Delegates to the organization鈥檚 representative assembly last month narrowly voted to created by the Jewish advocacy group. They also the union from participating in programs led by the ADL or publicizing its professional development opportunities. But the NEA鈥檚 executive commission rejected the proposal days later following . 

The episode reopened an ongoing clash among the 3 million school employees represented by the union 鈥� the largest in the country by far 鈥� over numerous armed conflicts in the Middle East, alleged prejudice against both Jews and Arabs at home and how schools should teach about both. 

Teachers鈥� unions related to Israel, a trend that escalated rapidly in the wake of Hamas鈥� attack on the country Oct. 7, 2023, and the war that followed. But with the Trump administration in education, the about-face from the NEA suggests that the issue is increasingly viewed as treacherous ground. An ongoing Republican attempt to terminate the union鈥檚 congressional charter may be adding still more pressure. 

While noting that their decision to scuttle the measure was 鈥渋n no way an endorsement of the ADL鈥檚 full body of work,鈥� the union鈥檚 leadership expressed concerns over rising antisemitism, pledging to carefully review curricula designed to combat it. 

鈥淎fter consideration, it was determined that this proposal would not further NEA鈥檚 commitment to academic freedom, our membership or our goals,鈥� the authors concluded.

The delegates鈥� original motion to disaffiliate came after a series of confrontations with the ADL, which has been vocal in attacking what it deems as hateful and biased content circulated by educators. Throughout 2024 and 2025, the ADL has issued report cards for colleges and universities, accusing them of ignoring antisemitism during student protests against Israel鈥檚 wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran; their critical grades by members of Congress seeking to pressure the institutions into taking more dramatic action against student activists.

The disputes have extended into K鈥�12 schools as well, with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (an NEA affiliate) for circulating teaching materials it called antisemitic, including images of a dollar bill folded into a Star of David. For their part, the that the materials were mischaracterized and that the ADL鈥檚 denunciations had triggered death threats to MTA leaders and staff.

Merrie Najimy, a former president of the Massachusetts union who supported the anti-ADL resolution, said in an email that the since-reversed vote at the representative assembly 鈥渟ignals a sea change in the desire of the NEA rank-and-file for a new position from both their union and politicians.鈥�

鈥淭he ADL consistently commits acts of anti-Palestinian racism by falsely conflating the criticism of Zionism and Israel with antisemitism, dehumanizing the Palestinian People [sic], pushing to erase and censor Palestinian narratives in schools and targeting educators who speak up for Palestinian rights,鈥� Najimy wrote. 

Growing divisions

Patrick Crabtree, a retired teacher who served for four years as chair of the NEA Jewish Affairs Caucus, said he was deeply concerned that his fellow members had taken sides against 鈥渙ne of the most reputable organizations in America.鈥� 

鈥淚t shocked me that it was even under consideration,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it shocked me even more that it passed.鈥�

Crabtree observed that harsh sentiments against Israel have been somewhat commonplace during his involvement with the union. Delegates to officially declare support for Palestinians after a spasm of violence in 2021, when the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas traded airstrikes and missile volleys that killed hundreds. Once the IDF launched its invasion of Gaza, activists within the union to revoke its 2024 endorsement for Joe Biden, arguing that the president hadn鈥檛 done enough to restrain Israel. 

Dissension has spread to other teachers unions as well. In May, Michael Mulgrew encountered unusual resistance in winning a sixth term as president of New York City鈥檚 United Federation of Teachers. Accustomed to breezy victories, Mulgrew faced two challengers advocating for a more militant stance against Israel, including from any enterprises in the country. The combined share of the opposing candidacies of the union鈥檚 vote, indicating high levels of support for such policies. 

A few weeks later, the UFT New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has been bluntly critical of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza. 

Jerald Podair, a historian at Wisconsin鈥檚 Lawrence University, wrote about a seminal collision of American education politics: the 1968 teachers strike, when the UFT led a lengthy work stoppage after a number of Brooklyn teachers claimed that they had been subjected to antisemitic discrimination by the local Ocean Hill-Brownsville school board. 

At that time, the union鈥檚 membership was predominantly Jewish, including a large number of Holocaust survivors. In the decades since, he reflected, the UFT has become both more willing to wade into national politics and more internally divided on what positions to adopt.

鈥淎t Ocean Hill-Brownsville, the UFT was composed of moderately liberal members, virtually all of whom supported Israel,鈥� Podair said. 鈥淪o I think it’s fair to say that there is less homogeneity today 鈥� certainly less ethnic homogeneity 鈥� and less unanimity about the issues they choose to interject on.”

Politics as 鈥榮ideshow鈥�

Divisions within the NEA have become even more sharply defined since its executive commission, led by President Becky Pringle, dismissed the measure targeting the ADL.

Najimy called the move 鈥渁 fundamental violation of union democracy [that] has caused great harm to the Jewish and Arab-American educators who crafted and fought for it.鈥�

鈥淲hat鈥檚 more important,鈥� she continued, 鈥渋s that the education about the ADL went far beyond the walls of the representative assembly, and the desire of the representative assembly cannot be undone.鈥�

With tensions around antisemitism rising to a level rarely seen in recent U.S. history, education leaders around the country are taking steps to distance themselves and their institutions from perceptions of animus toward Jews. In response to threats from the Trump administration to remove billions of dollars in funding over violations of federal antidiscrimination statutes, Harvard to identify and remedy instances of antisemitism. Columbia, while not admitting any wrongdoing, agreed to pay $221 million into similar allegations. 

Even before President Donald Trump took office, both colleges following congressional hearings into antisemitism on their campuses. The Biden administration the School District of Philadelphia for taking insufficient steps to counter discrimination during the 2022鈥�23 and 2023鈥�24 school years.

Official sanctions have also been considered in the case of the NEA, with Republicans in Washington introducing legislation of its congressional charter. Sponsors specifically pointed to last month鈥檚 vote to break with the ADL as an impetus for the bill, though the GOP has weighed similar proposals in years past. (The consequences of losing the charter would be more symbolic than practical, though conservative activists for the more drastic step of barring the NEA from political organizing.)

Podair said Pringle鈥檚 intervention in the ADL spat likely reflected a belief that engagement in the hottest of political imbroglios didn鈥檛 offer sufficient upside in the fight that matters most to her supporters.

“The politics, for most union members, is a sideshow,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat really matters is how much money you make and what your health plan looks like. If you don’t deliver for your members on those things, you can take all the political stances you want, but you’re still going to be out.”

Crabtree shared the same view, adding that his own conversations with fellow union members usually revolved around pay and working conditions, with some concerns around explicitly education-related policies like school choice programs. Lately, he鈥檇 been hearing a familiar quip.

The country鈥檚 largest union, boasting more than 3 million members, is traditionally one of the biggest supporters of Democrats, lending both the power of its various political action committees鈥� purses for advertising and mailings, and its strength in numbers for boots-on-the-ground get-out-the-vote operations.

鈥淎cross the country, most of us want the same thing 鈥� strong public schools where every student, no matter their race, place, or background can grow into their full brilliance,鈥� said NEA President Becky Pringle in a statement to 蜜桃影视. 鈥淓ducators know that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are tireless champions for students and educators, who will work to support strong public schools, expand school-based mental health services, ensure no student is hungry, and lower costs for middle-class families.鈥� 

鈥淎s some of the most trusted people in every community, NEA members are knocking on doors, making phone calls, and talking to their communities about voting for Harris and Walz, along with pro-public education candidates up and down the ballot,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are using their educator voices because they know that the future of our public schools and our students will be shaped by what happens in this election.鈥�

Among the top 20 PACs based on contributions to Democratic candidates, total fundraising, total spent, and total spent in independent expenditures and communication costs, the NEA鈥檚 PACs place 11th, according to OpenSecrets, the non-partisan organization that tracks money in politics. It donated $3 million directly to the Harris campaign. 

The vast majority of the union super PAC鈥檚 expenditures 鈥� $6.9 million total this election cycle 鈥� went to other super PACs supporting Democrats. As of Oct. 8, the NEA Advocacy Fund had given $2.5 million to Future Forward USA Action, the pro-Harris super PAC and the biggest in American politics. It also doled out $1.5 million each to the House Majority PAC and the Senate Majority PAC in an effort to maintain Democrats鈥� razor-thin majority in the Senate and pick up seats to gain a majority in the House.

So far, NEA鈥檚 super PAC has spent $430,000 on media, including things like online, TV and radio ads, and mailings, and another $100,000 on campaign expenses.

It鈥檚 also on targeted federal election candidates, including $150,000 on Rep. John Mannion, a Democrat from New York, $130,000 on Raquel Teran, a Democrat running in Arizona鈥檚 3rd congressional district, and $35,000 on incumbent Sen. John Tester, a Democrat from Montana who鈥檚 in a tough reelection bid.

