FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 2021
Statement from Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association (CEA), on the allocation of Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds by the Colorado State Board of Education:
“We want to thank the Colorado State Board of Education for listening to stakeholder input in deciding where to best allocate these federal funds. Commissioner Anthes recognizes that we are all in this together and the best way to ensure our students get what they need is to listen to parents, students, educators, and other stakeholders who want the best for our students. We look forward to continuing to partner and share the voices of educators, the professionals who serve students every day in the classrooms, as the federal dollars are received and implemented.
“While we’re excited about the additional funds our schools will receive in order to support students, it is a stark reminder that our state’s public schools have been drastically underfunded for the past decade. Having these additional federal funds would go much further for things like student and educator mental and emotional supports if our schools were fully funded to begin with. We can and must do better funding our public schools so that all students, and the educators who serve them, have the resources they need to succeed no matter the zip code in which they live.”
About the Colorado Education Association
The Colorado Education Association is the voice of 39,000 educators, working together in a strong union to ensure all students get the exceptional public schools they deserve, in every neighborhood across the state. As Colorado’s largest labor union, CEA works collectively with all education stakeholders to ensure Colorado’s standing as an excellent state in which to learn, live, work, and raise a family.
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