By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News
March 30, 2007

An e-mail written by the House Education Committee chairman saying there must be "a special place in hell" for charter school supporters has some top lawmakers hopping mad.

A political Web site called Face the State touched off a firestorm Thursday when it posted an e-mail written by Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-El Paso, to Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada.

"There must be a special place in hell for these Privatizers, Charterizers and Voucherziers. They deserve it!" he wrote.

Merrifield made his comments during an e-mail exchange in which he and Windels, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, discussed whether to push for a full repeal of the State Charter School Institute, provided they could get Gov. Bill Ritter's backing.

"It shows there's absolutely no good faith on the Rep. Merrifield's part, who is clearly more concerned with defending a crippled and ineffective status-quo public education system then creating opportunities for all kids," said Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver.

Merrifield made no apologies Thursday for the e-mail. He said his public stance against charter schools, which he contends are stripping scarce resources from public schools, isn't a secret.

"My record on charter schools has been pretty clear for a long time," he said. "It's not new news I have frustrations with the direction charter schools have gone."

Merrifield said that in the e-mail, he was venting his frustrations about the recall election of two charter school board members whom he called "evil twins" out to destroy public schools.

The e-mail revelation comes as the Senate is set to reconsider a bill by Windels and Merrifield designed to restore public school districts' authority over most charter schools in the state. Senate Bill 61 would require the state board of education to grant exclusive chartering authority to local school boards.

Critics say that the e-mail shows that Merrifield and Windels have conspired all along to gut charter schools, despite packaging their bill as a way to foster better relations between traditional public schools and the state charter school board.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5452414,00.html

<< back