The National Education Association

        Today, the NEA consists of 3.2 million members from every aspect of public education in America, including public school teachers, administrators, faculty members, retired educators, and even students who plan on becoming teachers (NEA, 2009).  An overwhelming 79% of NEA members are women, although they hold a comparatively small percentage of leadership positions within the organization (EIA, 2005).  Due to the NEA’s persistent advocacy of equal rights for minorities, the organization has a population of minorities fairly representative of the actual demographics of the educational field (Holcomb, 2006).  This immense member body contributes plenty of money to the organization’s endowment fund, and so the NEA has nearly $50 million in net assets, a formidable sum of financial resources (NEAFIE, 2008).  Since the NEA pushes a liberal agenda, the vast majority of these funds are given as contributions to Democratic politicians (Center for Responsive Politics, 2009), although research has shown that only 45% of teachers are Democrats (Center for Union Facts, 2006).

        One of the most significant issues that the NEA currently lobbies for is the salaries of educational professionals (NEA, 2009).  The NEA believes that higher salaries for educators are required to attract and retain qualified professionals (NEA, 2009).  They also support more flexibility in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which would not penalize schools so much when they don’t meet standards by taking on higher educational challenges (NEA, 2009).  They also support an increase in federal funding toward education, increased efforts to lower dropout rates, and the closing of the “achievement gap” between the rich and the poor and between ethnic minorities and whites (NEA, 2009).  One major legislative act of current concern to the NEA is the proposed regulations of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (economic stimulus package) Race to the Top Fund, which would provide competitive federal funding to public schools (NEA, 2009).  The NEA supports the act’s commitment to improving public education, but is against the act’s use of student test scores to allocate competitive grants and the act’s emphasis on charter schools as a method of reform (Brilliant, 2009).

        The majority of politicians who support the NEA are Democrats, due to the NEA’s liberal stance.  One fascinating fact I learned about the NEA is that it holds official standpoints on non-educational issues.  For example, the NEA is officially supportive of same-sex marriage, providing equal benefits to its members who have married of the same sex and even speaking out for the cause (Smith, 2006).  The NEA is also pro-choice, and favors amnesty to illegal aliens (Schlafly, 2008).

References

Brilliant, Kay. (August 21, 2009). Re: Race to the Top Fund. Retrieved      December 16, 2009, from Regulations website:          http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?     R=0900006480a0f3f3

Center for Responsive Politics. (November 8, 2009). National Education Association Summary. Retrieved December 16, 2009, from Center for Responsive Politics website:  http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000064&cycle=2010

Center for Union Facts. (2006). National Education Association (NEA).  Retrieved December 16, 2009, from Union Facts website:  http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000064&cycle=2010

Education Intelligence Agency. (October 2005). The NEA Pyramid. Retrieved December 16, 2009, from EIA Online website: http://www.eiaonline.com/neapyramid.pdf

Holcomb, Sabrina. (2006, January/April). Answering the Call: The History of the NEA. NEA Today.

National Education Association. (2009). National Education Association. Retrieved December 16, 2009, from NEA website:  http://www.nea.org

National Education Association Foundation for the Improvement of Education. (August 31, 2008). Financial Statements and Independent Auditor’s Report Years Ended August 31, 2008 and 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2009 from NEAFIE website:  http://www.neafoundation.org/downloads/NEAFoundation2008-FinancialStatement-Final.pdf

Schlafly, Phyllis. (July 30, 2008). The NEA Spells Out Its Policies. Retrieved December 16, 2009, from Eagle Forum website: http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2008/july08/08-07-30.html

Smith, Peter J. (July 20, 2006). NEA Forcing Alternative Schools. Retrieved December 16, 2009, from The Endowment for Medical Research website: http://www.endowmentmed.org/index.php?Itemid=51&id=584&option=com_content&task=view.