You’ve reached a page that is intended only for CEA members.
If you believe you have reached this page in error, please contact us.
If you are not a member, you can join CEA here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2021
Colorado Education Association Releases Annual State of Education Report
State’s Largest Union Also Releases 2022 Legislative Priorities
DENVER – Today the Colorado Education Association (CEA), with local leaders from around the state, released its annual State of Education report highlighting multiple challenges facing our state’s public education system in 2021 and beyond. The report, CEA’s first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is based on publicly available data, news articles, cited research and surveys of CEA members from December 2020 and October 2021.
The report highlights three main problem areas that is fueling a crisis for Colorado public education:
Inadequate Funding
Colorado still ranks at/near the bottom when it comes to starting educator pay, wage competitiveness and per pupil funding. A near $10 billion shortfall via the Budget Stabilization Factor over the last 10 years is a huge hole in public education funding in Colorado.
Educator Burnout
Exponentially increasing workloads and bitter political vitriol over health, safety and history curriculum are causing intense educator burnout. An October 2021 survey of CEA members showed that more than half said that this school year is significantly or somewhat worse than last year.
Educator Shortage
The lack of funding, inadequate conditions and burnout has led to a critical educator shortage. As educators from across the state flee the profession, Colorado is struggling mightily to replace them. An October 2021 review of Colorado school districts’ websites shows that there are more than 3,300 open positions in our public schools – 1,125 licensed and 2,251 support professionals. Additionally, more than two-thirds – 67% – of CEA’s surveyed members in October indicated that they were considering leaving the profession in the near future. Alarmingly, this is a 27% increase from the 40% of members who said the same thing just last December. These educators most often point to their overwhelming workload and low pay as the reasons to leave and they are considering career changes and early retirement.
“The way we fund our public schools and value educators is unsustainable,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association. “We are at a crossroads; what kind of state do we want to be? One where chronic underfunding short-changes our children and drives high quality educators to surrounding states, or even worse, out of the profession altogether? Or one that is proud of delivering an exceptional education to prepare all students in every zip code to follow their dreams and be successful?”
Today’s report also highlights CEA’s 2022 Legislative priorities:
Collective Bargaining
Collective bargaining provides a way for educators to have a genuine voice in advocating for their students and profession. The bargaining process is an opportunity for educators and school administrators to work together to identify and solve the problems and challenges facing our students, the schools they learn in and the educators who serve them. Educators’ working conditions ARE our students’ learning conditions. Colorado local public employees, no matter their service industry, should have the right to join a union and collectively bargain so they have a seat at the table and a voice in their workplaces.
Funding
Many students aren’t getting the education they deserve because teachers and support staff don’t have what they need – they’re overwhelmed with excessive class sizes, outdated textbooks, unfunded mandates and paychecks that often don’t even pay the bills. Certain politicians and wealthy special interests have balanced the state budget on the backs of Colorado students for years, creating a $1 billion deficit in public education funding over the past 10 years. We need legislators to commit to buying down the budget stabilization factor to give Colorado students and educators the resources they need.
PERA
Tens of thousands of educators have spent their careers serving students in our public pre-K through 12 education system. The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) helps provide every educator the dignity of retirement security.. We need a commitment from the Colorado legislature on legislation that will honor the promises made by the state to educators that will ensure the viability and sustainability of PERA for generations to come.
Accountability Bridge
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted education in many ways. A pause in the Accountability frameworks for the 2020-2021 school year was a welcome recognition of the pressures the pandemic placed on students, families and school systems. There was very little debate among stakeholders and legislators about the pause, given the collective understanding of the limited assessment data that would be available to uphold the integrity of the process. Now we must have a thoughtful transition as we move from the limited and inconsistent data of the past two years back to fully implementing the current law. Without a transition, simply turning the accountability system back on is fraught with issues that will impact the integrity of the accountability system and could cause unnecessary harm to students, schools and districts.
“The last 21 months have been crushing for our educators and students and there seems to be no end in sight,” said Baca-Oehlert. “Our 39,000 members are ready to stand up and fight for the schools our students and educators deserve. Our voices will be the loudest at the Capitol come January as our students, educators and communities deserve nothing less.”
