Carson earned a B.A. in political science in 1983 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. From 1979 to 1985, Carson served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. In 1987, Carson also earned a J.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He earned an LL.M. in taxes at the Georgetown University Law Center in 1996. After law school, Carson worked in Washington, D.C., as legal counsel for members of congress such as: - Former Colorado Senator Wayne Allard - Former Wisconsin Senator Robert Kasten - Former Representative Joe Knollenberg from Michigan's 11th Congressional District Carson also worked as staff director for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation "where he was responsible for oversight of HUD, FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac." Under former President George W. Bush, Carson served as Rocky Mountain Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2001 to 2009. In that position, he acted as HUD's "liason to mayors, city managers, elected representatives, state and local officials, Congressional delegations, stakeholders and customers in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming." In 2009, Carson joined the law offices of Snell & Wilmer, a business law firm with offices across the western United States and in Mexico. He also served as vice president, general counsel, and secretary for Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, an independent mortgage lender located in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Carson served as president of the Douglas County School District Board of Education from 2009 to 2013 after being first elected in 2005. In June 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that a voucher program passed during his tenure, the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, was unconstitutional because "it channels public funds to religious schools."
