Salazar leaving CEA; Bartels new executive director

Tony Salazar, executive director of the Colorado Education Association, is leaving that post later this month for a senior management position with the National Education Association’s Member Benefits Corp.

Brad Bartels, a CEA lawyer and then general counsel for more than 20 years, will be the new executive director.

Salazar is well known in education and political circles. He joined CEA as a lobbyist in 2001 and became executive director in 2008, serving during a period when the union experienced some membership declines and such policy challenges as passage and implementation of Senate Bill 10-191, the educator effectiveness law.

Tonette Salazar, Tony’s wife, also is well known for years of lobbying for school districts and other clients at the Capitol. She now works for the Education Commission of the States.

Bartels has been deeply involved in CEA’s legal activities, including the pending lawsuit that challenges the teacher placement portion of SB 10-191.

CEA’s structure also includes an elected full-time president, who generally is the public face of the group. The current president is Kerrie Dallman, a social studies teacher who’s on leave from the Jeffco schools.