In Ohio, where Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown is in a dead heat against Republican Bernie Moreno, a separate NEA super PAC, Educators for Ohio, has raised $1.7 million. 

Earlier this month, the NEA teamed up with the American Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 鈥� the nation鈥檚 largest public service unions 鈥� in a coordinated, multi-state voter outreach initiative across battleground states.

鈥淭his joint action represents a significant escalation of labor’s political engagement, with the unions pooling resources and mobilizing their combined membership of several million workers and includes people of all backgrounds working across the public service 鈥� as nurses, child care providers, sanitation workers, first responders, teachers, education support professionals and higher education workers, among others,鈥� the announcement of the effort reads.

Notably, labor unions play an outsized role in many of the election鈥檚 most crucial swing states: 21% of votes cast in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election were from union households, representing approximately one-fifth of the electorate, according to the union. The same is true for Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where union households accounted for 18% and 13% of votes cast, respectively.

But in late 2023, Abbott began speaking out against him. With the support of other lawmakers and several political action committees, the governor began portraying Allison as weak on border security and property tax relief 鈥� two no-compromise issues for Texas GOP voters. In February, one PAC ran a calling Allison 鈥渨rong for Texas.鈥�

The San Antonio Express-News as 鈥渆asily the most qualified candidate in this race,鈥� but the attacks stuck: Voters in his district in the March 5 primary, overwhelmingly choosing Marc LaHood, a criminal defense attorney with no political experience, as the Republican nominee.

In an interview, Allison said his defeat came down to one unlikely issue: school choice, specifically his opposition to Abbott鈥檚 long-stalled effort to enact a statewide Education Savings Account to help families pay for private and homeschool expenses.

It鈥檚 a scenario that鈥檚 playing out in Texas and beyond as lawmakers, pushing to remake legislative maps, increasingly turn for assistance to groups like the American Federation for Children and the School Freedom Fund, a pro-ESA group tied to tech billionaire Jeff Yass. Yass, a well-known Pennsylvania-based school choice proponent and investor in TikTok parent company Byte Dance, has spent millions to promote ESAs.

The effort has already changed the ballot this November and produced an unprecedented shift in statehouses, with lawmakers increasingly approving taxpayer support for private education. Seventeen states now have universal or near-universal ESA programs. 

Whether it鈥檚 via a traditional voucher, which gives families tuition for private education, a tax credit, or a less restrictive ESA fund, the idea is increasingly finding favor in state legislatures. In Florida, families can receive 72% of what the state spends per-pupil; in Arizona, it equals 90%. The pro-school-choice group EdChoice has estimated that more than now take advantage of ESAs, up from 40,000 in 2022.

But many rural conservatives fear the funding won鈥檛 be useful in isolated areas where private schools are unlikely to open. In many small towns, school districts are the largest employer, making ESAs political kryptonite.

A few observers say the development also could backfire. Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, warned that a rightward primary shift could spell defeat for Republicans in the Nov. 5 general election.

鈥淚t is possible, even after all the craziness, even after all the attacks and the millions of dollars spent, particularly by a particular TikTok owner, that you’ve got a situation where Abbott may not get his vouchers after all,鈥� Jones said.

鈥楽o wrong for Tennessee taxpayers鈥�

For the moment, school choice efforts are moving full-speed ahead. FutureEd, a Georgetown University think tank, private-school choice bills in 34 states, with most aiming to broaden options like ESAs.

The effort is playing out in states like , and, most recently, in Tennessee, where the School Freedom Fund spent an estimated against Republicans who stopped a in 2024. Among their targets: Sen. Frank S. Niceley, a 20-year legislative veteran who boasted a lifetime on the conservative Tennessee Legislative Report Card. 

The fund painted him as 鈥渓iberal Frank Niceley,鈥� with one ad to give undocumented students in-state tuition benefits at Tennessee colleges, adding, 鈥淣o wonder there’s an invasion.鈥� Playing on his last name, it concluded: 鈥淣ice to illegals, but so wrong for Tennessee taxpayers.鈥�

Niceley in July that allowing out-of-state PACs to label the most conservative senator as a liberal amounted to trashing elections in favor of pre-determined outcomes by interest groups. 鈥淛ust call up and ask 鈥檈m who they want.鈥�

A statewide voucher, Niceley said, ran counter to Tennessee鈥檚 reputation for curbing what he called wasteful spending.

Early evidence in other states suggests that while ESAs are popular, their benefits often take the form of tuition discounts for families whose children are . In Iowa last year, for the state鈥檚 ESA came from such students. In Florida, .

Despite Niceley鈥檚 plea for frugality, in August, primary voters ousted him in favor of Jessie Seal, a public relations director for a medical facility. 

Celebrating the defeat of Niceley and others, David McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman and the School Freedom Fund president, said, 鈥淢ake no mistake: if you call yourself a Republican and oppose school freedom, you should expect to lose your next primary.鈥� 

McIntosh declined an interview request.

Abbott鈥檚 鈥榳hite whale鈥�

On the flip side, teachers鈥� unions are well-known for supporting both Democratic candidates and anti-school-choice legislation. In this political cycle, the National Education Association has spent $21,800,773, according to , a nonprofit that follows money in politics. The American Federation of Teachers has spent $3,949,330.

In Texas, anti-ESA Republicans earned support from a PAC funded by H-E-B grocery store chain heir Charles Butt. It threw in more than $4 million last winter, equal to what the School Freedom Fund a dozen Republicans who blocked Abbott鈥檚 voucher legislation.

Voters have rewarded the Freedom Fund鈥檚 efforts: Over the past few months, they鈥檝e sent more than a dozen anti-ESA lawmakers packing. Abbott has persuaded a handful of others to retire rather than face difficult primaries. 

Yass, the TikTok billionaire, more than $12 million in this political cycle, while Miriam Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands casinos, about $13 million, making the pair 鈥� residents of Pennsylvania and Nevada, respectively 鈥� Texas’ two biggest political donors.

School choice backers hope that kind of support ultimately results in a win for ESAs, a goal that has repeatedly eluded Abbott. 

Jon Taylor, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, joked that ESAs have become Abbott鈥檚 鈥渨hite whale,鈥� one of the few legislative wins he can鈥檛 seem to earn.

Jones, the Rice political scientist, noted that several red-leaning states, including Florida, Georgia and Arizona, have ESAs. Texas Republicans have enjoyed a unified government since 2003, he said, creating a kind of 鈥渄issonance鈥� between Texas鈥� perception as the most conservative state and Abbott鈥檚 inability to seal the deal.

While the financial support of Yass and groups like the School Freedom Fund may seem unprecedented, Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, said it merely serves to counterbalance 鈥渢he enormously, humongously large coffers鈥� of teachers鈥� unions and the educational establishment.

鈥淭he choice movement support, even with lots of wealthy people, pales in comparison to the tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars of in-kind and financial support that the unions put into legislative races,” said Allen, who also directs the . She called the development 鈥渙bviously overdue.鈥�

Allison said he opposed Abbott鈥檚 plan because Texas families already have many options, from magnet schools to charters to a program that lets students in low-performing schools transfer out. Lawmakers, he said, have approved countless programs that provide 鈥渃hoice on top of choice on top of choice鈥� within districts.

Recent polling on school choice isn鈥檛 necessarily conclusive: of respondents to a recent University of Texas survey said they support spending taxpayer dollars to help families pay for private school. Meanwhile, a poll from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University found 65% support.  

鈥榃e lost some very good members鈥�

On occasion, the push to defeat lawmakers like Allison has taken an ugly turn. Last October, while he was down in Austin for one of several special sessions, an activist pulled a onto his suburban street. Mounted on the back were huge video screens that broadcast messages saying the former school board member 鈥渉ates children鈥� and 鈥渟upports rogue administrators.鈥�

鈥淭hey also came up on the lawn and videoed and scared my wife and scared kids in the neighborhood,鈥� he said. The truck鈥檚 commotion forced police to reroute a school bus.

Though lawmakers in Texas don鈥檛 convene again until early 2025, the effects are already playing out, said Allison. 鈥淲e lost some very good members because of this 鈥� and some very experienced members.鈥�

That could affect the legislature鈥檚 institutional memory and its ability to deal not just with education but other urgent issues, he said. 鈥淲e’ve got a population that is growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve got some serious infrastructure problems: water, roads, bridges. Property taxes. I mean, it just goes on and on. So to single us out and to focus so much by the governor on this one issue is very shortsighted.鈥�

Jones, the Rice political scientist, noted that while legislatures turn over regularly, the more immediate impact will be the 鈥�de facto purge鈥� of House moderates. While he predicted that Abbott will likely gain enough support on Nov. 5 to pass some sort of voucher 鈥� perhaps not a particularly robust one 鈥� Taylor said Abbott鈥檚 aggressive pursuit of centrists could backfire, tilting as many as nine House districts into Democratic hands. Texas Democrats have said they hope to flip several seats based on what they call Abbotts鈥� .

