Without giving it a second thought, Democrats on the state Senate’s “kill committee” shot down a bill to keep dangerous public school employees from quietly moving between districts — even as supporters and critics alike urged amendments to make it work. 

Republican Sen. Mark Baisley, whose legislative district includes Jefferson and Douglas County Schools, introduced SB26-055 to establish a Colorado Department of Education registry for school personnel found to violate a school district’s “conduct and discipline code or their employee contract.” The information would only be shared among school administrators for hiring decisions. 

In committee testimony Tuesday, the Colorado Education Association opposed the bill, arguing that the registry would be “duplicative,” potentially yielding unintended consequences for educators. 

“When serious misconduct occurs, there are existing reporting requirements and licensure consequences under state law,” Meghan Raynes, government affairs director, testified. “This bill adds a duplicative layer rather than addressing a gap.” 

Except that isn’t true. 

While several state laws require mandatory reporting of personnel information to the Colorado education department, with potential consequences for licensed teachers, this is about making a hiring tool available to school districts that doesn’t exist. 

A principal in Jefferson County cannot query a database to learn whether a candidate was disciplined in St. Vrain Schools. They must either trust other districts to provide information — which often doesn’t happen — or inquire with the department. 

This is real. Former Arvada Senior High School Teacher Patricio Illanes was recently arrested on suspicion of 40 felony counts and 10 misdemeanor counts. 

St. Vrain Valley Schools examined similar allegations in 2023, concluding Illanes filmed students as an employee, but lacked evidence to conclude it was sexual in nature. An administrator recommended Illanes be denied return “to any SVVSD school.” The two parties agreed on employment separation. 

When Illanes was hired by Jeffco in 2024 — a district already mired in sexual misconduct cases — it reportedly wasn’t informed of St. Vrain’s concerns. The only warning appears in handwritten notes from a reference call in which St. Vrain HR recommended “asking more questions… about leaving.” 

SB55 would have filled this gap with a new tool that doesn’t exist under current law. 

“The superintendent of the second largest school district (Jeffco) told me it’s not a tool that they have in place, and they need this to prevent more misconduct — more damage to students,” Baisley told me, “appalled” by the CEA’s misinformation. 

Baisley came up with the idea in December after meeting with Jeffco’s school board at a legislative breakfast, where a conversation with Superintendent Tracy Dorland inspired SB55. Later, the district itself endorsed the idea. 

“There are some instances where (staff) misconduct has not warranted criminal charges or triggered schools’ mandated reporter responsibilities, but the conduct was serious enough to raise credible concerns regarding student safety,” Jeffco Schools wrote in a statement. 

The district endorsed mandating districts “openly share information with one another, so that if an educator with a credible instance of adult sexual misconduct with students later seeks employment with a different Colorado district, that district can make fully informed hiring decisions that protect students’ safety.” 

That’s exactly what Baisley was trying to accomplish. District staff endorsed the concept, but when it reached the legislature, Jeffco’s union-backed board leadership went silent. 

During a Feb. 4 meeting, member Peter Gibbins asked the district’s lobbyist, Ed Boditch, “Do we know what the association’s view on this bill is?” 

He’d said the quiet part out loud: The union bosses hold sway. 

On Wednesday night, Jeffco school board President Michelle Applegate finally responded to a parent inquiry from Jeffco Kids First founder Lindsay Datko — more than 24 hours after the bill failed — claiming she was “unable to support (SB55) in its current form due to concerns with the language.” 

Applegate suggested an alternative bill may be “a late offering in this session” with “clear procedural safeguards, well-defined expectations for any investigative process, and appropriate guidance from the CDE.”  

Seriously? Late in the session is when lawmakers are scrambling to pass a flurry of bills, often among the worst bills. This one was already in progress. Why not work to improve it now? 

The answer is obvious: The union had spoken. 

“Everybody had an opportunity to shape this bill,” Datko told me. “Why did the union speak as an opposed rather than an amend position?” 

It’s worth asking why Applegate and Jeffco’s other union-backed board members stayed silent while their non-union colleagues testified for the bill. Former Director Susan Miller, not union-backed, supported it. Incumbent Director Denine Echevarria and former board member and President Mary Parker — neither of whom received the union’s endorsement last year — backed it from an “amend” position. 

State, Veterans & Military Affairs is the Senate’s “kill” committee, where good — usually Republican — legislation goes to die. Baisley believes the bill “would have stood a very good chance on the floor,” where he’d support amending it, particularly focusing on sexual abuse issues. The union made sure he never got the chance. 

“Even though I’ve known it from the very beginning of my legislative career, it still shocks me every time the CEA just winks and nods, and all the Democrats crumble,” Baisley told me. 

The only opposition testimony came from the union. SB55 failed on a party-line vote. 

Somewhere in Colorado, a school district is hiring a candidate with a disciplinary history another district failed to share. This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s how Patricio Illanes ended up in a Jeffco school. 

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.