Did you know that if you’re a teacher at a public school in Colorado, you may be eligible for a political refund?
Every year, the Colorado Education Association deducts $39 from teacher paychecks above and beyond ordinary membership dues. This money funds the CEA’s political action committee, which gave nearly $1 million to Democrat candidates and left-leaning political organizations last year.
The Independence Institute, a Golden-based free market think tank and constant thorn in the side of big labor, wants all teachers to know they can ask for this money back. To spread its message, the institute has released an instructional video educating teachers about how to take advantage of this process.
This is the fifth year of the institute's campaign to educate teachers about their right to this refund, but the first time they've taken to YouTube's airwaves. According to institute education policy analyst Ben DeGrow, postcards were also mailed to thousands of teachers informing them of the refund process. DeGrow says the campaign has been wildly successful, with a four-fold increase in the number of refund requests by teachers in the first year alone. Since then, DeGrow maintains that the CEA has stopped disclosing the number of teachers that request political refunds.