In what may be the final irony of his ordeal, Allison reluctantly predicted that LaHood, who beat him in the primary, may have difficulty winning the seat against newcomer Democrat . LaHood in 2022 lost a race for county district attorney to a Democratic incumbent. 

One of Allison鈥檚 soon-to-be-former colleagues, Democratic Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who represents a nearby district, in June Democrats鈥� hopes to gain seats 鈥渋ncreased tenfold鈥� with LaHood鈥檚 primary win.

For his part, Allison didn鈥檛 hesitate when asked if he thought the district might flip blue in November. 鈥淚 think there’s a very good chance,鈥� he said.

And then there are the polls.

Since 1936, Gallup has asked Americans if they approve of labor unions. Every year but one (2009), a majority approved. This year, , down slightly from 2022.

Further results from the poll are entirely positive for the labor movement. Large majorities support unions over management in disputes. Most respondents say unions are good for everybody and think they will become stronger in the future.

, showing similar results, with support strongest among those under the age of 30.

The AFL-CIO had to to get these outcomes, but it makes sense that since most Americans are employees, they would more closely identify with the status of workers than with employers.

Let鈥檚 not begrudge unions their day in the sun, because it inevitably leads to their winter of discontent.

That鈥檚 because every January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its . And unfortunately for unions, the graph of the percentage of American wage earners who belong to a union looks like this:

It鈥檚 a pretty steady decline throughout the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden years, which suggests that changing politicians doesn鈥檛 change union fortunes.

How to reconcile the support for unions with the falling membership levels?

Last year, Gallup took this question head-on, asking non-union workers to express their level of interest in joining a union. This is how they responded:

This seems to be human nature at work. Saying you support something is a lot easier than doing something about it. But as discouraging as this result is, it actually understates the problem for unions.

Joining a union is not a difficult process for most workers. Sign a card and pay dues. The hard part is forming a union in your workplace for the specific purpose of collective bargaining with your employer. Doing so is akin to starting a nonprofit charity or small business. It鈥檚 a big job, and most people aren鈥檛 interested in pursuing it unless they are very, very unhappy at work.

Claiming, as the AFL-CIO does in its survey, that we would all be better off if we just fell in with union wishes is also a hard sell, considering the disputes major national unions are having with their own employees.

is a union of professional staffers who work for the National Education Association. They have been without a contract since June 1 and .

Staffers of the Service Employees International Union headquarters have authorized a strike against the union, as they have been .

Even workers at AFL-CIO headquarters are working under an expired contract. The AFL-CIO managers want to reduce employee retirement benefits.

It鈥檚 hardly a ringing endorsement for unions when the people who work for them can鈥檛 get a contract.

So enjoy the latest spate of , and calmly await the spate of excuses when reality doesn鈥檛 conform with dreams. It鈥檚 the circle of union life.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

But you can鈥檛 put 5,400 people in a convention hall for four days and expect them all to maintain a vow of silence. Union Report has obtained a full list of business items introduced during the assembly. Some items lack information on their final disposition, but whether they were approved, rejected or referred to a committee, they offer a complete picture of what occupied the delegates during their stay in Orlando earlier this month.

New Business Item 1 was approved by the delegates and did receive media attention. Among other things, it directed NEA to ensure that its political strategy included 鈥減romotion and defense of the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people.鈥� The union will devote more than $580,000 to this effort.

Once a new business item is approved, all subsequent proposals on the topic are ruled out of order, so a handful of items related to LGBTQ+ and transgender issues never made it to the floor for debate, including Item 4, which would have required NEA to recommend sample contract language with the terms 鈥渂irthing parent鈥� and 鈥渘on-birthing parent鈥� instead of 鈥渕other鈥� or 鈥渇ather.鈥�

The delegates also approved items that directed NEA to explore options for 鈥渕ember-led direct action鈥� at the sites of future assemblies, and for the national union to stop referring to 鈥渞ight-to-work鈥� states and laws, instead using the phrases 鈥渁nti-worker鈥� or 鈥渁nti-union.鈥�

The delegates referred a large number of items without recommendation to NEA鈥檚 standing committees. One of these called upon the union to address the use of artificial intelligence in public education.

Without access to the debate itself, it鈥檚 hard to say why the following items were rejected, but the costs of implementation weighed heavily on most proposals:

• Item 24 directed NEA to divest and dissociate from businesses and organizations that discourage joining a labor union. The delegate who introduced the measure specifically named Amazon and Bank of America. Perhaps this was defeated because under a strict reading, it might have required the union .
  
• Item 36 would have required NEA to develop a framework to evaluate and resolve conflicts with state affiliate union employees. For many years, the union has discouraged delegates from getting too involved in the internal workings of management and staff.
  
• Item 41 would have required NEA to 鈥渃ollect information on the potential dangers of artificial turf fields.鈥� Each year, delegates introduce items on fringe issues, but they are usually shot down.
  
• Item 48 would have required NEA to produce a forum on 鈥減otential legal pathways to overturning the Janus decision,鈥� which barred public employee unions from collecting agency fees from non-members. This was probably defeated because there are no legal pathways to overturning a U.S. Supreme Court decision, short of something like 鈥�
  
• 鈥� Item 74, which would have directed NEA to call on President Joe Biden to expand the Supreme Court.

A number of business items were debated and voted upon late on the final day of the convention, so I don鈥檛 have information on their ultimate fate, but here are a few:

• Item 56 directs NEA to encourage state affiliates not to use Amazon gift cards as giveaways.
  
• Item 57 calls on NEA to create a fund to issue grants to private-sector union organizing efforts.
  
• Item 65 requires NEA to publish a report on each state鈥檚 policies on charter school participation in the pension system. The rationale states: 鈥淎t a time when state plans are under attack, requiring charter schools to participate in state plans could reinforce plan stability for educators and state and local plan sponsors.鈥�

• Item 72 is about immigration and directs NEA to defend 鈥渁sylum for all.鈥�
  
• Item 81 states that NEA will hold events only in states whose laws are reviewed by the union鈥檚 general counsel, which would include laws related to 鈥渨omen鈥檚 health care, including abortion; health care for LGBTQ+ and transgender individuals, including any civil rights provisions and anti-union animus that seeks to penalize educators at the state or local level.鈥�
  
• Item 94 directs NEA to communicate to members about the calming effect of green noise.

In addition to new business items, delegates debated additions to the union鈥檚 federal lobbying program. A series of amendments introduced by a single California delegate were rejected for being out of compliance with NEA policies. They included withdrawing from the World Health Organization, requiring schools to have hard-wired internet instead of wifi, prohibiting skywriting above schools and creating a vegan food pyramid.

NEA budgeted for a loss of 31,000 working members during the 2023-24 school year. The union has 410,000 fewer today than it had at its high-water mark in 2008-09. Nothing that happened in Orlando seems destined to reverse that decline.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

NEA made that opposition the focal point of the gathering, joining a protest organized by Florida for All on July 1 and then outside the convention center July 5. Its themes were 鈥淔reedom to Learn鈥� and 鈥淭each Truth.鈥�

鈥淎s this nation鈥檚 largest, most powerful union 鈥� we will protect our democracy [and] preserve public education,鈥� said Pringle.

But the union鈥檚 commitment to these principles did not extend to its own operations during the convention. It stage-managed every aspect of the proceedings and saw to it that no shadows were cast across its self-image as the progressive defender of democracy.

NEA bills its representative assembly as 鈥渢he world’s largest democratic, deliberative body.鈥� But just how democratic and deliberative is it?

The delegates spent most of their time at the four-day convention introducing, debating and voting on 鈥渘ew business items.鈥� These are proposals for the national union to take a specific and finite action. They are paid for through NEA鈥檚 contingency fund, which totals $3 million.

The NEA annual budget approaches $375 million, which means the delegates are devoting almost all of their attention to less than 1% of the union鈥檚 operations.

The delegates do vote on the total budget at the end of the convention, but they cannot add, amend or delete anything from it 鈥� only approve it or reject it as is.

Which new business items were approved and which were rejected? Neither the public nor the non-attending members of NEA have any idea. The union put the proposals and actions behind a firewall, and very few individual delegates saw fit to pass along the information.

Education Week 鈥� the only media outlet to cover the convention 鈥� reported that the delegates , at a cost of more than $580,000. New Business Item 69, which had , passed by 20 votes out of more than 4,500 cast.

New Business Item 53 proposed that NEA instruct local affiliates on how to become 鈥渟trike-ready.鈥� The delegates voted to refer it to committee, which upset the sponsor of the item, Deb Gesualdo, a delegate from Massachusetts, because she felt it left the decision to act or not in the hands of a few higher-ups, instead of the large representative body.

