CEA responds to PACE op-ed
The following was submitted by Mike Wetzel, public relations director for the Colorado Education Association. (Discosure: CEA is a sponsor of Education News Colorado)
The Colorado Education Association has no problems and much praise for the title of Tim Farmer’s editorial, “Professional associations are the future of teaching.” Nearly 40,000 education professionals have voluntarily chosen to join CEA because they believe membership in this organization advances the teaching profession in Colorado. That phrase would’ve made a great CEA bumper sticker, had we thought of it first.
After the title, though, Mr. Farmer launches into a false argument that an organization with a union component – one that advances the teaching profession by advocating for fair salaries, decent working conditions and legal protections – cannot also have a robust, even larger, professional component.
Our recent work on the state council to define educator effectiveness for a new statewide evaluation system, in accordance with Senate Bill 191, is a great example of CEA’s professional achievements. CEA had three members on the State Council for Educator Effectiveness who pushed for statewide accountability measure