Dec 14, 2021 | Press
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.”
For the full report and for CEA’s 2022 Legislative priorities, please go to the CEA State of Education website.
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.
# # #
Jan 29, 2020 | Press
Committee approves SB-89 to address livable educator wages, improve retention with dedicated funds
DENVER – The bill to create a dedicated incentive fund for resources specifically allocated for educator pay is one step closer to passage today after clearing the Senate Education Committee.
Sens. Nancy Todd, Tammy Story and Jeff Bridges voted in support of Senate Bill 89. The bill establishes the Educator Pay Raise Fund, through which school districts could apply for funds to increase their minimum salaries and wages for teachers and education support professionals.
“We are very pleased the Committee members had a thoughtful discussion on educator pay today and showed their resolve to help educators live in the communities where they serve by approving this much-needed legislation,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, a high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.
CEA supports SB-89 as a way to begin to fix the educator pay crisis, the number one priority of educators during this legislative session. Currently, Colorado has no mechanism at the state level to direct funds specifically to educator pay, meaning the legislature can direct more funding to public education but those new dollars might not be used to help retain quality educators in our schools.
“Educators are frustrated, working two to three jobs to make ends meet and spending their own money on school supplies, while other professionals live much more comfortably in this very robust state economy,” Baca-Oehlert added.“It’s time to see our state’s economic success reach the classroom and adequately compensate the professionals who chose the education profession to help prepare our students for their futures.”
CEA laid out the stress educators experience in keeping up with Colorado’s high cost of living in its State of Education report. Starting teacher pay in Colorado is 47th in the nation according to the National Education Association, and business.org recently ranked Colorado dead last in the country in wage competitiveness, with teachers earning 40% less than the average salary in the state.
Educators seeking a livable wage have public opinion on their side: three-quarters of Americans support raising educator pay – the highest level of support in a decade – while 76% of Coloradans think teacher pay falls short, up from 51% in 2011.
SB-89 is co-sponsored by Sens. Jessie Danielson and Leroy Garcia, and Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Jan 13, 2020 | Press
SB-089 Educator Pay Raise Fund Bill seeks to address low pay, improve retention with guaranteed dollars for educator salaries
DENVER – State Sen. Jessie Danielson today introduced Senate Bill 089 which creates a dedicated incentive fund for resources specifically allocated for educator pay. This fund will assist school districts in increasing their minimum educator salaries and wages, prioritizing districts with the highest need.
“This is real action that will help local districts attract and retain great educators in our classrooms,” said Sen. Danielson, who represents Jefferson County.“Doing right by teachers is how we do right by our students.”
While Colorado’s economy is thriving, starting teacher pay here lags at 47th place in the nation. The 38,000 members of the Colorado Education Association stated in their State of Education report that pushing the legislature to find avenues to allocate more funding to public education is the main priority for Colorado educators during this legislative session.
“Frustrated educators, many who work two to three jobs just to make ends meet, have time and again seen new dollars go to outside education consultants or for-profit testing and management companies, instead of seeing deserved increases in their paychecks,” said CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert, a high school counselor.
Creating the Educator Pay Raise Fund has the potential to help thousands of educators stay in the profession. Students thrive with a stable, supportive educators at school, but with Colorado experiencing a massive educator shortage and a significant decline in young people going into the education profession, educators say that is not in the best interest of students.
“The legislature needs to ensure increased education funding will directly translate to valuing the role of educators in our students’ lives and compensating them as professionals,” Baca-Oehlert added.“If we value education, we can find the resources to provide professional, sustainable pay for all educators. Our legislature can send a strong message that the education profession matters to Colorado’s success by passing Senate Bill 89.”
Educators seeking a livable wage have public opinion on their side: three-quarters of Americans support raising educator pay (the highest level of support in a decade) and 76% of Coloradans think teacher pay falls short (up from 51% in 2011).
# # #
Jan 8, 2020 | Press
Members working in top state economy want to see legislative plan to eliminate recession-era budget cuts
DENVER – The Colorado Education Association welcomes legislators back to the Capitol today with a pressing desire to collaborate with lawmakers on our state’s desperate need to raise educator pay.
It’s no secret Colorado offers teachers the least competitive pay in the country. The 38,000 members of CEA expect the legislature will create a pathway for districts to immediately and meaningfully improve educator compensation in order to recruit and retain quality educators across the state.
CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert
“Tackling low educator compensation head-on is the boldest move the Legislature can make in 2020 to give our students the schools they deserve. We will have a strong presence at the Capitol throughout the session because educators across Colorado deserve a livable wage so that they can afford to work and live in the communities they serve,” said CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert, a high school counselor.
Baca-Oehlert said CEA will champion the creation of a dedicated fund for the explicit purpose of increasing educator pay and salaries across Colorado, and a significant buy-down of the debt owed to our schools and students in the budget stabilization factor. At the same time, CEA will call for legislators to truly prioritize public schools and students by marking new revenue for K-12 public education, ending unfunded (or underfunded) mandates, and ending new grant or pilot programs.
“Our lawmakers need to demonstrate their commitment to public education by directing meaningful resources to our schools and educators who help students thrive,” Baca-Oehlert added.“The legislature has failed to fund our schools, allowing funding cuts started during the Great Recession to continue many years after Colorado’s remarkable economic recovery. Every legislator should be motivated to change a system in which our great collective success is not reaching and benefiting our own children, and finally commit to a plan to eliminate K-12 education cuts in three years.”
The cuts in education funding from the budget stabilization factor are withholding $572 million from schools and students in the current school year. Lost K-12 funding since 2009 totals $8.1 billion, wreaking havoc on districts, depressing educator salaries, and preventing resources from reaching the classroom. The proposed state budget lawmakers will debate in this session only makes a small effort to fill the funding hole, keeping the cut well above half-a-billion dollars for the 2020-21 school year.
To identify the most critical needs of educators and form CEA’s legislative priorities, Baca-Oehlert led a statewide listening tour that captured educator voice across 13 forums last fall, culminating in CEA’s first-ever State of Education report released in November.
“Educators spoke candidly about the ever-increasing demands to do more with less resources – more testing, more unfunded mandates, more mental health challenges and larger class sizes,” Baca-Oehlert observed.“The results are sobering and tells me the time has come to decide what kind of Colorado we want to become – one that wants the very best for its students and values educators by paying them appropriately, or a Colorado that doesn’t prioritize education or the future of students.”
In addition to raising low pay and meaningfully increasing school funding, educators identified additional items for state lawmakers to address to improve the state of education in Colorado:
- Lessen educator workloads and reduce large class sizes;
- Add mental health supports for educators and students;
- Minimize the influence of private corporations in public schools;
- Fix educator evaluations to accurately reflect how teachers are doing in their jobs; and
- Prioritize all working families and union values.
Baca-Oehlert concluded,“If legislators listen to the powerful voice of 38,000 CEA members over the next few months, they will arrive at an obvious answer: improving educator compensation now is the greatest achievement the legislature can make in 2020 to ensure the long-term success of our state.”
# # #