, she claimed the 鈥淣EA board steering committee began to organize against it鈥� and that her item 鈥渦pset a handful of state presidents who are interested in hoarding information and hoarding power.鈥�

Another delegate also sounded a bit disillusioned. 鈥淚 sat with some teachers from different states at one point. What did we talk about? Our working conditions, our pay, our workload, student behavior … things that were not talked about during the [representative assembly]. Our [new business items] had little to do with teaching,鈥� .

While the public, the press and most NEA members were in the dark about the proceedings, at least the delegates in attendance could witness them. But even delegates present at the assembly were mostly unaware of what actions NEA officials took just outside the hall.

NEA staffers represented by the Association of Field Service Employees have been working without a contract since June 1. In an attempt to move negotiations along, a group of them showed up at the convention center to hand out leaflets and hold signs.

This didn鈥檛 sit well with NEA executives, who, , sent convention center security and a sheriff鈥檚 deputy to have them removed from the premises.

The staff union also claims it was prevented from joining the Freedom to Learn rally, and that NEA urged delegates not to interact with the staff union.

鈥淥n a day when NEA professed the 鈥榝reedom to learn,鈥� AFSE members and NEA members were denied their freedom of speech,鈥� .

Its demands include the usual pay increases and benefit improvements, but the association also of increasing members’ workload while shrinking staff and relying on temporary employees, which it calls 鈥渁n anti-union, exploitative practice.鈥�

The association received strong support from its sister unions of NEA employees, the and the , which has its own gripes with NEA management.

The staff union placed that accuses some NEA leaders of prejudice and racism. 鈥淎t NEA Headquarters there is a persisting culture of mistreatment and disrespect of our Black staff that has continued to go unchallenged,鈥� the post reads.

There are legitimate concerns about whitewashing history, covering up errors and misdeeds, and promoting only a positive, glowing image. NEA鈥檚 own actions during its representative assembly demonstrate the union is not immune from such urges.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

There have been GOP efforts in some states to curtail union influence. The most prominent of these is to prohibit school districts from deducting union dues from teachers鈥� paychecks. This forces unions to collect dues individually through electronic funds transfers or some other means. Payroll deduction bans of union dues were enacted this year in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.

But anti-union legislation makes up only a small portion of the overall picture. that of the 236 bills introduced in 2023 relating to public employee unions, 58 were sponsored by Republicans, while 158 came from Democrats.

So while four states made it harder to collect union dues, Maryland enacted a law allowing union members to deduct dues on their state tax returns.

Here鈥檚 a cross-section of union-related bills and activity from around the nation:

California

The state Senate approved a bill that would allow . It had overwhelming bipartisan support and the endorsement of the school administrators association and the U.S. Department of Defense, as military spouses must often seek new teaching credentials each time they relocate.

The California Teachers Association, however, opposes the bill, stating that there is no need for it and that reciprocity agreements with individual states were sufficient.

The bill is awaiting assignment to an Assembly committee.

Colorado

Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a measure that , banning job discrimination or discipline against them for engaging in such activities. The law also allows public workers 鈥渢o pursue an employee organization with their co-workers without interference.鈥�

Illinois

Both houses of the legislature approved a bill that allows up to who are elected to 鈥渞epresent the association in federal advocacy work.鈥� The state union will reimburse the school district for the cost of a substitute.

Indiana

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law a bill that removed from the previous statute . These included: curriculum development, teaching methods, hiring and retention, student discipline, expulsions, class size and budget appropriations. All these issues may still be discussed with unions but are no longer required to be.

The law also added 鈥渞epeated ineffective performance鈥� to the list of reasons for which a teacher may be immediately terminated.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is sponsoring a bill dubbed the , which would eliminate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System standardized tests required for graduation.

The measure would create a commission composed of members appointed by various interest groups to recommend a new assessment system that could include work samples, projects and portfolios.

The bill has languished in the legislature鈥檚 Joint Committee on Education since February, probably because Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has been about it. The state teachers union recently held in an attempt to spur legislative action.

Nebraska

Gov. Jim Pillen signed a into law that allows a tax credit of up to $100,000 to organizations that fund private school scholarships to K-12 students, with low-income families receiving priority.

In response, the Nebraska State Education Association immediately launched a drive to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law. In order to do so, the union will need to gather the signatures of at least 61,000 registered voters by Aug. 30, and double that number to suspend the law until the referendum can be held.

The National Education Association just released its for lobbying Congress. The document contains 36 pages of proposals that NEA will be backing or opposing. Items repeated from past years include stances on a wide range of issues, such as allowing parents to opt out of standardized testing, eliminating broadcast advertising of alcoholic beverages, repealing all right-to-work laws, building a national monument to educators to be located in Washington, D.C., instituting a moratorium on capital punishment and creating 鈥渁 tax system that provides for education and other social needs while achieving reduction of the national debt.鈥�

Three new items call for supporting legislation to protect children and youth from addiction to social media, increase funding for stillbirth prevention and add a minimum of 12 weeks of paid family leave to federal law.

Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly will either approve or amend the legislative program when they meet in Orlando next month.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

But those membership losses didn鈥檛 have a commensurate effect on the unions鈥� bottom line. On the contrary, the National Education Association and its state affiliates experienced significant boosts to revenue during the shutdown year.

The combined income of NEA and its state unions reached almost $1.75 billion in 2020-21, an increase of $49 million (2.9%) from the previous year. Almost all union revenue is exempt from income and capital gains taxes.

This financial information is derived from the unions鈥� annual disclosure reports for the Internal Revenue Service, detailing their income and expenditures. These are public records, but delays in reporting and availability mean a long wait before it is possible to gather comprehensive data from unions in all 50 states.

NEA national headquarters collected almost $397 million in revenue. Its richest affiliates were California ($222 million), New York ($167 million) and New Jersey ($153 million).

These large-membership states are self-sufficient, but many affiliates require national subsidies to pay the costs of union offices’ professional staff. Nine state affiliates received more than 20% of their total revenue directly from NEA. The Mississippi Association of Educators and NEA New Mexico were the most reliant on national funds.

Union employees are the primary beneficiaries of the bigger bankroll. NEA employed 513 staffers in Washington, D.C., of whom 396 earned six-figure salaries. Across the country, more than 2,300 NEA affiliate employees made more than $100,000 in salary.

Member dues supply most income, although periodically some unions receive a cash windfall through other means.

Both the North Carolina Association of Educators and the South Carolina Education Association saw dramatic growth in revenue due to the sale of properties. to a real estate developer for an estimated $20 million, while to the state for a highway widening project.

That union also benefited from $112,624 due to the from the federal government鈥檚 Small Business Administration.

Higher interest rates are a burden, but they did increase the value of the unions鈥� cash investments and greatly aided their financial ledgers in another way: by reducing pension and retiree health care liabilities.

Just like school districts and state governments, unions must be able to cover the future costs of their retired employees. These liabilities can grow to such a significant degree that in 2020, eight NEA state affiliates had a negative net worth. They were a combined $606.5 million in the red.

But the increase in interest rates allowed pension systems everywhere to recompute the discount rate, which is a method of expressing future liabilities in today鈥檚 dollars. Put simply, a higher discount rate means lower pension liabilities.

The change in the discount rate was large enough to push NEA affiliates in Connecticut, Michigan, Nevada and West Virginia into the black. Georgia, Illinois, New York and Washington reduced their liabilities by large amounts but remained in the red.

Any union that can add $49 million to its coffers while losing 70,000 members amid the near-total shutdown of work sites is not one that needs to fear diminished power and influence. NEA is too big to fail.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

In the report鈥檚 foreword, NEA鈥檚 research department warns that 鈥渋t is unwise to draw conclusions based solely on individual statistics in this report.鈥�

That sentence borders on the comical, since the primary purpose of Rankings & Estimates is to enable NEA to draw conclusions based solely on those statistics.

The union to publicize the report, concluding that 鈥渆ducators across the board are underpaid鈥� and 鈥渢eachers earn 25% more in states with collective bargaining.鈥�

鈥淓quipped with our educator pay data, we are able to negotiate and advocate for the better wages and benefits that our educators deserve,鈥� NEA stated.

The key point the union sought to drive home was that teachers 鈥渕ake thousands less than they did a decade ago,鈥� when adjusted for inflation.

That makes a powerful sound bite but lacks context. For the first eight years of that decade, teacher salary hikes exceeded inflation by almost 2%. The entire decline in real wages occurred over the last two years.

The loss was hardly unique to teachers. The U.S. economy went from a 1% inflation rate to 8% in the last two years, as the federal government increased the money supply during the COVID pandemic. Tens of billions of those dollars went to public schools and are currently being added to teachers鈥� wages all over the country, bringing current education spending to $785 billion.

