Record Education Spending, Failing Schools, and the Fight for Parental Rights

On June 11, 2026, the Kim Monson Show centered on a failing education system and the people working to fix it. Journalist Mark Tapscott documented a 749% rise in federal education spending against record-low reading scores, parental advocate Lori Gimelshteyn detailed lawsuits over Cherry Creek schools, Karen Gordey updated a Lakewood ballot fight, Karen Levine broke down the May housing market, and attorney general candidate Dave Willson introduced his campaign.

A Lakewood Charter Amendment on Rezoning and Notice

Start listening at 05:46 – Hour 1

Karen Gordey, owner of Radiant Painting and Lighting and the leader of the Lakewood Citizens Alliance, returned with an update on the group’s petition drive. The alliance has won approval of a charter amendment and is now gathering signatures, aiming for 7,000 to 7,500 to clear the roughly 6,100 valid signatures required by early August. Gordey said the measure would force the city to notify residents and hold public hearings before rezoning, and would shield single-family neighborhoods from blanket high-density upzoning.

She pointed to last year’s citywide rezoning, which moved ahead without mailed notice to affected homeowners, as the spark for the effort. Gordey told Kim Monson that residents simply want a voice before decisions are made rather than after.

“Even though they were rezoning the entire city last year, they didn’t have to mail notices out.”

Karen Gordey, Lakewood Citizens Alliance

Record Spending, Record-Low Reading and Math Scores

Start listening at 27:41 – Hour 1

Mark Tapscott, a journalist with The Washington Stand, put hard numbers to a failing federal education system. Citing data compiled by Open the Books, he said appropriated spending for the Department of Education climbed 749% between 2000 and 2024 while student achievement fell to record lows. In 2000, he said, a little more than half of graduating seniors could read at or above basic proficiency; by 2024, a third could not read at the basic level, with math scores following the same downward path.

Tapscott tied much of the waste to administrative bloat, pointing to roughly 4,000 department employees before recent cuts, 933 of whom carried the vague title “program analysis and support” at an average salary of $147,000. He argued that the loss of phonics and the spread of curricula rooted in critical race theory have left students unable to read founding documents or reason through basic problems, and he held up Mississippi and Louisiana as states reversing course by returning to basics and expanding charter schools.

“Why are we paying all of this money for our property taxes and other levies, and our kids can’t read? This can’t go on.”

Mark Tapscott, The Washington Stand

Metro Housing Inventory Rises as Prices Keep Climbing

Start listening at 63:20 – Hour 2

Karen Levine, a RE/MAX realtor, brought the May numbers from the metro market. Closings rose 4.32% and inventory reached about three months’ supply, a level the market had not seen in many months, with 12,260 units listed. The median close price climbed to $615,000, up 2.24%, which Levine acknowledged keeps affordability out of reach for many first-time buyers.

She and Kim Monson discussed how baby boomers with substantial home equity could use tools such as reverse mortgages or tax-free gifts to help their children afford a down payment. Levine described homeownership as the most reliable path to building wealth for American families and said she works to help buyers find creative ways into a first home.

“For many, many decades, we have found that home ownership is foundational to building wealth in America.”

Karen Levine, RE/MAX

Parents Sue Over Cherry Creek Trainings and Curriculum

Start listening at 72:19 – Hour 2

Lori Gimelshteyn, co-founder of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, walked through a docket of litigation the group has helped bring. CPAN is a plaintiff in a federal challenge to House Bill 25-1312, the measure titled as legal protections for transgender individuals, which Gimelshteyn argued compels speech and violates First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

She described a 10th Circuit case over Patrick Hogarty, a Cherry Creek dean she said was fired after stating he was a proud American during a mandatory DEI training, and reported that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened formal investigations into both that training and the district’s Voices of Color committee. Gimelshteyn said fewer than half of Cherry Creek students read, write, or do math at grade level even as the district touts record graduation rates, and she tied ballooning administrative payrolls to declining classroom results. She urged parents to examine district budgets and to weigh charter schools and homeschooling.

“They receive more federal and state dollars for failure than they do for success.”

Lori Gimelshteyn, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network

A Republican Bid for Colorado Attorney General

Start listening at 102:18 – Hour 2

Dave Willson, a Republican candidate for Colorado attorney general, called in to make his pitch as primary ballots reached voters. Willson said he entered the race about eight days before assembly, after supporters who had watched him fight COVID-era mandates urged him to run against a field they felt would do little to push back on Democrats.

Willson spent two decades as an Army JAG attorney, including work standing up military cyber operations, and went on to file civil suits on behalf of service members who challenged vaccine mandates and to represent parents, by court appointment, in custody disputes with the state. He said he has no interest in a long political career; he wants to fix what is broken and then step aside. Voters can read his platform at david4ag.com.

“I can’t sit here and just watch or wait and hope somebody else is going to do something because it didn’t seem like anyone was.”

Dave Willson, Candidate for Colorado Attorney General