The 2020 Legislative Scorecard created by the Colorado Education Association ultimately is a reflection of how well legislators worked with educators to advance and champion the priorities and values set by CEA’s 39,000 members.

The Colorado Education Association set clear priorities for the 2020 legislative session based on the input of members and educators from the around the state. The first step was 13-city statewide tour to hear from members. This became the basis for the development of CEA’s 2020 Legislative Priorities:

• Improve Educator Compensation Across the State
• Improve Mental Health Supports for Students and Educators
• Improve Educator Workloads
• Prioritize Classrooms over Corporations
• Update the Educator Evaluation and the Accountability Systems
• Prioritize All Working Families and Union Values

The global pandemic and economic crisis created by COVID-19 meant a need to focus on health care, economic, and social needs; as well as meaningful social justice reform. The impact on the state’s budget also meant many hard decisions regarding funding had to occur. CEA issued a 2020 Emergency Legislative Agenda that called for:

• Support for a more Equitable Tax System
• Elimination of Unfunded Mandates and Other Grant Programs in Public Education
• Pausing the Costly Test-and-Punish Accountability System
• Making Budget Cuts Equitably
• Social Emotional Supports for Students and Educators
• Attracting and Retaining High-Quality Educators
• Dismantling Inequitable and Racist Structure

In both cases, there was one clear theme. The Colorado Legislature must take meaningful, creative, and bold action to address the chronic underfunding of our public schools. Additionally, CEA has consistently called for legislators to work with the educators when constructing legislation. As professionals who work closely with students we see the real impacts of the policies enacted by bills. Legislators should have regular and on-going engagement with educators; and work to ensure that educators are the leading voice and key stakeholders in policy.