The Colorado Education Association headquarters building is open from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, except on designated holidays.

Main Phone: (303) 837-1500
Toll Free: (800) 332-5939

Executive Office

Managers

Organizing

Communications

Government Relations

Legal Services

Teaching & Learning

To see a full list of our field staff, please visit our UniServ Offices page.

We advocate for you in the classroom.

CEA’s Teaching & Learning team works with educators across the state to drive changes to education policy in Colorado in order to provide an exceptional classroom for every student in Colorado.

COpilot

Teaching is tough business – so don’t go it alone. CEA’s innovative online learning platform, COpilot, delivers relevant resources to give you a professional edge so you can help every student thrive. Online courses are fully blended and facilitated by your colleagues, and COpilot’s built-in social network forum, COnnect, gives you a place to meet, greet and create with other Colorado educators. We can all use a COpilot to soar higher and go further in our profession.

Summer Leadership Conference

Our premier professional learning event of the year brings 200+ members together from across Colorado every June to build skills and share knowledge. Members make their own conference schedules and attend a wide variety of workshops offered by experienced trainers with unique professional perspectives. The conference also features a distinguished lineup of speakers who give powerful insights on the critical education issues of the day.

Leadership Development for Bargaining & Organizing

Throughout the year, we have a variety of opportunities for interested members to get more involved in our union by providing support, training, mentorship, and networking opportunities.

Helping CEA members become the policy leaders of tomorrow

The CEA Ambassador Fellowship helps CEA members, both teachers and support professionals, expand their knowledge and ability to influence educational policy and professional practice at the local and state level. Through the fellowship, we amplify educator voice on issues that influence public education like quality learning, working conditions, and civic engagement.

Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA)

We fight for retirement security for Colorado educators.

Colorado educators often spend a lifetime serving students and families. We want to ensure that the retirement benefits promised to educators are there when they need it.

The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) is our state’s public pension system.

2023 PERA Board of Trustees Election

The Colorado Education Association has released its recommended candidate for the school division, Eunice Botchway.

Eunice Botchway is a Special Education teacher at Yale Elementary School with the Aurora Public School District and a member of the Aurora Education Association. She is on her school’s Equity, Instructional Leadership, and MTSS Teams. Eunice is currently working on her post-graduate degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Director of Special Education Leadership at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AK. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Special Education, a master’s degree in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE), an endorsement in Elementary Education, and a designation in READ Act. Over the years, Eunice Botchway has worked as an Early Childhood, READ Act, and CLDE teacher. She has a passion for students with Special needs and works to support them to succeed in school. She loves to advocate for quality education for all students and restore respect for the education profession.

Why is the PERA Board election important?

Tens of thousands of educators have spent their careers serving students in our public K-12 education system. The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) helps provide every educator retirement security and to retire with dignity.

The Defined-Benefit (DB) program or pension plan provided to vested educators and retirees offers a lifetime monthly benefit payment offering peace of mind for many retirees. The PERA Board is repeatedly under pressure and attack to work with some legislators in moving from a DB program to a Defined-Contribution (DC) program or 401k-style retirement benefit. For a DC benefit, the value in your account determines what you will have in retirement. With the PERA DC plan, the risk is real in outliving your retirement benefit.

It is also important that active School Division and Retiree members have seats on the PERA Board as fiduciaries to help ensure educator voice on PERA matters.

Did you know that there are other seats up for election?

This year PERA is holding an election for the following seats on the Board of Trustees:

• School Division—2-year term (to be filled by an active member [currently employed] at a public school, not including Denver Public Schools)
• Local Government Division—4-year term (to be filled by an active member [currently employed] at a Local Government Division employer)
• Judicial Division—4-year term (to be filled by an active member [currently employed] at a Judicial Division employer)
• Retiree Seat—4-year term (to be filled by a retired member from the State, Local Government, or Judicial Divisions)

Find out more about the candidates running for those seats here.

Don’t forget that your ballots will be mailed to you beginning this week and will need to be postmarked and returned by May 31st.

Other Resources

• Official website for Colorado PERA
• Stay updated with our partners at SecurePERA and get the latest information about your PERA retirement.

Close to retirement or a retired educator?

Public education policy and politics are tightly connected.

Every election is a great opportunity to elect pro-public education candidates who will collaborate with CEA and our local associations to improve learning conditions for students and working conditions of educators.

Elected officials, from school boards to the state Legislature to the White House, make decisions that affect public education. Through both policy and law, elected officials decide:

• school funding and related issues like class size;
• academic standards, curriculum and assessment;
• employee salaries, benefits and retirement;
• school services and safety measures;
• and employee evaluations and due process rights.

Elected officials make decisions that affect public education, oftentimes without the input of the experts in public education: us. That is why our union understands the link between public education policy and politics. We understand education issues, and work to protect and advance public education and educators’ issues in the political arena.

We want every student to thrive – and that is why our members work to pass local mill levies and bonds to improve the schools in their community. It’s why our local unions interview and recommend political candidates who measure up on public school issues and show commitment for our values. And it’s why we are involved in ballot initiative and referenda campaigns: supporting issues that help public education and defeating those that have the potential to harm our schools and students.

Are you registered to vote?

Visit GoVoteColorado.com to register to vote or to manage your voter registration if your personal information changes.