Colorado teachers dropping unions

  (OneNewsNow.com) Monday, August 20, 2012

According to the Independence Institute, more than 3,000 teachers have left Colorado's largest teachers union over the past two years, and members are still dropping out.

Union representatives blame the state's reduced funding for education, but Ben DeGrow of the Independence Institute says that argument does not add up. He compares the membership decline to the number of teachers who have left the profession.

"The state Department of Education reports the state has only lost about 1,000 teachers," he notes. "So, three times more losses in membership than in decline in teachers -- something more than budget cuts is going on." DeGrow suggests that teachers are also put off by high dues and the union's increasing involvement in partisan politics. "At least a significant amount of these membership losses are reflected in either teachers who can't afford the dues and are finally looking for options that are more affordable, or they're just taking the opportunity to express their disagreement with the union's political philosophy," he decides.

Colorado is one of just a handful of states where teachers do not have to join or pay fees to a union, so the Independence Institute spokesman says it is easier for them to get out, if they so choose.