Nancy Spence (born December 12, 1936) is a former

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

legislator. First elected to the

Cherry Creek School District The Cherry Creek School District 5, also known as Cherry Creek Public Schools, is a school district based in western Arapahoe County, Colorado. The current superintendent is Christopher Smith. Former superintendent Scott Siegfried, Ph.D. announce ...

Board of Education in the 1980s, Spence was elected to three terms in the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distr ...

, serving from 1999 to 2005, and represented the 27th district of the

Colorado Senate The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...

from 2005 until 2013.

Biography

Born in Denver, Colorado, Spence graduated from South Denver High School, where she met her future husband, Peter.Colorado Senate News - Profile: Senator Nancy Spence
She attended

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

from 1955 to 1956. Spence married in 1958; she and her husband, a dentist,Nancy Spence State Senate – experience resume
have four children: Chris, Kathy, Greg and Meg, and six grandchildren. Spence was first elected to the

Board of Education in 1980 and served there continuously until 1993. During her tenure on the school board, she served as board treasurer for two years and board president for five. She is also a founding member of the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and of the

Denver School of the Arts Denver School of the Arts (DSA) is a comprehensive, public, arts magnet school, serving grades 6–12. Located at 7111 Montview Boulevard in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, the school is operated by the Denver Public School Dis ...

. Spence was an alternate delegate to the

1992 Republican National Convention The 1992 Republican National Convention was held in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, from August 17 to August 20, 1992. The convention nominated President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for reelection. It was Bush's fourth co ...

and a delegate to the 1996 convention. First elected to the

in 1998, representing the 39th district—portions of

Arapahoe County, Colorado Arapahoe County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 655,070, making it the third-most populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Littleton, Colorado, Li ...

south of

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, near

Cherry Creek State Park Cherry Creek State Park is a state park in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The park consists of a natural prairie and wetland environment with an reservoir at its center which is shared by powerboats, sailboats, and paddle craft. Th ...

. During her three terms, she sat on the House Education Committee, serving as chairman during her last two terms. She also sat on the House Judiciary Committee and House Appropriations Committee during her first term, the House Criminal Justice Committee during her second term, and the House Transportation and Energy Committee during her third term. Focusing particularly on education issues in the Republican-controlled state house, Spence, in 2003, sponsored a successful measure to create a statewide

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

program. The measure was the first statewide voucher program to be enacted into law following the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision in ''

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ''Zelman v. Simmons-Harris'', 536 U.S. 639 (2002), was a 5–4 decision of the United States Supreme Court that upheld an Ohio program that used school vouchers. The Court decided that the program did not violate the Establishment Clause of the Fi ...

'' that voucher programs did not necessarily violate the

establishment clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

of the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. Although the measure was signed into law by Governor Bill Owens, it was soon struck down by Colorado courts for violating the principle of local control. Spence was elected to the

Colorado State Senate The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...

in 2004; there, she serves on the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Transportation Committee. In 2007, she was elected Senate Assistant Minority Leader; as such, she is also a member of the Legislative Council. Spence has been named a "Legislator of the Year" by several organizations, including the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

in 1999, the Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards in 2001, and the Colorado Alliance for Reform in Education in 2004.

References

External links

Legislative web page

Campaign web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Nancy 1936 births Living people Republican Party Colorado state senators Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Women state legislators in Colorado 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians