Colorado has a teachers’ union problem. From embracing gender ideology amid drag show field trips to enshrining anti-white initiatives in collective bargaining agreements, Colorado teachers’ unions have repeatedly shown their penchant for left-wing politics at the expense of students and communities.
This April, the Colorado Education Association (CEA) passed a resolution condemning capitalism, citing its fundamental “exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources.” Due to seemingly endless resources from their national organizations, teachers’ unions often go unchecked in school districts, especially in deep blue states.
Parents from Colorado’s Woodland Park School District, however, have taken a stand against the Woodland Park Education Association (WPEA).
As a result of virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents had the unique opportunity to witness the content being taught in public school classrooms. According to Woodland Park School Board President David Rusterholtz, this was a significant motivator that led community members to elect four new conservative members to the board in 2021.
Many parents hoped this change would curb the district’s left-wing impulses, and the board subsequently implemented a slew of changes, including allowing parents to opt out of controversial education topics. In January, the board installed Ken Witt as interim superintendent and, under his leadership, Woodland Park has opened its first charter school, implemented the Civics Alliance’s American Birthright Standards and responded to the CEA’s radical stance on capitalism.
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Its resolution states, “(T)he Board of Education hereby declares its support for the American economic system and the American Constitution, which, in concert with a firm adherence to faith and family, constitutes the fundamental and exceptional foundation of our education system and our nation.”
Unsurprisingly, the Woodland Park Education Association is unhappy. In January, WPEA president Nate Owen held a meeting for all school district staff. “What’s said here, stays here,” he said, requiring all of the meeting’s virtual attendees to show their faces and display their full names or be removed from the call.
To begin, Owen asserted, “As staff, we are being targeted for voicing our opinion.”
Several national union representatives were present and had the opportunity to speak. One set the tone for the rest of the meeting. “This is a giant nationwide battle,” he said. “It’s a statewide battle, it’s a regional battle and you guys are one of the epicenters of it … don’t get distracted by the noise. Focus.”
The hyperbole escalated from there. Owen told teachers, “We’ve seen this same fight get fought across the state. We saw it in (Jefferson County) a few years ago. it’s being fought in (Douglas County), it’s being fought in Pueblo. We’re fighting it in Colorado Springs Air Academy School District (and) we’re fighting it in Colorado Springs District 11.”
He likened the struggle of public school teachers in Woodland Park to the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, insisting the Woodland Park school board poses a serious threat to students in the district. Owen even went so far as to quote the civil rights-themed movie, The Butler: “We can pull ourselves out of the oppression with patience, with perseverance, with intelligence and thought, but with discipline and just a bit a humor.”
In addition, Owen announced that the Woodland Park School District was under a CEA-sponsored crisis assessment process.
In Colorado, teachers’ unions are colluding district by district to replace traditional curriculum with left-wing politics under the guise of “honest education.” During the WPEA meeting, Owen mentioned that union representatives from several other Colorado school districts “fighting the same fight” had offered “help in any way, shape or form.”
Other unions are looking to WPEA to set the tone. An agenda item from a recent Pueblo Education Association meeting invited union members to “watch what is happening in Woodland Park School District” to emphasize the importance of electing pro-union school board candidates.
Luckily for students, the Woodland Park school board members knew what they were signing onto. According to Vice President David Illingworth, “We represent Woodland Park values, and we’re not going to be intimidated, bow or take knee to a big teachers’ union that’s there to launder money through our teachers into the pockets of special interests and politicians.”
Though the battle for education in Woodland Park is far from over, other school districts should take note.
Educational reform is possible in Colorado, and it starts with a good look into the ideological agenda of teachers’ unions in classrooms across the state.
Maddie Dermon is a policy and research analyst at the Freedom Foundation.
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