Feb 9, 2022 | Blog
One benefit most educators in Colorado look forward to is their PERA (Public Employee Retirement Association) benefit. Our educators, whether they are early career, late career, or retired, do their share to make sure PERA is as sustainable as possible.
When I was an early career educator, retirement was only a dream but I had faith in the fact that I and my district contributed to a plan that would allow me to retire with dignity.
Sure enough, by the time I retired, I had a nice, guaranteed income that hopefully I can count on for the rest of my life.
There have been a few changes along the way: employee contributions have increased, retiree benefits do not increase as much as they did and employers must contribute a great deal more. Through it all, PERA has a plan to be fully funded and from an actuarial standpoint, I hope it is sustainable.
With educators leaving the profession earlier and not as many people going into it, I worry about PERA’s future. I trust the legislation that has been put in place to protect investments to keep PERA solvent. Senate Bill (SB) 18-200 increased the contributions and slowed down the payment increases but it also committed the State to contribute $225 million per year to shore up PERA. In the Spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the entire State budget had to be cut by several billion dollars and one of the first things to go was the $225 million PERA contribution. Fast forward to the next year and an upswing in the economy and the $225 million was put back in.
This session, Rep. Shannon Bird (HD35) is sponsoring a bill to reverse any damage that might have been done to the PERA investments in 2020. Not only does this bill recommend backfilling the $225 million lost that year, but also contributing the $60 million that was lost in interest for the year it was not invested.
It is always nice to have a legislator who has your back. If this bill passes, it will reap benefits for years to come and ensures those of us collecting our retirement checks from PERA will not have to worry about future retirement income. Please thank Rep. Bird for her advocacy. She can be reached at Shannon.bird.house@state.co.us.
Lori Goldsein is a retired special education teacher and president of CEA-Retired.
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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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.
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Jun 20, 2021 | Blog
I do not think that there is a single educator who does not deeply feel that this past school year was the most challenging year ever. This year marks my twenty-fourth year in education, and I think, like all of you, nothing would have ever prepared me for what this last year brought to us all. Educating students in the midst of a global pandemic while dealing with political, social and racial unrest is not something you learn about in your educator preparation courses in college.
Yet every single educator across Colorado did more than meet the challenge. As we look back on this past school year, there are many emotions that come to mind: triumph, exhaustion, sadness, joy, fear; you name it, we all felt it. There are many lessons learned and there are many ways that public education will be forever changed by the lessons of this past year. As we move forward, there will be time for deep reflection and analysis. But for now, it is time to rest and rejuvenate.
This also marks my seventh year experiencing education as a parent. My oldest daughter just completed sixth grade while my youngest completed third, and my middle fourth. Among the many things that happened this year, I got to experience them all not only from the lens of an educator or the president of the largest union in the state, but also as a mom. As a mom, my deep respect and passion for public education and educators only grew. I had a front row parent seat to the peaks, the valleys, and everything in between, of remote learning, quarantining, mask wearing, etc. There were days where I was amazed to the point of tears by what my childrens’ educators were doing to make learning happen. And learning definitely happened. I think my third grader sums it up best in her end of year letter to her teacher:
“Dear Mrs. B,
Thank you for being the best teacher ever! You have persevered the whole year. I’ve learned so much from you this school year. Challenging or not you can do it. I have enjoyed your class and (am) sad to leave it. I am going to miss you so much.”
“Challenging or not, you can do it.” Those words hit me hard. Perseverance. Whether you are an eight-year-old third grader, a first year teacher, a twenty-year bus driver, or a teacher about to retire, we all defined perseverance this past school year. Together we overcame the most challenging school year we will ever face. We are all changed by this past year.
After we all have some much-deserved rest, disconnection and down time, it will be our moment to define the future. While I hope that we will never have to experience a year like this past one, we know that every year holds challenges and obstacles to overcome. This next school year we will come back to the unknowns of moving forward after the most traumatic year our students and we have experienced. We will have critical school board elections. We may have challenges that we can’t even begin to think of right now, but what we know, what we have learned from this year, is that challenge or not, we can do it. I wish you a restful and rejuvenating summer. I look forward to continuing the fight for students and public education with you, the true champions. Be well. Take care. Rest. Get ready.
Amie Baca-Oehlert is a high school counselor and president of the CEA.
