Colorado Teachers' Union Prioritizes LBGTQ Agenda Over Education
Grassroots groups emerge to challenge Colorado teachers unions’ partisan agenda
Colorado schoolteachers who do not support the LGBTQ agenda or legislation that diminishes the rights of parents are supporting politicians who do if they are union members.
That’s why Stacy Adair, an elementary school teacher in Colorado District 11, would like to see more of them drop out. During her 18-year career, Adair has never joined the Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) despite pressure to do so.
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Instead, she has formed two grassroots outfits that challenge union policies and support school board members aligned with the best interests of students, teachers, and parents. The D11 Achievement Alliance includes average citizens and retired teachers who show up at school board meetings while Teachers for Student Achievement recruits working teachers opposed to their union’s political activism. The CSEA, which represents District 11, is affiliated with the Colorado Education Association at the state level, and the National Education Association, which is the largest labor union in the country representing about 3 million public employees who are mostly teachers.
One-Sided Political Support By Teachers Unions
“From what I see on campaign finance reports, the unions are only donating to Democrats and it’s very one-sided,” Adair told Restoration News. “I don’t see where they are donating to any Republicans. Before COVID hit in 2020, I wasn’t paying as much attention and neither were a lot of my nonpartisan, or Republican friends. But we are now.”
At the local level, for instance, the Colorado Springs Education Association donated $5,000 in 2022 to Stephanie Vigil, a Democrat serving in Colorado’s House of Representatives, who has championed transgender legislation. Vigil was the lead sponsor of a bill that became law earlier this year requiring public schools to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns. Unlike the bill California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently signed into the law, the Colorado legislation does not prevent school districts from being required to notify parents if a student decides to change their gender identify.
“The Colorado bill is not quite as bad as the California bill,” Adair said. “The schools cannot keep secrets from parents, those kinds of provisions were taken out. But teachers could potentially get into trouble for using what someone else decides is not the correct pronoun.”
Adair is convinced Newsom’s law is illegal under the Family Education Right to Privacy Act, or FERPA, which gives parents the legal right to access school records and information. Parents residing in California’s Chino Valley United School District agree. The Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan, public interest law firm, has filed suit on behalf of the district against the California law.
A Strategic Retreat?
“I think the Democrats dropped some of the provisions of the Colorado bill because they knew it would run into problems with FERPA,” Adair said. “But it was my local union donating to a Democrat who was pushing this. That’s why we all need to pay attention because the unions are pushing an agenda that affects all of us.”
Adair sent screenshots to Restoration News of the campaign donations, and social media posts the local and state teachers’ unions circulated pushing left-of-center candidates and policy positions. She also sent a screen shot from the CSEA calling in supporters to help build float for the June 9, 2024, pride parade.
“The union had a float in the gay pride parade, but they didn’t have anything in the July 4th parade marking American independence,” she said. “This says something about the priorities they have.”
Adair is a member of Americans for Fair Treatment, a national nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of constitutional rights for public employees. She credits the group for keeping careful tabs on how “far left” the teachers’ unions have become at the local, state, and federal level.
The Colorado Education Association represents about 40,000 teachers, according to recent figures cited by AFFT. Some of its political spending shows up on 990 tax forms, but they don’t tell the whole story.
Follow the Money—And There’s a Lot of It In Colorado
The Form 990 disclosure for 2019 shows the CEA spending $35,537 on political activities. But here’s the twist. The union operates a 527 organization called the Colorado Fund for Children. That’s critical to know because 527 organizations can raise unlimited funds and are generally organized in support of specific candidates, policies, or elections. Colorado’s online campaign finance database shows this fund spent more than $1.2 million on politics during the 2021-22 election cycle.
So where did that money go? Just a few examples cited by AFFT:
- $259,891 to Students Deserve Better, an independent expenditure committee (IEC) that supports “pro public education” school board candidates.
- $250,000 to Colorado Labor Action, an IEC that seeks to elect pro union politicians to office.
- $250,000 to All Together Colorado and outfit that supports Democrats running for state senate.
- $200,000 to Better Colorado Alliance an outfit that supports Democrats running for the state’s House of Representatives.
The partisan nature of the union’s contributions runs counter to its core mission Isabel Blank, senior communications director with AFFT told Restoration News.
“We have public employee members across the political spectrum who are tired of their union advocating for partisan agendas instead of positive workplace improvements,” she said. “Regardless of personal political leanings, it’s clear that a union mandated to represent teachers shouldn’t be advancing any partisan agenda—on either side of the aisle. Unfortunately, this continues to be a recurring issue, with unions frequently prioritizing politics at the expense of their members.”
Union Officials Making Bank in Colorado
There are several key figures that substantiate Blank’s concerns.
AFFT found that about 60% of CEA’s spending went toward staff costs including about $7.7 million on compensation and benefits for its executives and employees. Remarkably, CEA did not spend any money on benefits for its members. But it does pay dues to the NEA. (Information on how the NEA spends those dues is available here.)
“I think it’s critically important for teachers who do not support their union’s politics to know they are not alone,” Adair said. “In fact, I think there’s a growing network of teachers across the country who want to see the focus come off politics and back inside the classroom.”
Adair credits the Freedom Foundation, an “action tank,” that works to limit the power and influence of public employee unions through litigation and activism. The foundation held its second annual “Teacher Freedom Summit” from July 8–10 in Denver, Colorado.
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