Despite the decline in real wages, overall per-pupil spending was still 13% above inflation over the last 10 years.

How is that possible? Two factors explain it: student enrollment and educator hiring.

The number of children enrolled in public schools declined 1.8% over the past 10 years, but the number of instructional staff 鈥� teachers, principals, counselors and other certified professionals 鈥� increased 5.2%.

In raw numbers, U.S. public schools had nearly 877,000 fewer students this year than in 2014 but 187,000 more instructional staff, of whom 62,000 were classroom teachers.

Just between 2020 and 2021, schools had 8,000 fewer students and 14,000 more teachers.

Put simply, the same amount of money spread over fewer students leads to higher per-pupil spending, but that money spread over more employees means lower average wages.

It may be desirable to hire more and more teachers, and pay them more and more money, to teach fewer and fewer students. But it鈥檚 just not sustainable in a nation already awash in historic debt.

NEA and the public schools are making hay while the sun shines, but the storm clouds are gathering. Teachers can鈥檛 enjoy double-digit raises when they鈥檙e out of a job.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

There is no limit to the range of matters that come up for debate and inclusion into NEA鈥檚 policies. Last year鈥檚 most contentious items were related to Palestinian issues. The internal running of the organization is often given short shrift, but here are two subjects that will occupy the assembly: 

Membership: After numbers dropped to levels not seen since 2005, NEA has seen a small bounce so far this school year. In January 2023, the union had 15,000 more members working in public schools than it had in the previous September.

While this was welcome good news, there were a few caveats. During that four-month period, local school districts added more than 195,000 employees, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That means NEA netted less than 8 percent of those new employees.

Additionally, some membership categories were weak. The union鈥檚 gains in working members were partially offset by the loss of almost 6,000 student members. And the 鈥�community ally鈥� category 鈥� created in 2019 to allow people who don鈥檛 work in education to join NEA 鈥� holds a grand total of only 132 members.

The politics of convention sites: After being forced to conduct virtual assemblies for two years, NEA held a hybrid event in Chicago last July. Unfortunately for the union, attendance hit historic lows. Fewer than 5,100 delegates participated, with only three-quarters of that number physically present in the hall. This year鈥檚 convention will be entirely in-person.

Convention venues have become a sticking point for many delegates. NEA New Hampshire鈥檚 representatives boycotted the 2019 assembly because of what it saw as Texas鈥檚 discriminatory policies against undocumented immigrants and the LGBTQ community. Similar concerns weighed heavily in the union鈥檚 decision to move the 2022 convention from Dallas to Chicago.

Despite ongoing feuds with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature, NEA will hold its event in Orlando this year. The union even asked delegates planning to demonstrate during their stay not to 鈥�,鈥� but to clear their organized protests with NEA leadership first.

Further evidence that this is a hot-button issue comes in the form of a . NEA鈥檚 current rules forbid holding a national meeting 鈥渋n any location where any delegates are likely to experience discriminatory treatment.鈥� New language would specifically add 鈥渨hich shall include the denial of medical services due to a delegate鈥檚 ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or reproductive status.鈥�

In analyzing the possible repercussions of the amendment, the union鈥檚 rules committee stated that 鈥渂ecause there are now several states in which routine medical services for women and transgender individuals are no longer provided or are more difficult to obtain, implementation of the proposed amendment will require consideration of additional legal information in making decisions about where the RA may be located. In addition, if the amendment passes, additional review of already contracted sites will be completed to determine if the RA can still be held in those locations.鈥�

While politics may limit the choice of locales, the shrinking number of delegates widens the field to smaller convention centers. Future assemblies will be held in Portland, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

Two other contentious issues will be side-stepped by NEA procedures. They are:

Presidential endorsements: Some delegates have complained about NEA鈥檚 presidential endorsement process dating back at least to the 2008 battle for the Democratic nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Those echoes reverberated last month when the day after he announced he was running.

Many members are unaware that one person, the NEA president, chooses the candidate. The rest of NEA鈥檚 representative bodies can either concur or not. Since the union started endorsing U.S. presidents in 1976, no candidate brought forward has been rejected.

The approval for the Democratic Party nomination stops with the union鈥檚 political action committee council and the board of directors. Convention delegates get no say until the general election endorsement. But by then, of course, the choice is between a Republican and a Democrat, which for the liberal-leaning convention delegates is no choice at all.

Previous efforts to reform the process have been shot down, and the fear of a DeSantis or Trump victory will probably mute any attempts to make a change now.

Abortion: For most of its history, NEA avoided the abortion debate with its stance that it 鈥渂elieves in family planning, including the right to reproductive freedom.鈥� This allowed NEA affiliates in red states to assert that the union had no position on abortion.

In 2019 that changed. Delegates approved a new business item that read, 鈥淭he NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade.鈥� Last year, in the wake of the Supreme Court鈥檚 overturning of Roe, delegates passed a measure calling on the union to 鈥減ublicly stand in defense of abortion鈥� and encourage members to lobby and participate in demonstrations.

NEA鈥檚 actual actions in response to this item, according to an internal NEA implementation report, were to write a letter to Congress, and put an alert on its 鈥渁ction center鈥� web page.

Now that the union is on record as favoring abortion rights, it sees no reason to spend any more time on it than it does with the hundreds of other issues it currently supports or opposes.

Delegates are always free to bring any issue to the floor for debate and vote, but execution is left up to the union bureaucracy. It鈥檚 important to keep an eye not only on what NEA does, but what it doesn鈥檛 do.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

And Weingarten largely complied, saying it 鈥渕ade sense to consult with the CDC鈥� as the pandemic progressed in 2021.

But in testimony on Wednesday before the House , Weingarten pushed back forcefully against GOP claims that the union exerted 鈥渋nappropriate influence鈥� over the guidance or worked behind the scenes to keep U.S. public schools closed for longer than necessary.

She said any allegations of undue influence over prolonged closures are inaccurate, noting that the CDC approved just 鈥渙ne particular edit鈥� to a policy about accommodations for immunocompromised teachers.

Weingarten also noted that neither the CDC nor teachers unions had the authority to open or close schools, despite the AFT鈥檚 aggressive moves to ensure members鈥� workplaces were safe. In one instance in 2020, the union threatened 鈥溾�� if school reopening plans didn鈥檛 meet their health and safety standards.

The subcommittee鈥檚 Republican chairman, U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, last month previewed Wednesday鈥檚 hearing, alleging in a March 28 that the CDC let the AFT edit its operational strategy for reopening schools prior to its February 2021 release. The guidance, Wenstrup said, advised keeping schools closed in more than 90 percent of U.S. counties, 鈥渃ontrary to the prevailing science.鈥�

He said the AFT and Weingarten got 鈥渦ncommon鈥� access to the draft plan, even making line-by-line additions that 鈥渃oincidently shifted the CDC鈥檚 guidance to align with AFT鈥檚 agenda 鈥� keeping schools closed.鈥�

The issue of closures remains contentious more than three years after the pandemic shuttered virtually every public school in America. Researchers are quantifying their human cost in lost learning time, lower school attendance, worsening mental health, deteriorating school behavior and lower childhood vaccination rates, among other indicators.

have shown that widespread reliance on remote and hybrid schooling during the pandemic had 鈥減rofound consequences鈥� for achievement, with students, especially those in high-poverty areas, losing more ground in math the longer they learned remotely. Learning gaps in math didn鈥檛 worsen in places where schools remained in-person.

During the hearing, Weingarten said it was appropriate for public health authorities to consult with education groups 鈥� she said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky noted that the agency conferred with more than 50 organizations about the guidance.

鈥淚t was not only appropriate for the CDC to confer with educators. It would have been irresponsible for them not to,鈥� Weingarten said.

She told committee members that it was the Biden administration鈥檚 idea to approach the AFT about the guidance, not the other way around. But she denied that the AFT provided, in Wenstrup鈥檚 words, 鈥渟uggested revisions to the CDC’s operational strategy regarding school closures or reopenings.鈥�

鈥淲hat we suggested, sir, was ideas,鈥� she said. 

But Republicans on the committee, trying to make the case that the politically powerful union shouldn鈥檛 have a hand in U.S. health policy, pushed to tie Weingarten as closely as possible to the Biden administration. At one point, Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona told her, 鈥淚’m a member of Congress that sits on two committees that deal with the CDC. I don’t have a direct number to Director Walensky. Do you?鈥�

Weingarten admitted she did.

鈥淲ell, hopefully she’ll give it to me too,鈥� Lesko said. 

The hearing was delayed for nearly half an hour as House lawmakers approved legislation to raise the U.S.’s debt ceiling while cutting federal spending, including President Biden鈥檚 proposal to forgive student debt.

