03/21/2026
Attorney Brad Miller isn’t just “helping” Elizabeth School District. He has been steering it straight into chaos.
Why have people been warning the Elizabeth community about Brad Miller for almost 4 years now? Why did people sound the alarm when ESD joined Miller’s ERBOCES just weeks ago?
Because this is exactly what happens when a school district hands the keys to Brad Miller.
Let’s remember how we got here. Former board leaders Heather Booth and Rhonda Olsen pushed to bring Miller into ESD after normal board members like Cary Karcher, Kim Frumveller, and Craig Blackham were pushed out. Old board emails show Booth and Olsen repeatedly asked Karcher to replace Caplan & Earnest with Brad Miller. Karcher refused. He saw no reason to fire the district’s existing counsel and no benefit to hiring Miller. But once the board flipped, Booth and Olsen got their way. Miller was brought in with no meaningful public process, no transparent notice, and no real accountability.
And what has Elizabeth gotten in return?
More lawsuits. Open meetings lawsuits after the public was told, by Miller, the board was following the law. An ACLU lawsuit tied to book banning. Other legal fights, including employment-related claims and racial discrimination.
Massive turnover. Since Miller began influencing district decisions, ESD has churned through leadership at nearly every school in the district. We're on our 3rd principal at SHE, RCE and EMS. Does that seem normal to you?
Fiscal crisis. ESD ended up declaring fiscal exigency, which is the kind of move no healthy district wants anywhere near its name (think bankruptcy for schools).
Conflicts that stink to high heaven. Superintendent Dan Snowberger works for ESD while also working with Miller’s Colorado Leaders for Academic Success (CLAS). So the obvious question is: how exactly is Snowberger supposed to hold Miller accountable as a district contractor when Miller is also his boss at CLAS?
And then there was TAGG Education, another Miller-connected venture, which ESD pursued in an effort that would have allowed unlicensed substitute teachers. The Colorado Department of Education shut that down, thankfully.
Now here we go again.
ESD joined Brad Miller’s ERBOCES, and suddenly TWO contract schools are being dropped into the district without any community discussion and without the board leveling with the public about what this means. These schools will compete with ESD’s neighborhood schools and existing charter schools. And every student who leaves ESD for one of these ERBOCES contract schools takes thousands of dollars in per-pupil funding with them.
Do that math. At roughly $12,000 per student, 100 students leaving ESD means about $1.2 million gone every year. Gone from Elizabeth. Gone from the schools our community already pays for. And who benefits? ERBOCES. ESD doesn't see a cent.
That is not “choice.” That is extraction.
Elizabeth was sold the usual slogans: transparency, students first, heart-of-everything-we-do nonsense. But what we are seeing looks a lot more like a political project than a student-centered plan. Nicole Hunt and David Fletcher have both warned families to get their kids out of so-called “government schools.” That language was never accidental. The strategy is obvious: weaken traditional public schools, siphon off students, drain funding, and then act shocked when the neighborhood schools are destabilized. Woodland Park has already shown what that playbook looks like. Elizabeth should not be volunteering to be the sequel. And yet, here we are...
And please spare us the spin that this is “good for kids” or “more opportunity for families.” That line falls apart the second you ask who profits, who loses funding, and why the public keeps finding out after the fact.
People in Elizabeth should also ask a harder question: was this always the plan? (Spoiler alert: IT WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN)
Dan Snowberger was a longtime friend of Brad Miller. Miller was listed as a reference on Snowberger’s application to ESD. And when the superintendent job opened, the finalists were Snowberger and Priscilla Rahn. Assistant Superintendent Bill Dallas, who would have been the strongest candidate, did not apply. People can draw their own conclusions, but it is fair to ask whether serious professionals saw exactly where this board was headed and wanted no part of it.
Elizabeth needs to stop taking this at face value. You are being lied to. You are being gaslit. Stop drinking the Miller/Snowberger Kool-aid and start asking real questions. Start demanding changes, starting with forcing the board to FIRE BRAD MILLER AS ESD'S ATTORNEY. The Pueblo D70 community is finally smartening up and demanding getting rid of Miller -- why are we? https://www.chalkbeat.org/.../pueblo-70-district-may.../
Our students are not pawns.
Our teachers and staff are not collateral damage.
Our schools are not a business opportunity for Brad Miller and his enterprise.
This community deserves a school board and a superintendent who protect Elizabeth schools, not one that helps outside operators siphon money, power, and trust out of them.
Speak up. Ask questions. Demand transparency. Because if this keeps going, ESD won’t be “reimagined.” It’ll be gutted.
Do your research on Miller and his questionable enterprise. No other educational attorneys in Colorado operate like this. Why? No other BOCES in Colorado operate like this? Why? Stop blindly believing what Supt Snowberger and this school board tell you. Think for yourself. We are better than this. We are smarter than this. Show it.
https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/.../davis-the.../74863/
