Colorado Education Association Records

The Colorado Teachers Association was organized in 1875, at a meeting in a high school building in Denver. In 1917 the association changed its name to the Colorado Education Association. Originally the organization discussed the propriety of educational content, considering the singing of patriotic songs and the adoption of new simplified spellings, but later on it developed a program to provide retirement stipends for teacher members, and even set up a health care program for members by 1944. It also helped provide education in rural parts of Colorado that were short of teachers. In the 1960s the CEA moved toward labor union related activities and collective bargaining for the sake of Colorado teachers.

In 1967 the Colorado Education Association helped create a collective bargaining agreement between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the Denver School Board. This was the first agreement of its kind in Colorado, and afterwards the CEA went on to create similar agreements in over 15 other counties during the late 1960s. It was not until 1977 that the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that these kinds of negotiations were legal in the state.

Ever since the late 1960s the CEA has wielded great influence in Colorado education, not only negotiating in their own right but also training local unions in the process of negotiating and writing contract language. The CEA has also given advisement to other state groups such as the Colorado Nurses Association. The CEA is the largest teachers union in Colorado and has associated groups in each counties of Colorado. It is itself associated with the National Education Association.