While Weingarten was Wednesday鈥檚 only witness, the subcommittee has also requested documents from other education groups about advice they gave to the CDC. They include the the and the , among others.

Midway through the hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, told Wenstrup, 鈥淚’ve been to some weird hearings in this Congress, Mr. Chairman, but this one might be the weirdest, because it’s convened in order to accuse a federal agency of the crime of consorting with American citizens.鈥�

The AFT expected a contentious hearing: In preparation, it hired veteran Washington, D.C., attorney Michael Bromwich, a former U.S. Justice Department inspector general, who has already complained of 鈥渟capegoating built on false allegations that appear to be the basis for this Subcommittee鈥檚 鈥榠nvestigation.鈥� 鈥�

For the hearing, the AFT also released a lengthy letter from Bromwich, who last week told Wenstrup and ranking member Rep. Raul Ruiz of California that the union鈥檚 role in CDC school closure policies 鈥渉as been exaggerated and falsified to support pre-conceived conclusions鈥� about closure strategy.

Actually, he said, the AFT鈥檚 role was 鈥渆xtremely limited,鈥� amounting to a few sentences in a 38-page document. He noted that the union鈥檚 February 2021 proposal of a 鈥渢rigger鈥� threshold of positive COVID cases that would signal schools to close was actually rejected by the CDC.

Asked during the hearing if she had any regrets about the AFT鈥檚 work during the pandemic, Weingarten said, 鈥淚 regret the fear that was there. And part of the reason we wanted clear information was because we had a role in terms of overcoming fear.鈥�

She noted that proper ventilation and testing, for instance, turned out to be more important than social distancing. 鈥淭here were things that we really didn’t get right.鈥� 

While Republicans sharply criticized the union鈥檚 role in often-disastrous closures, one line of questioning, from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats. Greene asked Weingarten, a lesbian, 鈥淎re you a mother?鈥�

Weingarten replied, 鈥淚 am a mother by marriage.鈥� In 2018, she , who came to the relationship with two daughters.

Greene said she questioned Weingarten鈥檚 recommendations to the CDC 鈥渁s not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher either.鈥� She later added, 鈥淟et me tell you: I am a mother, and all three of my children were directly affected by the school closures, by your recommendations, which is something that you really can’t understand.鈥�

Democrats on the committee asked that Greene鈥檚 comments be stricken from the record 鈥� a request Wenstrup denied.

International that schools weren鈥檛 associated with accelerating community transmission of the disease during the pandemic. While infections affected schools, researchers found, most of the outbreaks were small, with fewer than 10 cases. And they couldn鈥檛 be definitively linked to in-school transmission.

Yet evidence from other nations suggests that the U.S. took a much more cautious approach to reopening. Andreas Schleicher of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in November 2020 that while schools in Europe were initially closed, “Research has shown that if you put social distancing protocols in place, school is actually quite a safe environment, certainly safer than having children running around outside school.”

Prolonged U.S. public school closures have long been a sore spot for educators and public health officials, who now admit that policies keeping students out of school for months could have been rethought.

In an with The New York Times, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the recently retired head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, 鈥淚 certainly think things could have been done differently 鈥� and better 鈥� Anybody who thinks that what we or anybody else did was perfect is not looking at reality.鈥�

The has been probing several school-related aspects of the pandemic. Last month, its into closures testimony from University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist , who said scientists had evidence before the epidemic that wearing masks was 鈥渓argely ineffective鈥� at preventing the spread of flu and similar viruses 鈥� and that CDC recommendations on distancing six feet apart were 鈥渁rbitrary鈥� and not based on science.

, NEA President Becky Pringle urged President Joe Biden to nominate Julie Su, currently deputy secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, who is leaving to become executive director of the National Hockey League鈥檚 players union.

It is common for interest groups to support their favorites for cabinet offices and other high-ranking federal positions. But I can find no previous occurrence of NEA publicly endorsing a candidate prior to his or her nomination 鈥� not even when one of its own, former NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garc铆a, in December 2020.

NEA鈥檚 change in tactics may have its roots in that time period, when newly elected President Biden was forming his first cabinet. Su was on the short list for labor secretary, but Democrats were divided over several candidates. Walsh was selected because of his union background, his close relationship with Biden and endorsements from the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers.

Though it is the nation鈥檚 largest union, NEA did not back a candidate.

When Su was passed over, it disappointed her supporters, most notably Asian-American advocacy groups. Biden鈥檚 cabinet does not contain anyone of Asian-American descent. Being the deputy secretary, Su is an obvious choice this time, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus is among those .

There are other contenders for the job, . Rep. Nancy Pelosi reportedly wants former New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. Sen. Bernie Sanders likes Sara Nelson, president of the flight attendants union, or former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

NEA鈥檚 decision to publicly support Su this time may have to do with cabinet diversity, or the desire to show itself as a driving force in organized labor. But what appeals to the teachers union about Su herself isn鈥檛 entirely clear.

In her letter to Biden, Pringle lists among Su鈥檚 accomplishments as deputy secretary being a 鈥渟killed messenger,鈥� overseeing the workforce 鈥渢actfully and with kindness鈥� and traveling across the country 鈥減romoting the work of the Department and Administration.鈥�

And while NEA considers teaching experience a prerequisite for being education secretary, it doesn鈥檛 hold the same standard for labor secretary. Su is a former civil rights attorney with no union experience.

Almost two-thirds of Pringle鈥檚 letter is , letter from Marc Egan, NEA鈥檚 director of government relations, to the Senate, urging a yes vote for Su鈥檚 confirmation as deputy secretary.

Not that it will matter, but California Republicans are squarely against Su, due to her tenure as the state鈥檚 labor secretary. During her watch, California paid out in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.

NEA may get its wish and see Su installed as labor secretary, but it will take more than any efforts on her part to reverse decades of union decline. Membership losses have continued unabated through both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. Biden鈥檚 will be no exception.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

To put this in its proper perspective, one in every five union members belongs to NEA 鈥� two of every five public-sector union members.

Private-sector unions often run major organizing drives, as we have seen recently with campaigns at Amazon and Starbucks locations. But has NEA been adding to the universe of union members over the years?

At first glance, the answer seems obvious. Back in 1998-99, NEA had 2,436,157 members, and at the end of the 2021-22 school year it had 2,871,908. That鈥檚 almost 436,000 more members and 18% growth.

But those numbers are very deceiving because of mergers.

After NEA delegates rejected a national merger with the American Federation of Teachers back in 1998, a handful of NEA state affiliates merged with their AFT counterparts. When that happens, both national unions count the other鈥檚 as new members.

The first instance will illustrate. The Minnesota Education Association merged with the Minnesota Federation of Teachers in 1998. As a result, NEA added almost 25,000 AFT members to its total. But AFT added almost 55,000 NEA members to its total. That appears to be a combined gain of 80,000 members, but since everyone involved was already a union member, it was a net gain of zero for unions as a whole.

In 2000, NEA and AFT affiliates in Florida and Montana merged, and NEA picked up more than 55,000 new members.

Then, in 2006, New York State United Teachers merged with 鈥� or, more accurately, absorbed 鈥� 41,000-member NEA New York. NEA added 350,000 NYSUT members to its ranks.

North Dakota affiliates merged in 2013, and the merged Montana union merged again with an independent public employees union, bringing in 6,300 more members.

Add together all these members acquired through mergers over the years, and you get 437,290, which accounts for all of NEA鈥檚 growth over the past 23 years.

During a period when the United States added 346,000 teachers, along with hundreds of thousands of support employees eligible for union membership, NEA netted zero non-members and added nothing to the ranks of America鈥檚 labor unions.

With mergers removed from the equation, NEA鈥檚 state-level numbers paint a picture of a union split almost evenly between haves and have-nots. Of the 45 non-merged NEA state affiliates, 24 have fewer members today than they did in 1998-99.

This raises a couple of questions. NEA may be the largest union, but is its strength among education employees overrated? And can this tenuous equilibrium it has achieved between its growing and shrinking state affiliates hold?

