DENVER – Statement from Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association, on education matters following Gov. Polis’ State of the State address today:
“Increasing compensation for educators is our top priority. CEA’s 38,000 members appreciate Governor Polis’ thoughtful comments today on school funding and that education was the first policy issue the Governor discussed in his remarks. We agree with Governor Polis that the education profession is ‚Äòone of the most important professions in our society’ and we are encouraged by his strong signal of support to raise pay for educators. We look forward to working with the Governor and the legislature to improve the learning experience for every K-12 student and to better support the professionals who have chosen a career to educate and care for the children of their fellow Coloradans.
“Our success will ultimately be measured on how well we keep quality educators in our schools and encourage new professionals to join our noble ranks. Retaining and recruiting high quality educators for our students will require bold steps during this legislative session to meaningfully raise educator pay to a living wage, and to significantly buy down the debt owed to our schools and students to completely eliminate the budget stabilization factor in three years. Our view of Colorado’s State of Education is admittedly dire as we returned to school in 2020, but elected officials who listen to our concerns and ideas will have great power to secure a stable and dedicated educator workforce for our children’s futures.”
# # #