Program areas at MVEA
Lobbying: The association lobbies state and national legislators on education related issues. The President and members do this locally. At least once a year, MVEA pays for some members to travel to the state capital and lobby in person. The bulk of our lobbying efforts are done by our parent organizations, the Colorado Education Association and the National Education Association. They have the proximity (Denver and Washington D.C.) and the capacity to be much more effective than we could be, which is why we pay our dues to them. Lobbying efforts are ongoing and always have the purpose of defending and supporting public education. Another part of our lobbying efforts involve local elections about education related issues. MVEA allocates funding and time to find and promote local candidates to serve on the Board of Education. MVEA also allocates funding and time whenever a Mill Levy or Bond issue might appear on the ballots.
Advocacy: The organization advocates for teachers each day by mediating with administrators, Board of Education members, and the Superintendent. Issues involved with advocacy include morale, teacher workload, evaluations, professional learning, budget benefits, performance concerns and discipline matters. During this fiscal year we were able to get educator voices at the table of every district committee and initiative. We maintained positive relations between the Association, School Board and District Administration effectively eliminating the need for legal arbitration.
Negotiation: MVEA negotiates educators salary schedule as well as language in our Master Agreement. Negotiations take a significant amount of our budget in the form of Presidents time, paying for substitutes to cover classes for teachers who serve on the Negotiations team so they may attend meetings, food for these all-day meetings, and printing copies of our Master Agreement once Negotiations have ended. The Master Agreement language was voted on unanimously by District Administration, School Board Members, and the MVEA team. Both of these are achievements for MVEAs purpose of having a strong Master Agreement.