Ron Tupa (born August 26, 1966) is an American former politician. He is currently a staff member of

Democrats for Education Reform Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a New York-based political action committee which focuses on encouraging the Democratic Party to support public education reform and charter schools. History DFER emerged around the same time as the Educ ...

(DFER), a political action committee whose stated purpose is to support Democratic Party policies to reform American public education. His title is Director of State Legislatures. He is a former Democratic Colorado state legislator, where he served a total of 14 years in the CO General Assembly from 1994 to 2008 before leaving office in 2009 due to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

. He was a member of the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distr ...

from 1995 through 2000 and a member of the

Colorado Senate The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...

, representing the 18th District from 2001 to 2008.

Biography

Early life and education

Tupa was born in Harbor Beach, Michigan in 1966. He comes from a long line of

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

smen (brother, father, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, great uncles) and his father's service gave him the great opportunity to live in many different states, including Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi and military bases in New York and Texas. Opting not to enlist in the Coast Guard, Ron was instead the first of the Tupas to go on to college. After graduating from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1989, he moved to Colorado in 1990. He worked full-time for a year to establish state residency then went back to school to receive a teaching certificate from the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

in 1994.

Career

While attending the University of Colorado, Ron spent the next 3 years working nights and weekends as a

Teamster A teamster is the American term for a truck driver or a person who drives teams of draft animals. Further, the term often refers to a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in the United States and Canada. Origi ...

loading freight onto trucks. His years as a union member instilled in him an understanding of the value of collective bargaining for ensuring a middle-class standard of living. Through the years he has been a member of 3 different unions, including his current membership in AFSCME local 821. Sen. Tupa has taught high school social studies as a teacher or substitute teacher for the last 11 years, starting in 1995. In that time he has taught at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County,

Boulder High School Boulder High School is a high school in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Boulder Valley School District. Boulder High School was founded in 1875 as a preparatory school to the University of Colorado. In 1876, it was the first ...

, and in Louisville at Monarch High School. He has also taught at many middle schools and other high schools throughout

Boulder Valley School District The Boulder Valley School District No. Re2 is a school district in Colorado, headquartered in the BVSD Education Center in unincorporated Boulder County, near Boulder. The district serves Boulder, Gold Hill, Jamestown, Lafayette, Louisville, Ned ...

as a substitute teacher. In 1994, Ron was President of the Colorado Young Democrats when he was appointed to fill a vacancy for state representative in Boulder's House District 14. He was reelected in 1996 and again in 1998. In 2000, he was elected to the state senate and reelected in 2004 with over 70% of the vote. He was term-limited in 2008 after 14 years in public office.

Personal life

Tupa married Kara Miller in the summer of 2001, then divorced in 2008. They have two children, son Miller (born 2005) and daughter, Austin (born 2006). Tupa resides in Boulder.

References

External links

Colorado General Assembly - Ron Tupa
official government website
Ron Tupa
official campaign website
Project Vote Smart - Senator Ron D. Tupa (CO)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Ron D Tupa
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campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupa, Ron 1966 births Living people Colorado state senators Members of the Colorado House of Representatives University of Texas at Austin alumni