Former Boulder Valley school board president Kathy Gebhardt announced her candidacy this week for the Colorado State Board of Education’s Second Congressional District seat.

If elected, she promised to support transparency, fiscal responsibility and community engagement on the state board.

“I believe deeply in public education,” she wrote in a release. “I am running because I believe in the dignity of every child and will work to ensure that every child has an equitable opportunity to succeed in life.”

The seat is held now by Angelika Schroeder, also a former Boulder Valley school board member, who is term-limited. The seat will be up for election in 2024.

Gebhardt served on the Boulder Valley school board for eight years, the past two as president. She served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Association of School Boards for eight years, including two years as president-elect and president.

She also serves on the board for the National Association of School Boards and is the chairwoman of its Board Action Committee.

A Colorado native, she is the mother of five children and an education attorney.

She was co-counsel on three school finance cases, including Giardino v. State of Colorado, a class action lawsuit that challenged the funding structure for capital construction in Colorado. The settlement in that case led to the Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST, legislation. The BEST program provides facility grants to K-12 Colorado schools.

She is an adjunct professor of education law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School and the School of Education. She serves on several education related nonprofit boards and is an active community volunteer.

Gebhardt is endorsed by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, who called her a proven education leader.

“She has decades of experience in education and is a trusted community leader,” he wrote in the release. “Kathy’s commitment to ensuring that all of our students have a high quality education makes her my clear choice to be the next member of the State Board of Education for CD2.”

More information on her candidacy is available at gebhardtforcolorado.com.

The Second Congressional District includes Boulder, Clear Creek, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Jefferson, Larimer, Routt, Summit and Weld counties.