DENVER—An annual deadline is looming for Colorado teachers to request a refund of that portion of their union dues going to political purposes with which they might well disagree.
Members of Colorado’s statewide teachers’ union are entitled to a $49 partial refund of their dues. The money otherwise goes toward supporting union-backed candidates and political causes.
Many teachers are unaware of their right to the yearly refund, or the mid-December deadline to apply.
Every Colorado teacher who joins their local union automatically joins the National Education Association (NEA) as well as the Colorado Education Association (CEA).
According to the CEA website, the statewide union is then organized into approximately 200 local affiliated groups that are governed by member-elected officials.
CEA’s Every Member Option (EMO) program automatically takes $49 from each individual teacher’s dues to support its small donor committee. These are political committees that accept individual donations of no more than $50 and are used to funnel money to union-preferred candidates and various political activities.
Every teacher is entitled to a refund of the EMO portion if they would rather not financially support the small donor committee. The catch, however, is that teachers must proactively request the refund by Dec. 15, 2025.
The CEA says they use EMO money to support candidates for elective offices such as school boards, governor, and the state legislature. In the 2025 election the CEA reports that EMO contributions were used to “defeat reform candidates in Denver” and “reject far-right efforts to take control of schools in Cortez and Grand Junction.”
The last seven election reporting periods (as of Oct. 27) show the CEA spent $502,696 from its small donor committee on union-backed school board candidates.
In addition to the CEA’s political deduction, any local CEA affiliate with a small donor committee has a separate, local EMO. This money can also be refunded back to the teacher if requested separately, usually before the Dec. 15 CEA deadline.
For example, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) has a local EMO of $48 on top of the CEA’s EMO, meaning Denver teachers are eligible for a $97 total refund on their yearly dues.
According to the secretary of state’s Transparency in Contribution and Expenditure Reporting (TRACER) site, the DCTA has contributed local EMO money to candidates outside of the Denver area. This year, for example, DTCA gave $2000 to Joan Anderssen, a school board candidate in Littleton. The Denver union also gave $1000 to Tracie Alvarado, running for the 27J school board in Thornton.
Independence Institute,* a free market think tank in Denver, has launched its annual social media campaign to inform teachers about their opportunity to receive this partial refund before the Dec. 15 deadline.
The think tank’s Independent Teachers website provides details on how to apply for the refund at both the state and local union level.
*Independence Institute is the publisher of Complete Colorado.
