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MorningMagazine_2025-04-21 Gabrielle Mendoza
No Anti-DEI Compliance In BVSD
Boulder Valley School District is standing with the state’s refusal to comply with the feds’ anti-DEI mandate.
Recently, Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Cordova said the state will not comply with a Trump administration order to certify that Colorado’s K-12 schools are eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, commonly known as DEI. The order was delivered in the form of a letter from the U.S. Department of Education. It gave states ten days to sign, or else they risk losing federal funding for public schools. Critics say the order overreaches federal authority and misapplies a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended the use of race in college admissions.
BVSD Superintendent Rob Anderson said in an emailed statement that they agree with Cordova’s rationale, as many other commissioners across the country are “coming to the same conclusion.” So far, sixteen states have declined to sign the certification, according to edweek.org.
The decision puts over $1.27 billion in federal education funding for the state of Colorado at risk. That includes $10.5 million allocated to BVSD.
According to Boulder Reporting Lab, BVSD is heavily funded by local property taxes and has been heading in the direction of becoming fully locally funded. Still, federal grants are essential for programs supporting special education, low-income students and school nutrition.
Last week, BVSD Chief Financial Officer Bill Sutter previewed the district’s 2025-2026 preliminary budget at a school board meeting. It includes a fund for “Differentiated School Support”, a district equity initiative launched in 2021 that helps provide resources to schools based on student need. Boulder Reporting Lab says that fund stood at around $16 million at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
According to district spokesperson Randy Barber, the district could tap into that fund to offset potential federal losses.
Boulder City Council Protest
Protesters speaking out in support of a ceasefire in Gaza decried genocide at Boulder’s City Council meeting on Thursday.
According to The Daily Camera, city council members responded to the protestors’ calls with three brief recesses. After the third, Mayor Pro Tem Lauren Folkerts orders the chamber to be cleared, moving the remaining audience members into the downstairs lobby.
Community calls for a ceasefire have persisted at Boulder City Council meetings since the initial attack on October 7, 2023. Protestors have continually expressed frustration at the city, saying their calls aren’t being addressed.
The Camera says some have questioned why Boulder’s council won’t issue a statement on Islamophobia, as it did on antisemitism.
In early 2024, Council opted to not explore taking a public stance on the genocide, including calling for a ceasefire.
Human rights organization Amnesty International has concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Proposed Pearl Street Closure
A proposed ballot measure would keep most vehicle traffic off of Boulder’s Pearl Street, between 9th and 11th Streets.
Boulder Reporting Lab says its supporters must gather 3,401 valid signatures by May 28th to get it on the fall 2025 ballot. If the measure succeeds, it would keep most cars and trucks off of those two blocks of Pearl, much like during the pandemic. At that time, the closures – which were lifted in 2022 – allowed restaurants to expand outdoor dining.
There is active opposition to the proposed ballot measure. A group called “Keep West Pearl Open,” which represents more than a hundred businesses, say closing those two blocks would be bad for business. One owner said the proposed closure would create a problem, rather than solve one.
Boulder Reporting Lab says that a survey taken after the pandemic-era closure found that most residents thought it improved the overall appeal of West Pearl Street.
Two Gun Bills Signed
Two new gun safety laws will go into effect in Colorado next year.
Governor Jared Polis signed the two measures on Friday. House Bill 1133 requires that ammunition be sold over-the-counter, so that customers can only access it by asking a store employee. The new law goes into effect on July 1st, 2026.
The Denver Post reports that because the law specifically says ammo can only be sold with the help of an employee, it effectively outlaws ammunition vending machines, which are already in at least three Colorado towns.
The second new law is House Bill 1238, which the Post says establishes new security and age requirements at gun shows. Gun show operators must have a security plan that describes vendors, the show venue’s layout, and the expected number of attendees.
The gun show law goes into effect on the first day of 2026. It does not apply to antique gun shows.
Governor Polis signed a third gun safety law just a couple of weeks ago; that one – SB 003 – requires that individuals take a safety training course and get approved by law enforcement before purchasing certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns that have detachable magazines. That law goes into effect on August 1st, 2026.
VCR on New Exploitative Digital Images Law
The law around posting intimate images of someone without their consent could get broader, under a bill the legislature will consider Monday.
CPR’s Megan Verlee says, “The bill would make it easier for someone to be criminally charged if they post an intimate image of a person without their consent. It also includes computer-generated fakes under the law, if someone posts them to cause distress or make money. The bill, which has just a single Democratic sponsor, also adds computer-generated images of child pornography to the crime of child sexual exploitation. A number of states in recent years have moved to add deepfake images to their pornography laws.”
Attorneys General Panel
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser says that the opposition shown by American citizens is even more important than court victories.
His remarks came last week in a Denver high school auditorium, where he and the attorneys general from Washington State, Hawaii, and Nevada spoke at what they called a “community impact hearing” on the Trump agenda.
Weiser and at least 23 other state AGs have sued Trump at least a dozen times, according to Colorado Newsline, on issues including birthright citizenship, mass layoffs of federal employees, and freezes on federal grant and aid programs.
