol, I hope that the lid has been peeled off that.”