Nov 1, 2022 | Press
CONTACT
Lauren Stephenson
Director of Communications
Colorado Education Association
LStephenson@coloradoea.org
303-968-5573
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2022
Colorado’s Education Professionals Are Encouraged by Governor Polis’ Proposed State Budget
Turns Attention to Legislature to Secure Necessary Investment
DENVER, CO – As the representative of Colorado’s 39,000 education professionals, the Colorado Education Association is encouraged by the level of education funding put forth in Governor Jared Polis’ FY2022-23 state budget announced today.
In particular we commend his dedication to increased investment in per-pupil funding and special education support. In conjunction with the 2021-2022 budget, it’s clear that the Governor understands that there are few priorities that are as critical and consistently underfunded as Colorado’s education system.
We look forward to working with the many public education champions in the legislature to build upon this funding to secure the largest possible investment in our education system.
The CEA and its members are fighting for nothing less than a fully-funded education system. Our state’s robust economy ranks 6th in the nation, but ranks 49th in salaries for education professionals, and 40th in per-pupil spending. By the most generous measure, Colorado’s students have been robbed of at least $10 billion since the implementation of the Budget Stabilization factor in 2010.
To right decades of chronic disinvestment will require not just the elimination of the Budget Stabilization factor, but a reimagining of the restrictive tax code that has led to this financial depletion. Our public schools face many overlapping, complex challenges, all of which would be remedied by an influx of sustained, substantial investment.
Everyday Coloradans understand this and respect our education professionals. 74% of parents approve of their children’s teachers and said they would support a pay increase.
“A fully-funded education system would mean attracting and retaining more educators, smaller class sizes, safer schools equipped with ample mental health professionals – all of which lead to better student outcomes for all students. This is the Colorado that our students deserve, that our education professionals deserve, and the future we all must demand, ” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.
“When we talk about Colorado’s education system, we’re not just talking about our children’s physical schools and facilities. It’s time our legislators realize that without an adequate public education system, Colorado cannot reasonably hope to maintain its status as a magnet for innovation, progress, and democracy. We know that this will be a long fight, and there are many significant battles along the way. But as Colorado’s largest labor union, we will continue to show up and to support pro-public school education leaders and legislation in every facet of our government. Our teachers and students deserve nothing less.”
About the Colorado Education Association
The Colorado Education Association is a membership-based organization that represents 39,000 Colorado education professionals. The CEA promise to our students and communities is that the members of the Association will lead the way in guaranteeing every student access to the best public education. By working collectively with all education stakeholders, we will provide the best public education for every student and assure Colorado’s standing as an excellent state in which to learn, live, work, and raise a family.
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May 12, 2022 | Press
CONTACT
Frank Valdez
Colorado Education Association
fvaldez@coloradoea.org
(720) 372-8888 Cell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2022
Solid Victories and Missed Opportunities Highlight the 2022 Legislative Session
CEA now turns attention to 2022 midterm elections
DENVER – With the 2022 Legislative Session in the books, the 39,000 members of the Colorado Education Association played a key role in advancing consequential legislation that improved the lives of Colorado students and educators this session. The session fell a bit short in some areas but overall, public education in Colorado is better today than it was in 2021.
“We had a bold agenda when we published our State of Education report in December and we definitely improved the lives of Colorado students and educators as we end this session,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association. “Did we achieve everything we set out to achieve? No but we made significant progress with evaluations, educator privacy, shoring up PERA and significantly buying down the Budget Stabilization Factor. We made significant strides and every one of our 39,000 members made a difference.”
Among key victories by the union this year was a significant buy down of the Budget Stabilization Factor to its lowest level in well over a decade to $321 million, with the real promise of buying it completely down by 2024. This was one of CEA’s main priorities heading into the session as a graduating senior in 2022 had never seen a fully funded public education system.
Other key victories include House Bill (HB) 22-1029, Compensatory Direct Distribution to Public Employees’ Retirement Association, which recommit the state’s 2020 missed payment into the PERA system of $225 million and an additional $155 million as a pre-payment. SB22-069, Learning Disruption Effect on Teacher Evaluation, which provides educators a two-year grace period against high stakes testing being used against their evaluations and ensures that educators are not held accountable for poor academic growth measures resulting from the pandemic emergency. SB22-070, Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade Licensed Personnel Performance Evaluations, is the result of the Governor’s 2019 stakeholder process and represents a compromise reform. While it does not go as far as CEA and many members would like, this bill does reduce the percentage of an educator’s evaluation that can be based off of student growth measures from 50% to 30%, as well as provides modified evaluation rubrics and additional resources for districts, among other things. SB 22-137, Transition Back to Standard K-12 Accountability makes adjustments to the school accountability system to make sure hundreds of schools aren’t unfairly placed on the accountability clock due to insufficient data. Finally, SB22-171, Privacy Protections for Educators protects educators from doxing, the release of educators’ personal, identifiable information on the internet, by members of the public. It will also prohibit school districts from releasing the dates of sick leave taken by educators to address situations like what happened in Douglas County.
