The NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (NEA) is the largest professional
interest group in the United States. It represents public school
teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges
and universities , retired educators, and college students preparing
to become teachers. The NEA has just under 3 million members and is
The stated mission of the NEA is "to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world."
The NEA, originally on the conservative side of U.S. politics, by the 1970s emerged as a factor in modern liberalism . While the NEA has a stated position of "non-partisan", it typically supports the Democratic Party . Conservatives, libertarians, and parents' rights groups have criticized the NEA's liberal positions.
State affiliates of the NEA regularly lobby state legislators for
funding , seek to influence education policy, and file legal actions.
At the national level, the NEA lobbies the
United States Congress
* 1 Structure and governance
* 2 History
* 2.1 Founding * 2.2 Mergers * 2.3 Membership trends
* 3 Composition
STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE
The NEA has a membership of just under 3 million people. The NEA is
incorporated as a professional association in a few states and as a
labor union in most. The group holds a congressional charter under
Title 36 of the United States Code
NEA members set the union's policies through the Representative Assembly (RA). The RA, which is a delegation comprising elected representatives from each local and state affiliate, coalitions of student members and retired members, and other segments of the united education profession—is the primary legislative and policy-making body of the NEA.
The executive officers of the NEA are Lily Eskelsen García (President), Rebecca Pringle (Vice President), and Princess Moss (Secretary-Treasurer). These three posts are elected by the Representative Assembly.
Board of Directors
The NEA was founded in
NEA officially merged with the American Teachers Association , the historically black teachers association founded as the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, in 1966.
In 1998, a tentative merger agreement was reached between NEA and
American Federation of Teachers
MEMBERSHIP (US RECORDS; ×1000) ------------------------- FINANCES (US RECORDS; ×$1000) Assets Liabilities Receipts Disbursements
Before the 1960s, only a small portion of public school teachers were
unionized. That began to change in 1959, when
In the 1960s, the NEA's demographics were changing. This was due to the merger with ATA and the decision to become a true labor union, among other factors. In 1967, the NEA elected its first Hispanic president, Braulio Alonso . In 1968, NEA elected its first black president, Elizabeth Duncan Koontz .
In 2006, the NEA and the
In 2007, at the 150th anniversary of its founding, NEA membership had grown to 3.2 million. However, by July 2012, USA Today reported that NEA had lost more than 100,000 members since 2010.
For most of the 20th century, the NEA represented the public school
administration in small towns and rural areas. The state organizations
played a major role in policy formation for the NEA. After 1957, the
NEA reoriented itself to primarily represent the teachers in those
districts, rather than just the administrators. It came to resemble
American Federation of Teachers
According to NEA's Department of Labor records since 2005, when membership classifications were first reported, the majority of the union's membership are "active professional" members, having fallen only slightly from 74% to the current 71%. The second largest category have been "active education support professional" members, with about 15%. The third largest category are "retired" members, which have grown from 8% to 10%. Two other categories, "active life" and "student" members, have both remained with around 2%, falling slightly. These categories are eligible to vote in the union, though the union lists some comparatively marginal categories which are not eligible to vote: "staff," "substitute" and "reserve" members, each with less than 1% of the union's membership. NEA contracts also cover some non-members, known as agency fee payers, which since 2006 have numbered comparatively about 3% of the size of the union's membership.
As of 2014 these categories account for about: 2.1 million "active professionals," 457,000 "active education support professionals," 300,000 "retirees," 52,000 "students," 42,000 "active life" members, and just under nine thousand others, plus about 90,000 non-members paying agency fees.
Most NEA funding comes from dues paid by its members ($295 million in dues from a $341 million total budget in 2005). Typically, local chapters negotiate a contract with automatic deduction of dues from members' paychecks. Part of the dues remain with the local affiliate (the district association), a portion goes to the state association, and a portion is given to the national association. The NEA returned 39 percent of dues money back to state affiliates in 2012-2013.
Federal law prohibits unions from using dues money or other assets to contribute to or otherwise assist federal candidates or political parties, in accordance with their tax-exempt status. The NEA Fund for Children and Public Education is a special fund for voluntary contributions from NEA members which can legally be used to assist candidates and political parties. Critics have repeatedly questioned the NEA's actual compliance with such laws, and a number of legal actions focusing on the union's use of money and union personnel in partisan contexts have ensued.
The NEA has taken positions on policy issues including:
* "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education," a report by the NEA
in 1918. They emphasized the education of students in terms of health,
a command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation,
citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. They
Emphasized life adjustment and reflected the social efficiency model
of progressive education .
* The "Preliminary Report on the Tenure of Teachers" appeared in
1920, cautiously recommending school boards adopt a policy of tenure.
* From 1923–1928, Hunter’s "Committee of One Hundred on the
Problem of Tenure" stressed the advantages of tenure for society. In
1925, it argued that tenure: "protects the great body of good teachers
from political attack and from dismissal for petty personal and
political reasons," but also argued that administrators should
maintain control over dismissal decisions.
* Reforming the
No Child Left Behind Act
National Education Association
NEA has played a role in politics since its founding, as it has sought to influence state and federal laws that would affect public education. The extent to which the NEA and its state and local affiliates engage in political activities, especially during election cycles, has been a source of controversy.
The organization tracks legislation related to education and the teaching profession and encourages members to get involved in politics.
