Doug Benevento
Age: 48
Occupation: Executive at Xcel Energy
Family: Wife, two children who attend district charter schools
Residency: Has lived in Douglas County for 11 years
Political experience: Worked for Wayne Allard for 10 years as a senior policy analyst, workd for Gov. Bill Owens for two years, worked as executive director of Colorado Public Health and Environment and has been on the school board four years
Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications, master’s degree in government, law degree
Website: dougbenevento.com
Why he’s running: Benevento said the district has been successful at empowering parents who know what’s best for their children by providing multiple options for education.
He said he believes the teacher makes the biggest difference in the classroom and wants to ensure they’re properly evaluated through the district’s new pay-for-performance plan, which is attracting a lot of teachers.
“It’s a plan that’s working,” Benevento said. “Out of 400 postings, we have 14,000 applications. It’s clear we’re a destination district.”
He said the district has been focused on making sure all of its resources are being put into the classrooms, and that is why they diverted $300,000 that had been going to Douglas County Federation teachers’ union organizers back into the classroom. He said in their last negotiations, the union wanted $1.3 million in union dues, $800,000 of which was going to Washington, D.C., and they did not provide a lot of professional development.
He also said the district needs to be aware of changes in technology and best practices, such as expanding online education.
Benevento said achievement is up across the board in the district and that it continually strives for efficiencies to ensure they’re putting the highest percentage of dollars into the district.