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

10. 鈥淚 understand that we have elections, but at the end of the day, we need politics out of schools.鈥� 鈥� Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers (Feb. 7, )

9. “Anybody who believes this teachers union is merely a union hasn鈥檛 been paying attention. They believe themselves to be a political movement or political party, and that is the lens through which we have to view every one of their actions.鈥� 鈥� Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago (Jan. 5,)

8. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 going to get worse, as more and more people look at other ways of educating their children, particularly with the Hope Scholarship, and getting money for that. You鈥檙e going to see decline in all the counties.鈥� 鈥� Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, discussing declining public school enrollment and staff cuts, referring to the state鈥檚 school choice program. (May 23, )

7. 鈥淲hat I know from my experience with these negotiations is 6,000 educators stood behind every word in this contract.鈥� 鈥� Uti Hawkins, vice president of the Seattle Education Association, commenting on the agreement reached after a week-long strike. Only 4,000 members participated in the ratification vote, and of those, 29% voted against it. (Sept. 28, )

6. 鈥淚n fact, there is little evidence in data from the Ohio Department of Education, the retirement systems or our membership suggesting a mass exodus. To the contrary, most of our colleagues are staying.鈥� 鈥� Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association (December-January )

5. 鈥淕reco recalls a recent conversation with a teacher who said, 鈥業 live 13 miles from here, and I鈥檓 ready to leave, and I鈥檓 on top pay. The road construction on the turnpike is ridiculous, there鈥檚 no parking.鈥� Says Greco, 鈥楾hese external factors are forcing people to leave. I鈥檝e heard that from many, many people.鈥� 鈥� 鈥� Ron Greco, president of the Jersey City Education Association (Nov. 16, )

4. 鈥淲e will not celebrate scraps when thousands of educators in this city are struggling to afford to live doing the job they love.鈥� 鈥� Arlene Inouye, secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles. The district has offered a 23% increase in compensation over the next two years. (Sept. 10, )

3. 鈥淣ational Education Association President Becky Pringle doesn鈥檛 use the term 鈥榣earning loss鈥� because she said students are always learning, even if not in the ways policymakers typically measure.鈥� 鈥� from WTTW, Chicago鈥檚 PBS station, on

2. 鈥淵es, educators, we should be starting at $100,000 and then moving up that scale.鈥� 鈥� Danette Stokes, president of the United Education Association of Shelby County, Tennessee (Oct. 26, )

1. 鈥淥ur power only matters if we organize to create the kind of conditions in our schools that will retain and recruit the next generation of union educators. This includes a minimum six-figure salary 鈥� now. It includes fully paid health care without caps. And it includes a fully paid retirement where we don鈥檛 have our members having to contribute 10% or more of their salaries.鈥� 鈥� Joe Boyd, executive director of the California Teachers Association, in a May 2022 speech to the union鈥檚 State Council (May 22, )

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

Because NEA has private-sector members, it is required to file an annual financial disclosure report with the U.S. Department of Labor. The latest report details membership totals and virtually all expenditures the union made during the 2021-22 school year.

NEA collected $374,720,347 in dues and spent it in roughly equal amounts on three things: 1) grants to state and local affiliates; 2) overhead and administrative costs for its headquarters in Washington and offices elsewhere around the country; and 3) salaries and benefits for its officers and employees.

Most of the money sent to state and local affiliates is in the form of UniServ grants, which helps pay the salaries and benefits of the collective bargaining specialists each affiliate employs. In exchange for the funding, the affiliates agree to send those staffers, at NEA鈥檚 request, to assist with 鈥渞epresentational challenges, collective bargaining crises, training programs and/or other special needs situations.鈥�

Affiliate spending also includes funding ballot initiatives in various states. Sometimes the money goes directly to a campaign, as with the $3 million NEA sent to Fair Share Massachusetts to help pass a millionaires鈥� tax last month. Sometimes it goes to a state affiliate, which then relays it to the initiative campaign. Here鈥檚 a list of where NEA sent money specifically for ballot measures or legislative actions:

• AFL-CIO 鈥� $424,000
• Citizens Who Support Maine鈥檚 Public Schools 鈥� $165,000
• Coloradans for the Common Good 鈥� $300,000
• Fair Share Massachusetts 鈥� $3 million
• Florida Education Association 鈥� $150,000
• Georgia Association of Educators 鈥� $175,000
• Michigan Education Association 鈥� $1.7 million
• Missouri NEA 鈥� $70,000
• Arizona Education Association 鈥� $453,556
• Idaho Education Association 鈥� $500,000
• Kansas NEA 鈥� $893,520
• Kentucky Education Association 鈥� $45,000
• Montana Federation of Public Employees 鈥� $183,000
• Montanans Organized for Education 鈥� $20,000
• South Dakota Education Association 鈥� $605,960
• Win Minnesota 鈥� $250,000
• Yes on the Children鈥檚 Amendment 鈥� $180,000

The “overhead” category includes spending not just on building maintenance, supplies and travel, but cash grants to friendly organizations. Many of these are political in nature, such as a $500,000 contribution to , which 鈥渁dvances the policy agenda of the Biden-Harris administration and effectively communicates the positive impacts of these policies to the American people.鈥�

Other grants went to the State Engagement Fund ($6 million), the ($2.5 million) and the ($270,000).

Smaller grants were given to organizations that could be expected to produce content that supports NEA鈥檚 agenda. These included the ($200,000), the ($50,000), ($25,000) and the ($25,000).

Also included in this category would be the $13.3 million the union devoted to the , a political action committee responsible for making independent expenditures on behalf of candidates and issues at the federal level.

The final third or so of NEA鈥檚 revenue went to three executive officers and 526 employees of the national headquarters. Working for the working class has propelled most NEA staffers into the highest income levels.

In 2022, NEA鈥檚 base payroll was more than $69.2 million. That鈥檚 an average annual paycheck for an NEA employee of $131,646. More than three-quarters of NEA employees made six-figure salaries, and 42 of them earned more than $200,000.

NEA President Becky Pringle was paid $343,443 in base salary and another $82,657 in taxable cash allowances. Executive Director Kim Anderson was close behind, with a $335,615 base salary and $84,157 in allowances.

The union also allocated $43 million for employee pensions, health insurance and retiree health care.

With working membership shrinking, NEA must rely on higher dues to maintain these levels of spending. And since dues are tied by a formula to average teacher salaries, NEA has an internal financial incentive to seek higher pay specifically for veteran educators, as new hires at the bottom of the salary scale tend to bring down the average.

NEA is in no danger of financial distress 鈥� its net assets would allow it to operate for a full year with no new dues money at all. But belt-tightening doesn鈥檛 come easily to the union, so it will exert all its influence on school boards, legislatures and Congress to avoid it.

Mike Antonucci鈥檚 Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

School district leaders might deny that they鈥檙e openly teaching critical race theory, but the nation鈥檚 largest teachers union is launching a campaign to have them do just that.

Delegates at the National Education Association鈥檚 annual meeting last week a calling for a campaign to implement the theory in curriculum and oppose efforts to ban it. Other items approved include researching organizations 鈥渁ttacking educators doing anti-racist work鈥� and naming Oct. 14 鈥� George Floyd鈥檚 birthday 鈥� as a national day dedicated to teaching about oppression and structural racism.

On Tuesday, the leader of the nation鈥檚 other major teachers union joined the fray. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said critical race theory is not taught in schools, but pledged to back any teachers who address topics the laws seek to exclude from classroom conversations.

鈥淢ark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history. We have a legal defense fund ready to go,鈥� she said at the opening of the union鈥檚 annual professional development conference. She added that 鈥渃ulture warriors want to deprive students of a robust understanding of our common history.鈥�

It鈥檚 unclear whether the NEA is encouraging members in states that have already passed anti-critical race theory legislation to violate the law. At the very least, it is arguing that teachers shouldn鈥檛 gloss over 鈥渦npleasant aspects of American history鈥� according to the union’s adopted statement.

The theory 鈥� bitterly dividing communities across the country 鈥� teaches that racism is an integral part of U.S. systems and institutions that purposely disadvantage people of color. The unions鈥� stance comes as nine states have already banned instruction that references structural racism, white supremacy and other key principles of the theory. More than 20 other states have considered similar bills.

The union was 鈥渇orced to some extent鈥� to enter the fray because of how volatile the debate has become, said Bradley Marianno, an assistant education professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

鈥淭heir members, particularly those who wish to instruct on elements of critical race theory, want to know that they have a union behind them if their jobs are jeopardized by their classroom instruction,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is not a new role for teachers’ unions in the broadest terms but is also somewhat unique in that this one is tied so tightly to instruction informed by a single theory.鈥�

Like the conflict over reopening schools, the clash over critical race theory is pitting parents who want a say in what schools teach against unions seeking to protect teachers鈥� autonomy, Marianno said, adding that they 鈥渨ill continue to butt heads throughout this school year.鈥�

Weingarten, in fact, predicted that this coming school year could be even more challenging than the last.

鈥淚t won鈥檛 be easy, and some people will try to make it harder, like those who have disparaged educators, scapegoated our unions and blamed us for things outside our control, like school closures caused by a pandemic,鈥� she said.

Marianno said the NEA鈥檚 action could be an effort to preempt any further bans on instruction related to critical race theory, but that the union has also 鈥渙pened up the avenue for litigation鈥� in the nine states with existing restrictions.