“We’re disappointed that K-12 wasn’t a part of this year’s attempt at a statewide collective bargaining bill but we will continue to make that a priority for all of Colorado’s public workers,” said Baca-Oehlert. “We can, however, hold our heads high in knowing that we significantly improved the lives of Colorado students, their families and educators in 2022. We’d like to carry this momentum into the fall election cycle where we will work tirelessly to elect pro-public education candidates to help us make more of an impact in the 2023 Legislative Session.”
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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.
Feb 28, 2022 | Blog
The second semester of the school year often brings a lot of excitement and things to look forward to: prom, spring break, graduations. It is also the time of year when the Legislature is in full swing and with that comes a lot of opportunity to use our educator voices. This year, however, it is shadowed by an overwhelmed workforce that is facing obstacle after obstacle – a devastating fire that upended thousands of students’
and educators’ lives, an ongoing and ever changing global pandemic, and extremist school boards taking dangerous actions to dismantle public education.
Though we are all tired, we will not give up. It has been empowering to see our brothers and sisters in Douglas County take collective action to stand against the harmful actions of the local school board majority. We have seen our members do the same in places where the same dangerous agenda is being pushed: Grand Junction, Colorado Springs, Estes Park and Pueblo 70 to name a few. Recent history gives us good lessons on what is needed to win to save our public schools and we are committed to this fight. Our colleagues, our students and our profession deserve nothing less.
What’s been happening around our state is a great reminder of the need to win on our legislative priorities this year. The bill that will expand collective bargaining rights for all public employees, including educators, is needed now more than ever. It is clear that one election gone wrong can rip away the ability of educators to have a voice in our working conditions and the learning conditions of our students.
Certain politicians and wealthy special interests opposed to public schools have chipped away at state education funding and then turned around to point their fingers at educators as the reason our students are struggling. What they conveniently ignore is that they’ve strapped schools with an over $10 billion deficit in education funding over the last 10 years. That means students aren’t getting the education they deserve because educators don’t have the resources they need.
Even before the COVID pandemic, teachers and support staff didn’t have what we needed – and we’re still overwhelmed with excessive class sizes, outdated materials and paychecks that often don’t even pay the bills. Exponentially increasing workloads and bitter political vitriol over health, safety and history curriculum are causing intense educator burnout. There’s no surprise that 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.
Colorado educators know exactly how to stop the downward spiral of our education system – after all, we are the ones in classrooms, cafeterias, buses and schools every day, guiding students through academic and personal hardships. The public knows this – nearly 3 out of 4 Colorado voters voice positive feelings toward teachers. But instead of valuing the expertise and knowledge of educators, those seeking to radically change and privatize schools know the easiest path to destroying public education is when education professionals don’t have a voice.
Your educator voice matters and that is why they are trying to silence you. But we will not be silent when it comes to our students and our profession.
Amie Baca-Oehlert is a high school counselor and president of the CEA.
Jan 20, 2022 | Press
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2022
CEA Statement on Gov. Polis supplemental proposal on the Budget Stabilization Factor Buy Down
DENVER, CO – Yesterday, Gov. Jared Polis announced a proposal for an additional $104.2 million in supplemental from the previously proposed Budget Stabilization Factor buy down for the 2021-22 funding year and $214.4 million in funding for the 2022-23 funding year. This additional $300 million to the state education fund, increasing the previous Budget Stabilization Factor buy down and prioritizing buy down for future years, will help districts provide much needed resources for students and educators across Colorado. The following statement can be attributed to Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association:
“We applaud today’s announcement by the Governor, whose supplemental budget proposal will greatly reduce the Budget Stabilization Factor this year and next. We appreciate the Governor’s commitment to Colorado public schools, students and educators.
“Now more than ever, the 39,000 members of the Colorado Education Association will continue to stand for Colorado students so that they, and their dedicated educators, get the resources they need to have a high quality education, no matter what zip code they live in.”
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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Jan 13, 2022 | Press
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2022
Colorado Education Association Response to the Governor’s State of the State Address
DENVER – The following statement is a response to Gov. Polis’ State of the State address and can be attributed to Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association:
“We thank Gov. Polis and the Colorado state lawmakers for making public education a priority this legislative session. We look forward to working with the governor and the legislature on finding common sense solutions to the problems we are facing.
“Last month the Colorado Education Association released its annual State of Education report, which paints a dire picture of public education in Colorado. Our schools are under-resourced, under-staffed and with the latest onslaught of COVID-19, things don’t look to be getting any better any time soon.
“Our members will be in the halls of the Capitol this year to advocate for CEA legislative priorities like introducing and passing a statewide collective bargaining bill, increasing the funding that our schools desperately need, working toward seeing the state keep its promise to our retired PERA members and finding a common sense solution to easing the state back into its normal accountability system while we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic. It is time we right the public education system in Colorado and make it the best in the nation.”
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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