{{Short description|American politician (born 1936)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Nancy Spence | image = Colorado-Sen-Nancy-Spence.jpg | state_senate = Colorado | state = Colorado | district = 27th | term_start = January 12, 2005<ref name="senate"/> | term_end = January 9, 2013 | preceded = John Andrews | succeeded = David Balmer | state_house1 = Colorado | district1 = 39th | term_start1 = January 6, 1999<ref name="house">{{Cite web| url=http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/sess1999/hjoujn06.htm | title=House journal sixty-second general assembly, state of Colorado - First Regular Session | date=1999-01-06 | access-date=2007-11-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050730090603/http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/sess1999/hjoujn06.htm | archive-date=2005-07-30 | url-status=dead}}</ref> | term_end1 = January 12, 2005<ref name="senate">{{Cite web| title=House journal sixty-fifth general assembly, state of Colorado - First Regular Session | date=2005-01-12 | url=http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2005a/csljournals.nsf/(jousen)/F16B9B3BBB6D5A5387256F87005EECF0/$FILE/jour_001.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517105338/http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2005a/csljournals.nsf/(jousen)/F16B9B3BBB6D5A5387256F87005EECF0/$FILE/jour_001.pdf | archive-date=2011-05-17}}</ref> | predecessor1 = Paul D. Schauer<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=861325|title = Our Campaigns - CO State House 39 Race - Nov 03, 1998}}</ref> | successor1 = David Balmer | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|12|12}} | birth_place = Denver, Colorado, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Peter | profession = | party = Republican }} '''Nancy Spence''' (born December 12, 1936<ref name="votesmart">{{cite web |url=http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=CCO37506 |title=Senator Spence |accessdate=2007-11-17 |work=Project Vote Smart |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522063716/http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=CCO37506 |archivedate=2006-05-22 }}</ref>) is a former Republican Colorado legislator. First elected to the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education in the 1980s, Spence was elected to three terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, serving from 1999 to 2005, and represented the 27th district of the Colorado Senate from 2005 until 2013.<ref name="map">{{cite web |url=http://comaps.org/district27s.html |title=State Senate District 27 |accessdate=2007-11-17 |work=COMaps |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304221217/http://www.comaps.org/district27s.html |archivedate=2008-03-04 }}</ref>
==Biography==
Born in Denver, Colorado, Spence graduated from South Denver High School,<ref name="votesmart"/> where she met her future husband, Peter.<ref name="sennews">[http://www.coloradosenatenews.com/content/view/307 Colorado Senate News - Profile: Senator Nancy Spence<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724190601/http://www.coloradosenatenews.com/content/view/307 |date=2008-07-24 }}</ref> She attended Colorado State University from 1955 to 1956.<ref name="votesmart"/> Spence married in 1958;<ref name="sennews"/> she and her husband, a dentist,<ref name="resume">[http://www.nancyspence.org/index.asp?sect=experience&subsect=resume&lang=en Nancy Spence State Senate – experience resume<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930073630/http://www.nancyspence.org/index.asp?sect=experience&subsect=resume&lang=en |date=2006-09-30 }}</ref> have four children: Chris, Kathy, Greg and Meg,<ref name="votesmart"/> and six grandchildren.<ref name="resume"/>
Spence was first elected to the Cherry Creek School District 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.<ref name="resume"/>
Spence was an alternate delegate to the 1992 Republican National Convention and a delegate to the 1996 convention.<ref name="resume"/>
First elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1998, representing the 39th district<ref name="resume"/>—portions of Arapahoe County, Colorado south of Aurora, near Cherry Creek State Park.<ref name="map2">{{cite web |url=http://comaps.org/district39s.html |title=State House District 39 |accessdate=2007-11-17 |work=COMaps }} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> 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.<ref name="resume"/>
Focusing particularly on education issues in the Republican-controlled state house, Spence, in 2003, sponsored a successful measure to create a statewide school voucher program. The measure was the first statewide voucher program to be enacted into law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in ''Zelman v. Simmons-Harris'' that voucher programs did not necessarily violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 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.<ref name="vouchers">{{cite news| url=https://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MJG/is_4_4/ai_n6361755 | work=Education Next | title=Will vouchers arrive in Colorado? The legislature enacts a new voucher law and the courts say, not so fast | first=Lance D. | last=Fusarelli | year=2004}}</ref>
Spence was elected to the Colorado State Senate 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.<ref name="resume"/>
Spence has been named a "Legislator of the Year" by several organizations, including the American Heart Association in 1999, the Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards in 2001, and the Colorado Alliance for Reform in Education in 2004.<ref name="resume"/>
==References==
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==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080405003128/http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/Senate/members/Sen27.htm Legislative web page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071020203532/http://nancyspence.org/ Campaign web site]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Nancy}} Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:Republican Party Colorado state senators Category:Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Category:Women state legislators in Colorado Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly