You have to at least give the Colorado Education Association (CEA) points for brazen candor. At its 97th Annual Delegate Assembly in April, the state’s largest teachers’ union voted to formally oppose capitalism as an economic system.
The announcement came as little surprise to Coloradans who’ve watched as the union has veered so far to the left in recent years it’s now off the road entirely. What should set off alarm bells for everyone, however, is that CEA believes its militancy no longer has to be denied or defended.
A former Denver Public Schools teacher took to Twitter on April 22 to proclaim that Colorado's "largest union of over 39,000 education workers" had "just ratified a resolution...against capitalism as an economic system," meaning "CEA may now publicly advocate & lobby for anti-capitalist policies at the CO Capitol."
Although the union refuses to publicize the language of the anti-capitalist resolution, CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert confirmed its existence in an email to inquiring media, stating, “After a lengthy discussion, the CEA delegates adopted one resolution this year related to the impacts of capitalism on our students, public schools, communities and state.”
She continued, “I wish I could [tell you the specifics], but our resolutions and the content of the Delegate Assembly are, by default, internal documents and processes.”
“As [someone] who often has to listen to testimony by the CEA, I find their explanation about a possible anti-capitalism resolution wholly inadequate,” responded State Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park). “The lack of transparency is disappointing, but not surprising from this public employee union.”
The resolution’s author, Bryan Lindstrom, is an Aurora Public Schools history teacher and self-proclaimed “union organizer” who previously ran unsuccessfully for Aurora City Council with the proud endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America.
CEA is a state affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), America’s oldest and largest teachers’ union, and itself no stranger to allegations of corruption and communist ties.
In a 2015 book called “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children,” author Alex Newman notes the NEA “has barely bothered to conceal its leadership’s affinity for communism, collectivism, socialism, humanism, globalism and other dangerous ‘isms’ that threaten individual liberty.”
But the battle to keep radical ideology out of the classroom has been an interminable fight in our country.
In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling upholding a New York state law prohibiting communists from teaching in public schools. The majority decision supported the belief that “the state had a constitutional right to protect the immature minds of children in its public schools from subversive propaganda, subtle or otherwise, disseminated by those ‘to whom they look for guidance, authority and leadership.’”
In the seven decades since, teachers’ unions have crept further and further to the far-left, resulting in a movement with an uncanny resemblance to modern day Communism. Many have championed blatant discrimination under the guise of equity.
Unsurprisingly, a recent survey reported that more than half of Colorado parents (and 47 percent of all respondents) believe public education is on the “wrong track.”
The Colorado school system is going full steam ahead on the wrong track, and CEA has appointed itself the train’s engineer.
The Freedom Foundation reached out to the CAE to comment on their anti-capitalism resolution but has yet to receive a response.
Juliana Rubio is a multi-media specialist and spokesperson for the Freedom Foundation.