Pueblo D60 school board incumbent Anthony Perko running for board seat

James Bartolo, Pueblo Chieftain
Updated ·3 min read
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Pueblo School District 60 board member Anthony Perko sees increasing enrollment and facilities maintenance among the most pressing challenges for the district.

Perko is one of three incumbents running for a board seat this November. He is a Pueblo native and the owner of Perko Law, LLC. In September 2022, Perko was chosen from a pool of five applicants to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of former board member Matthew Cranswick.

Perko is a product of three Pueblo D60 schools — Sunset Park Elementary, Pitts Middle School and Central High School. After graduating from Central in 2005, he attended the University of Colorado Boulder for his undergraduate studies.

After earning his juris doctor from the University of Denver, Perko began his legal career as an associate attorney with Gradisar, Tretcher, Ripperger & Roth. In May 2020, he opened Perko Law. With his legal career nearly spanning a decade, Perko has represented several entities, including school districts and charter schools.

"If things had been a little bit different, I might have been a teacher," Perko said. "I've always had an interest in education."

Anthony Perko
Anthony Perko

'A compromise sort of guy': Perko talks about first year on board

Familiar with procedural aspects of school board meetings through his legal career, Perko said he was ready to "hit the ground running" when he was appointed to the board last year.

Accomplishments that Perko said he was specifically proud of while serving on the board include negotiating the return of in-person public comment at board meetings, preservation of the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium and the transfer of memorabilia to the newly built Centennial and East high schools.

"I'd like to consider myself a compromise sort of a guy," Perko said. "That is to say, there's been a couple of tricky issues before the board where we were able to reach compromise solutions with the board members and the staff... reach a middle ground when there's disagreements"

Perko talks about pressing challenges and potential solutions

During a Sept. 26 meeting, Pueblo D60 Chief Financial Officer David Horner read a report indicating that district enrollment has dropped by 364 students this school year compared to the previous one.

If elected, Perko said finding solutions to address declining enrollment would be a top priority. He believes the district should consider the growing number of students leaving Pueblo D60 in favor of online charter schools and look for new ways to cater to the needs of these students.

"Declining enrollment means less money (from the state)," Perko said. "Not that money means everything, but then how are you going to maintain the programs and the services that you do have?"

Perko also hopes to develop a system for reviewing facilities on a more frequent basis. He said the recent closings of Freed Middle School and Carlile Elementary School were "worst-case scenarios" and reasons for the district to consider regular reviews of all buildings. Such reviews would be reported to both the board and superintendent.

"I think it would be nice to have a monthly report," Perko said.

More about elections: Sol Sandoval running for reelection to Pueblo D60 school board

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Anthony Perko among school board incumbents running for reelection