Candidates for mayor discuss future of Denver Public Schools

The week of May 15 voters in Denver will begin receiving their ballots for the runoff election for mayor and city council. Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston are the mayoral runoff candidates. The polls close June 6.

CBS News Colorado has partnered with a number of community organizations to lead forums so voters can make informed choices about Denver's future. The latest forum had the candidates for mayor focused exclusively on education and the future of Denver Public Schools.

CBS Colorado Mornings anchor and DPS alum Michelle Griego co-moderated the forum at Manual High School, which we hosted together with Educate Denver and Chalkbeat Colorado. Reporter Melanie Asmar covers DPS for Chalkbeat and led the questioning alongside Griego. Both candidates believe DPS has to do better ensuring every student is prepared for a bright future.

Kelly Brough would like the city to lead by providing jobs to students.

"The city serving as an employer where we could partner with Denver Public Schools and kids would have paid internships and apprenticeships…We know it'll increase graduation rates, and we start to become a partner in making sure our kids find a path to their future and their careers," said Brough.

Johnston wants parents to have clear information about how their kids are faring academically, even though the current Board of Education is moving to exclude standardized test scores from public-facing school dashboards.

Johnston said, "So I don't think turning off the scoreboard should make us think that we're suddenly winning. It just means you don't know the score. And so I think what we want to do is how do we use that data to actually help improve practice?"

Safety is high on the minds of DPS families - and the candidates agree each school community should decide whether to staff schools with Denver Police officers.

"I trust principals and parents and teachers to sit at the table and have that conversation. That's what we did. I sat down with our teachers and said what do you want to do? We want a school resource officer or do we want a social worker?" asked Johnston, a former teacher and principal.

Brough added, "And so the question of who pays for it is the is the last concern we should have. I would pay for those officers if that's what the principal and a school have said they would like in their school."

Expect Denver's next mayor to use their bully pulpit to sway votes for the school board in November.

Voters have told them they lack confidence in the current board.

Brough said, "I would work with community and our teachers to identify who are the people that restore that kind of confidence in our community that they can run the school district."

And Johnston said, "I think the fundamental purpose of the school board is to support principals and teachers to be able to deliver high quality instruction."

You can watch the education forum below:

And this Friday May 5th at 7 p.m. we'll stream it on CBS News Colorado. It's part of our Voters Decide Forum Fridays. You can watch it on your connected TV through the CBS News app.