At its most recent school board meeting on June 14, the Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education passed a resolution presented by School Board Vice President Jason Jorgenson titled “Support for Economic Freedom and Impartial Classrooms.”

D-11’s resolution was a response to the Colorado Education Association, Colorado’s largest teachers union, who on April 22 passed a resolution condemning capitalism and saying in part that “the CEA believes that capitalism inherently exploits children, public schools, land, labor, and resources.”

That assertion is as false as it is strongly stated, and is radically to the left of even Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. Asked about it in an interview on “Face the Nation,” the governor referred to the CEA’s position as “bizarre” and said that “It’s the great economic engine of capitalism that creates the prosperity that funds our schools.”

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Bizarre, indeed. History tells us that socialist countries scrape by (on the rare occasion that they do at all) only because they are supported by countries that uphold economic freedom like ours.

The United States is able to shield Europe under its nuclear umbrella against Russia only because we have the resources to do so. Every luxury we have, from our military to our public education system, is made possible only through our nation’s economic liberty.

Another issue with the CEA’s statement is that it is not its responsibility to make and it harms political neutrality in the classroom. The CEA’s website claims it represents “39,000 K-12 teachers, education support professionals, higher education staff, retired educators, and students preparing to become educators.”

Given the direct impact that the CEA’s resolution could have on the classroom, parents and community members began asking the D-11 school board what this resolution would mean for instruction in their children’s classrooms, and how it would impact political impartiality.

In response to their concerns, the D-11 board passed this resolution stating in part “Therefore, be it resolved that the Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education strongly rejects the CEA resolution, recognizes that capitalism has done immeasurably more than any other economic system in history to advance human prosperity and assures parents of the district’s commitment to providing students neutral learning environments that prioritize academic achievement.”

School Board Directors Darleen Daniels and Julie Ott spoke against the D-11 resolution. By voting no, the two voted against political neutrality in classrooms. Daniels, who is up for reelection in November, took the CEA’s claims even further saying “countries are impoverished because they have been exploited. People are coming because their countries have been exploited of their resources and continuously today. I am almost sure that they would love to be in their country if they didn’t have someone taking it and using it in another country for other people’s advantage.”

That historically illiterate claim is certainly not shared by the people arriving on Florida’s shores on floating trash as they attempt to escape socialist Venezuela. It’s also not shared by School Board President Parth Melpakam, an Indian immigrant who received his bachelor’s degree in India and went on to receive his Ph.D. at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. In his comments on the resolution he said,

“Personally, I am an immigrant that came to this country and I came here not because my country was exploited … I came here because this country was the land of opportunity.”

Director Jorgenson, who presented D-11’s resolution, referred to the CEA’s position as “anti-American.” Melpakam and Jorgenson are also up for reelection this November.

The Colorado Springs District 11 School Board was wise to distance itself from the radical and uneducated position of Daniels and the CEA.

It is ironic and deeply troubling that people who are in positions of authority in our education system need basic, elementary educations themselves.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board