Colorado Education Association Members: Do You Know How Your Dues Money Is Being Spent?

Attention, Colorado teachers and other public education employees: Do you belong as a member (or as a non-member fee-payer) to the Colorado Education Association? If so, how much do you know about how your dues money is used? It’s a good question, isn’t it? If you went to the CEA office, or your local union office, and asked to see the financial records from the most recent fiscal year, what would you find out?

Part of your dues money goes directly to the National Education Association ($158 for full-time members in 2008-09). You can learn about the NEA’s revenues and expenditures by going to this official U.S. Department of Labor site, typing 000-342 in the File Number box at the top, and clicking “Submit”.

But $363 of full-time union members’ money goes to CEA. And you know what? CEA is exempt from the requirement to file the Labor Department disclosure. So is your local association and your local UniServ office – where anywhere from another $175 to $290 per year in full-time dues goes.

To dig a little deeper into this issue, please read the new report Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency (PDF). And take a listen to this 10-minute iVoices podcast interview with the paper’s author Ben DeGrow:

So have you gone down to the CEA or local union office to ask to take a look at the books? If so, what did you find out? Wouldn’t it be easier to see an annual report filed online with a Colorado state agency – something like the reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor?

Join Independent Teachers on Facebook!

Are you a Colorado teacher or other public school employee who finds the information on this site useful? Do you support Colorado public educators who aren’t interested in toeing the teachers union political line, and who appreciate knowing their membership options?

Then you are invited to join Colorado Independent Teachers on Facebook. A link is also available on the sidebar.

Joining the group is a great way to stay up-to-date on membership-related information that affects public school employees here in Colorado. Go here to learn more about Independent Teachers.

Colorado Education Association Tops Million Dollar Mark in 2008 Political Contributions

The final reports are in for political contributions for 2008. The Colorado Education Association (CEA) and its affiliates narrowly topped one million dollars in giving to political candidates and parties.

Here are the details:

The Colorado Education Association (CEA) and its affiliates, mostly through Every Member Option funds, have reported $1,000,585 in political contributions during the 2007-08 election cycle – including:

* $452,360 to Democratic candidates and party organizations
* $263,500 to the 527 group Accountability for Colorado to support political candidates — Accountability for Colorado is also funded by liberal billionaires from the “Gang of Four”
* $210,000 to the 527 group Colorado Citizens’ Coalition to support “progressive” political candidates
* $9,250 to Republican candidates and party organizations — that’s 1 dollar to Republicans for every 49 dollars to Democrats

Note: This does not include $4,657,810 contributed to the issue committee Protect Colorado’s Future and $1,600,000 to the issue committee Coloradans for Middle Class Relief to oppose three Colorado state ballot initiatives.

And for AFT:

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Colorado has reported $60,275 in political contributions during the current election cycle – including $40,275 to Democratic candidates and party organizations and $0 to Republicans.

As usual, other membership groups that Colorado teachers are eligible to join did not spend any money on the 2008 election because they do not sponsor any committees to fund political action:

That closes the book on the 2008 election cycle and the roles of different Colorado teacher organizations. Where did your money go this past year?

December 15 deadline for Colorado Education Association Members to Request Political Refund

In this 2-minute video, a Jefferson County teacher advertises the Independent Teachers site and tells interested Colorado Education Association members how they can get refunds from CEA ($39) and their local unions (as much as $24) before December 15:

To learn how to obtain the political refunds, including a link to the online request form and refund request contact information, go here.

Or you can go directly to CEA’s Every Member Option refund request page here.

December 15: Political Refund Deadline for Colorado Education Association Members

The busy Christmas season is upon us. As the winter holiday break rushes closer and closer, members of the Colorado Education Association (CEA) may forget about – if they’re even aware of – the opportunity to receive a refund of the Every Member Option (EMO) political contribution deducted along with their dues.

To get back the $39 EMO from CEA, members can go here to this simple online request form.

You can find more information on the CEA refund – or separate EMO refunds available to CEA members in Jefferson County ($24), Denver ($24), Adams 12 ($24), Pueblo 60 ($24), Boulder Valley ($12), Poudre ($11), St. Vrain ($10), Pueblo, or Mesa Valley ($6) – on the Political Refunds page.

You will find sample letters you can download and print from your computer that can be filled out quickly and easily, and dropped in the mail. In some cases, it’s even easier: There’s an email address to which you can send your refund request. Again, you will find this information on the Political Refunds page.

You can click here to compare how CEA and its local affiliates spent member money on political campaigns in 2008 with other membership organizations Colorado teachers are eligible to join.

Click here to submit a question by email concerning any of the information on IndependentTeachers.org.

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