Not all teachers, however, agree with the focus on race and racial oppression in the classroom. The conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation is representing a Chicago-area teacher in , filed last week, that argues antiracist training for teachers and students is unconstitutional. Stacy Deemar, a middle school drama teacher, argues that the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 is violating prohibitions on discrimination by race, color or national origin. According to the lawsuit, the district has organized both teachers and students into racial 鈥渁ffinity groups鈥� and required them to participate in 鈥減rivilege walks鈥� where they are segregated by color.

Meanwhile, teachers are receiving increasing support from civil rights groups, who are drawing comparisons between the current uproar over critical race theory and the struggles of the 1960s. One group, the , a nonprofit seeking to preserve the history of a student-led organization that participated in the civil rights movement, penned an open letter to teachers.

鈥淲e who resisted the laws of segregation by sitting at 鈥榃hite Only鈥� lunch counters, and organized voter registration campaigns among those historically denied the right to vote, stand now in support of those teachers and professors who today defy this new form of McCarthyism by pledging to continue writing, speaking, and teaching about systemic racism, structural inequality, and institutionalized white-supremacy past and present,鈥� the letter said. 鈥淭o all the courageous teachers who won’t back down from teaching their students the truth, we stand with you.鈥�

Editor’s note: Reporting for this story was based partly on 鈥渂usiness items鈥� that the National Education Association passed at its annual meeting last week, but which no longer appear to be on the union鈥檚 website.

An item referring to critical race theory in curriculum appeared under prior to its approval and reads that the union will support and lead a campaign that results 鈥渋n increasing the implementation of culturally responsive education, Critical Race Theory, and Ethnic (Native People, Asian, Black, Latin(o/a/x), Middle Eastern and North African, and Pacific Islander) Studies curriculum in Pre-K-12 and higher education.鈥� The news of its passage also no longer appears to be on the union鈥檚 website, but was .

The National Education Association will hold its annual representative assembly in a virtual environment beginning June 30. The assembly brings together several thousand union representatives from each NEA state and local affiliate to set the policies for the national organization.

Last year, NEA鈥檚 agenda was severely limited. This year, the union will attempt to conduct a full array of business over four days. As always, the last item the delegates will vote on is NEA鈥檚 strategic plan and budget.

The details the spending priorities for the nearly $371 million in revenues the national union expects to receive in the 2021-22 school year. However, the details NEA provides aren鈥檛 always enlightening.

For example, Secretary-Treasurer Noel Candelaria gave a short briefing to delegates on how the union plans to spend the additional $13 million in dues it projects for next year. His presentation included this slide:

It shows the union will spend 23 percent of the new revenue to 鈥渟upport professional excellence鈥� and 22 percent to 鈥渁dvance racial justice in education.鈥�

NEA likes to describe its budgeting in programmatic terms, but a deeper dive into the budget’s numbers gives a better sense of where this money will go.

With the $13 million in additional revenue, plus a small amount of savings from some budget cuts, the union will allocate an additional $5 million to salaries and fringe benefits, bringing the total to $114.4 million for a staff of about 600 employees.

The union鈥檚 three executive officers will each receive a 3.1 percent raise, bringing the president鈥檚 base salary to $320,783 and the salaries of the vice president and secretary-treasurer to $281,997. The executive officers will also receive a combined total of $588,562 in allowances and benefits, much of which is taxable as income.

NEA will budget an additional $2.8 million for technology and equipment, while $6.1 million more will be allocated to 鈥渙utside services,鈥� which the union defines as 鈥渇ees paid for professional legal, audit and tax services, consulting services and building maintenance. It also includes costs for Educators鈥� Employment Liability insurance premiums, membership forms and cards, promotional materials, and advertising.鈥�

The membership projections that produce the budget don鈥檛 always coincide with reality. Last year, NEA expected to finish the 2019-20 school year with 2 million active (full-time equivalent) members, meaning those currently employed in public schools. The union budgeted for substantial membership losses in 2020-21, expecting to come down to 1,875,000 active members.

Those projected losses did not occur. Contrary to some predictions, teachers did not leave the profession in droves during the pandemic. This year the union is budgeting for 1,920,000 active members. Much of the $122 billion in additional federal K-12 spending from the American Rescue Plan is likely to go toward hiring more school employees, which would bolster the union’s ranks.

NEA already has new members in mind, budgeting almost $7 million to recruit teachers and then engage with them to 鈥渋ncrease their connection to the association.鈥� The union traditionally has had in its activities.

With midterm elections coming up in 2022, political activity is not ignored in the NEA budget. The union plans to spend almost $33 million to elect friendly candidates and to 鈥渟hape debate in states about education funding, taxes and revenues.鈥�

One last item that doesn鈥檛 appear in the budget but has emerged as an NEA priority is a plan to 鈥渞eimagine鈥� student assessments. The union appointed a task force to develop this new vision.

鈥淲e know that standardized tests aren鈥檛 fully measuring student learning and they are rooted in institutional racism,鈥� said NEA Vice President Princess Moss, who co-chairs the task force.

We鈥檒l have more on NEA鈥檚 assembly in the coming weeks.

Leading Republicans on the Senate education committee are calling on the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide details about how much the agency interacted with teachers unions and whether she has been completely forthcoming about their involvement in .

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, ranking member of the committee, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, sent to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky Thursday with a list of questions about why the guidance was delayed from late January to mid-February. The letter asks Walensky to identify all administration personnel, including political appointees who prepared and reviewed her April 22 letter to the committee, and requests a complete list of 鈥渟takeholders鈥� the CDC contacted, including parents. The senators want to see all documents and communications between the CDC and union employees or members.

鈥淭hat your agency would give teachers鈥� unions privileged access to the agency鈥檚 internal decision-making process on an issue as critical as school re-openings is a betrayal of that trust,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淭hat you then would appear to try to avoid Congressional scrutiny by providing incomplete testimony is deeply troubling.鈥�

The letter is the latest example of concerns about political influence over the agency in charge of the nation鈥檚 response to the pandemic. During the Trump administration, Democrats whether senior officials were pressuring the CDC, then led by Dr. Robert Redfield, to downplay the threat of the virus. Now, Republicans are questioning whether President Joe Biden鈥檚 supporters have interfered with efforts to reopen schools.

The CDC did not respond to requests for comment.

On Feb. 27, 蜜桃影视 filed a request with the CDC seeking information similar to what the senators want 鈥� all documents and communication, such as emails and transcripts of meetings, involving the CDC and any interest groups or individuals consulted in preparing the guidance. The CDC has so far provided internal CDC emails, but not the full list of groups and individuals.

Walensky testified before the committee May 11, saying that the agency sought input from over 50 鈥渃onsumers.鈥� During that hearing, she said the CDC鈥檚 communication with the unions focused on what schools should do if they have immunocompromised teachers.

But obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Americans for Public Trust and Open Fairfax County Schools, a parents鈥� group in Virginia, show there was extensive email communication between CDC officials and the unions, especially the American Federation of Teachers.

鈥淵our testimony seems 鈥� at a minimum incomplete 鈥� if not inaccurate,鈥� the letter said. 鈥淭he email correspondence makes clear that the involvement of the teachers鈥� unions went well beyond accommodations for high-risk teachers.鈥�

AFT, for example, pushed for language saying the agency could change its guidance if a new variant of COVID-19 was detected.

In a Feb. 11 email to Walensky, as well as White House officials, Kelly Trautner, AFT鈥檚 senior director of health issues, suggested: 鈥淚n the event high community transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary.鈥� She wrote that the union was concerned that even with safety protocols in place, some schools in 鈥渉igh-density, crumbling infrastructure areas鈥� would not be able to safely reopen.

The final guidance reads: 鈥淎s more information becomes available, prevention strategies and school guidance may need to be adjusted to new evidence on risk of transmission and effectiveness of prevention in variants that are circulating in the community.鈥�

The Fairfax group said the senators raise important questions and that the public needs to understand why the guidance didn鈥檛 always coincide with the studies and recommendations it received from experts, such as the agency recommending 6 feet of social distancing even when research showed 3 feet was still effective in minimizing transmission. The CDC later reduced its recommendation 3 feet, which the AFT initially opposed.

鈥淭he draconian guidelines, many of which the CDC has subsequently pulled back from, resulted in slower reopenings in parts of the country that treat such guidance as mandatory, a result that was in alignment with the positions being advanced by the AFT and NEA but which caused real harm to the nation’s school children,鈥� the Fairfax group said.

Following the initial release of the emails May 1, AFT spokesman Oriana Korin issued a statement saying the union was in touch with the CDC on behalf of its members, just as it was during the Trump administration.

鈥淎nd while we have at times been concerned about their conclusions 鈥� as we were initially with the change in classroom physical distancing rules 鈥� we respect deeply that the CDC career staff has always taken its responsibility seriously,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd we appreciate that under Dr. Walensky鈥檚 leadership, the CDC welcomes stakeholder feedback, as opposed to ignoring it.鈥