CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – The intensity surrounding the Douglas County school board campaign just keeps growing.

The conservative-dominated board has four incumbents up for reelection next month, and the local teachers union and its left-wing supporters are doing everything in their power to defeat them.

In recent weeks, the unionists have tried a variety of stunts to turn the public against the popular incumbents – including staging phony grassroots campaigns outside the district’s administration offices and circulating an attack video that used doctored audio to make it appear one board member mocked local residents.

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Now they’re calling in the big guns for some backup.

TheColoradoObserver.com reports, “A senior strategist for Barack Obama’s campaign is now actively organizing ground game and other operations for the four (teacher) union candidates in Douglas County.”

His name is Craig Hughes, and he served as Obama’s Senior Colorado Advisor in both 2008 and 2012.

One of Hughes’ first orders of business has been to recruit door-to-door campaigners to help get out the vote for the four left-wing school board candidates. Hughes’ firm – Hilltop Public Solutions – is offering $12-an-hour jobs to “part-time canvassers to knock on doors in Douglas County,” reports TheColoradoObserver.com.

While campaign financial disclosure forms have not yet been made public, the news site believes the local teachers union – the Douglas County Federation of Teachers (DCFT) – is paying Hughes to gin up support for the board candidates.

“Last month, when DCFT endorsed the union slate, Our Colorado News reported ‘the organization will not contribute money to candidates’ campaigns … but will spend an undetermined amount of money on election-related activities,’” TheColoradoObserver.com reports.

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It’d be no surprise if the DCFT is putting up the money to bring in a “big gun” like Hughes. The union is desperate – desperate – to reclaim control of the Douglas County school board.

Over the past several years, the union has watched helplessly as the conservative-led DougCo school board has enacted one impressive education reform after another. Those reforms have ranged from commonsensical (i.e. increasing the salaries of teachers in hard-to-fill subject areas) to revolutionary (i.e. a district-wide voucher plan).

The biggest blow to the union, however, was the board’s decision to no longer recognize the DCFT as the bargaining representative of the district’s teachers.

Education reformers in other counties and states have taken notice of the DougCo board’s K-12 reform revolution; some may even start following suit.

This is worrisome not only to the DCFT, but to many other teacher unions and progressives across the U.S. They want to stop these reforms and punish the board members who’ve implemented them. If they’re able to do that, it could have a chilling effect on reform efforts across the nation.

A recent National Review story captured the stakes of the upcoming DougCo board races:

“High-performing communities can be terrific laboratories for bold solutions. Fueled by a unified board with a coherent vision and a bold superintendent, Douglas County is serving as the site of what may well prove a critical chapter in the story of contemporary school reform.

“Attention should be paid.”