* 1910-1915: Women play increasing leadership roles in NEA.
* 1912: NEA endorses women\'s suffrage in the United States
* 1918: NEA "Commission on the Emergency in Education", with George
Strayer as chairman, Warns that the evidence from the wartime draft
shows millions of potential soldiers were illiterate or poorly
educated, and often in bad health. The NEA study said the cause was
very low quality rural schools in the South, badly trained teachers,
and inequitable financing. It called for $100 million of federal aid
to remedy the deficiencies, but none was forthcoming. Many states,
however, started setting minimal standards for rural schools.
* 1923: NEA starts to promote state pension plans for teachers; by
1950, every state had a pension plan in effect.
* 1920s: The main NEA goal during this period was to raise teacher
salaries, raise standards, and to gain a cabinet-level U.S. Secretary
of Education. Success on the cabinet issue came in 1979.
* 1930s: The NEA was never on good terms with the New Deal. Its main
goal was for Congress to pass a multipurpose public finance bill that
would supplement local property taxes in funding public schools. Some
relief money was used to build schools, but the New Deal avoided
channeling any of it through the Office of Education. Legislation
never succeeded, because it would condone segregated schools in the
South and because Roosevelt rejected any across-the-board program. He
believed that federal money should only go to the poorest schools, and
none to rich states. The New Deal set up its own separate educational
program through the
Civilian Conservation Corps and other relief
* 1940s: NEA successfully lobbied Congress for special funding for
public schools near military bases.
* 1944: NEA lobbied for the
G.I. Bill , a law that provided a range
of benefits for returning
World War II
* 1968-68. Wave of school strikes outside South; 80% by NEA.
* 1969: 450,000 teachers covered by 1,019 collective bargaining
agreements. NEA accounted for 90 percent of the contracts and 61
percent of the teachers.
* 1972: New York State Teachers Association quits the NEA and merges
with the AFT.
* 1970s: State affiliates become powerful lobbyists.
* 1976: 265 NEA delegates attend the Democratic National Convention
; NEA endorses Democrat
* 1984: NEA lobbies for passage of a federal retirement equity law that provides the means to end sex discrimination against women in retirement funds. * 2000–present: NEA lobbies for changes to the No Child Left Behind Act * 2009: NEA delegates to the Representative Assembly pass a resolution that opposes discriminatory treatment of same-sex couples.
In recent decades the NEA has increased its visibility in party
politics, endorsing more Democratic Party candidates and contributing
funds and other assistance to political campaigns. The NEA asserts
itself as "non-partisan", but critics point out that the NEA has
endorsed and provided support for every Democratic presidential
Based on required filings with the federal government, it is
estimated that between 1990 and 2002, eighty percent of the NEA's
substantial political contributions went to Democratic Party
candidates and ninety five percent of contributions went to Democrats
in 2012. the NEA maintains that it bases support for candidates
primarily on the organization's interpretation of candidates' support
for public education and educators. Every presidential candidate
endorsed by the NEA must be recommended by the NEA's PAC Council
(composed of representatives from every state and caucus) and approved
Board of Directors
The NEA is a member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition .
LEGISLATION OPPOSED AND SUPPORTED
In September 2013, the NEA wrote an open letter to the United States House of Representatives opposing the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 (H.J.Res 59; 113th Congress) . The NEA urged representatives to vote no because the bill "continues the devastating cuts to education set in motion by the sequester and permanently defunds the Affordable Care Act." The organization stated that they may decide to use the vote on this bill in their NEA Legislative Report Card for the 113th Congress.
Some critics have alleged the NEA puts the interests of teachers
ahead of students. The NEA has often opposed measures such as merit
pay , school vouchers , weakening of teacher tenure , certain
curricular changes, the
No Child Left Behind Act
With the modern scrutiny placed on teacher misconduct, particularly
regarding sexual abuse, the NEA has been criticized for its failure to
crack down on abusive teachers. From an Associated Press
investigation, former NEA President
Reg Weaver commented, "Students
must be protected from sexual predators and abuse, and teachers must
be protected from false accusations." He then refused to be
Also criticized is the NEA's alleged "goal of changing public opinion on homosexuality, starting with the youngest generation," according to a former chairman of the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus. Some critics believe the NEA promotes a gay rights agenda , especially since the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 2005 case Fields v. Palmdale School District. The case originated when some Florida elementary school students were administered a school survey containing sexual questions. Parents, who had not been told the survey would contain questions of a sexual nature, brought the case forward. The court in that case ruled that parents' fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children "does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door,"( a line specifically stricken from the record, 447 F.3d 1187) and that a public school has the right to provide its students with "whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise." NEA states that it does not "encourage schools to teach students to become gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT)," but the NEA does believe that "schools should be safe for all students and advocates that schools should raise awareness of homophobia and intervene when LGBT students are harassed."
NEA has come under fire for taking advantage of laws in some states that compel, under certain conditions, membership in the association. In a case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court (Davenport v. Washington Education Association ) on behalf of 4,000 Washington State teachers who are not NEA members but are nonetheless forced to pay NEA dues, the Court partially addressed the issue of collection and use of dues by unions such as the NEA.
A leading critic of NEA from the left is Dr Rich Gibson, whose article on the NEA-AFT merger convention in Cultural Logic outlines a critique of unionism itself.
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National Education Association