During a House Education Committee hearing last Wednesday, while discussing House Bill 15-1200, Colorado Education Association (Colorado’s teacher union) President, Kerrie Dallman, admitted that under no circumstance should a teacher who performs excellently at their job be paid more, even if it would mean that no other teacher would be paid less than they are currently compensated.

House Bill 15-1200, sponsored by Rep Kevin Priola (R-Henderson), would have established a special fund to pay teachers who created excellent outcomes in the classroom additional money to transfer to Colorado’s most struggling schools. This fund would be above-and-beyond current compensation levels and would not change any other current pay scales. Of course, the Colorado Education Association (CEA) couldn’t support any bill that would allow an excellent teacher the ability to receive more compensation than any other teacher, so CEA president Kerrie Dallman appeared to testify in opposition to the common-sense education legislation.

During the question and answer portion of Ms. Dallman’s testimony, Rep. Paul Lundeen (R-Monument) pressed Ms. Dallman on the position of her organization:

Rep. Lundeen: “Let me rephrase the question this way, is there a circumstance under which a more highly effective educator should be paid a higher wage?”

Ms. Dallman: “I do not . . . I do not believe so. All teachers do the same job
[emphasis added]. Now, the circumstance that I would see a different compensation working is when those highly effective teachers take on additional teacher leadership roles . . .”

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Ms. Dallman admitted that under no circumstance should a teacher who excels in the classroom be paid more than one who does not, unless that includes a change in responsibilities and job description, effectively, a different job.

“It’s clear the teacher union is so afraid of any measure that would give additional pay for excellent teachers, they will even oppose legislation that could help Colorado’s most struggling schools,” said Kelly Maher, executive director of Compass Colorado. “The Colorado Education Association is sacrificing Colorado’s most innocent and underserved population – children in failing schools – for the sake of protecting pay schemes that don’t serve the best interest of children.”

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