UFT COPE
Your contribution to the union's Committee on Political Education (COPE) enables us to continue to fight for funding for public education while we push back on attempts to cut school budgets and programs that provide direct services to students.
UFT COPE is entirely funded by voluntary contributions. We do not use any union dues money for political action.
Prefer to fill out a paper enrollment form? You can download and print the form:
Return your completed form to your chapter leader or to Maria Lisa Spencer at mspencer [at] uft [dot] org (mspencer[at]uft[dot]org).
What is UFT COPE?
The Committee on Political Education (COPE) is the UFT’s political action arm. It covers expenses related to:
- Helping elect candidates who respect UFT members, support public education and work to advance public policies we favor. We back candidates who back us; and we support public officials who get things done for our members, parents and students.
- Educating lawmakers and lobbying for legislation and policies that protect public education and safeguard or enhance UFT members' rights and benefits.
What has UFT COPE achieved?
Examples of our recent legislative victories include:
- Secured landmark state legislation that will lower class sizes in New York City by a third over the next six years.
- Reformed Tier 6 to enable UFT members to vest in the pension system after five years on the job, down from 10.
- Secured $7 billion in federal education funds directly for NYC schools to address the challenges posed by the pandemic
- Pushed Albany to meet the promise of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and fully fund Foundation Aid for NYC schools.
- Secured death benefits for families who lost someone in the line of duty from COVID-19.
- Ensured automatic enrollment of UFT-represented paraprofessionals in the Teachers' Retirement System.
- Voted NO on the constitutional convention to protect our pensions and healthcare benefits.
- Secure funding from the New York City Council each year for key union initiatives including Teacher’s Choice, United Community Schools, Teacher Center, Dial-A-Teacher and BRAVE.
We need your support to continue this vital advocacy and political work to get the results we want.