CEA has set up a number of dates for the media to interview CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert about the 2022 Legislative Session. Please contact Frank Valdez, CEA’s Director of Communications for any questions.
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.
# # #
In her first novel, “EduCate”, middle school teacher, Englewood Educators member and CEA Ambassador Fellowship alumni Julie White blurs the lines between fact and fiction. “EduCate” follows Cate Reed, who is battling apathetic students, middle school antics and all the extra duties a teacher must manage at Lilacwood Middle School.
Cate tries her best but is finding it harder and harder to find her footing as a teacher. She finds solace with her partner Brad and cat, Magpie. Her life turns upside down when the coronavirus changes everything in 2020. Through a fellowship in her educators’ union, Cate begins to develop her voice. She tries to adapt to online teaching as debates rage around schools opening safely, masks and eventually, vaccinations. George Floyd’s murder brings social justice and racial equity to the forefront as America navigates the pandemic of systemic racism. A controversial shirt worn to school creates a firestorm. During a school year like no other, Cate has to decide where she stands.
Author Julie White was born in Columbia, Missouri and grew up in Sweet Springs, Missouri. After graduating high school, she Seattle Pacific University for her undergraduate degree, studying journalism and communication. She married her husband Nathan in 2005. While in Seattle, she taught summer camps, environmental education and at the Pacific Science Center, where discovered she loved working with kids. She and Nathan moved to Colorado in 2008 and went back to school for her Masters in Education at Regis University, completing it in December of 2009. She has been teaching high school and middle school language arts ever since, currently at Englewood Middle School, just south of Denver.
Julie joined her local association, Englewood Educators, immediately after getting hired. She was especially energized by the CEA Day of Action in April 2018. Englewood Educators organized a Day of Action first when PERA was threatened and it felt great to have over 500 educators and supporters join in to let lawmakers know that we need to protect PERA and to fund public education. This was the moment she became an activist. That summer, she participated in Ed Summer as an intern with CEA and learned how to connect with members and further spread activism (see the GLUE story on page 4). She continued her leadership journey as a CEA Ambassador Fellow during this past school year.
Since she was teaching from home for the 20-21 school year with eLearning, she decided an appropriate project could be documenting this crazy time in a novel. As the world shut down, she turned inward to create characters and poured her free time into writing. Julie loves how storytelling can connect us. She has talked to so many union members in one-on-ones over the years that helped her craft her plot. The Fellowship gave her an accountability group, support and encouragement to complete this novel. She also joined a Lighthouse Writing Group and found the entire project to be very cathartic and fulfilling. Julie wrote “EduCate” on weekends and when she isn’t writing, she is walking in her neighborhood in Englewood or exploring a mountain trail. She loves being an aunt, playing board games, snorkeling, and discussing books.
“EduCate” is available now on Amazon in ebook, print paperback or large print formats. One reviewer wrote, “Take a trip down the 2020-2021 lane with a character that is capable, passionate, and a fierce defender of her friends and community.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2021
New Poll Shows Colorado Parents and Voters Value Health, Truth
Likely voters trust educators, embrace candidates supporting common sense issues
DENVER – Today, the Colorado Education Association released new polling data showing clear majorities of Colorado voters and school parents trust educators and would elect candidates to local school boards who support safe learning environments for students with masks and vaccinations and believe students deserve an honest, age-appropriate account of history in schools.
“School board races are important because they determine whether public schools are going to be places that protect the health and learning of all students – rich, poor, Black, brown, white and more – or they become toxic political battlegrounds,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.“New polling shows that Colorado voters support common sense policies like vaccination and masks and fact-based curriculum in public schools to keep students healthy and learning.”
The poll shows that among likely 2021 Colorado voters:
“As any teacher or parent knows, school is a place where children develop their understanding of the world and their ability to make meaningful change in it,” said Baca-Oehlert.“When I was in school, I was never given a full picture about our country’s history, like western Colorado was part of Mexico or Japanese Americans were jailed in Colorado’s Amache internment camp. Today’s students deserve a full and honest presentation of history so we can right past wrongs and it’s encouraging to know that voters favor electing school board candidates who support healthy, safe and honest learning.”
Links to:
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.
# # #
You’ve reached a page that is intended only for CEA members.
If you believe you have reached this page in error, please contact us.
If you are not a member, you can join CEA here.
