The National Education Association’s (NEA) website proclaims “We’re here to MAKE SURE EVERY STUDENT & EDUCATOR SUCCEEDS.” Unfortunately, the labor group plans to ignore the needs of students and educators during this week’s summer convention and instead “ramp up” work for union-endorsed candidates and “friends” of the union’s agenda.

Becky Pringle, president of the nation’s largest teachers union, plans to use this week’s annual meeting and Representative Assembly to instruct her members to pour resources into campaigns “from the school board level all the way up to the presidency.” 

In 2020, POLITICO reported that the NEA was “running a massive member campaign for Biden with digital organizing, phone banking, texting, virtual rallies and car caravans.” At last year’s annual meeting, 84% of delegates voted to support President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Pringle plans to spend this year’s NEA gathering getting members ready to talk about “why we need to reelect Joe Biden and [Vice President] Kamala Harris.”

Pringle will face opposition. NEA delegates are scheduled to vote on a secret ballot to rescind the endorsement of Biden (NBI 34). Internal NEA documents indicate that the Educators for Palestine supports the motion, which was offered by a delegate from the Oregon Education Association.

The NEA has already released campaign videos touting President Biden’s accomplishments and boasting that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris expanded student loan forgiveness and free school meals, and will prevent gun violence. The union has an immense campaign war chest, so more videos and campaign ads declaring that President Biden leads the “most pro-union administration in modern history” are likely to follow. During its last reported fiscal year, the NEA spent $50.1 million on political campaigns and lobbying and directed $126.3 million in “contributions, gifts, and grants” to political causes.

To learn more about the NEA’s annual meetings and political agenda, read “NEA Voted Against Prioritizing Student Learning,” “NEA & AFT Direct Teachers’ Dues To Biden Campaign,” “National Education Association Annual Meeting Neglects Vital Education Issues,” “Business Items And Quotes Demonstrate Teachers Union’s Real Agenda,” and “The National Education Association’s Radical Agenda.” 

For more information about teachers unions, check out the IWF Education Freedom Center’s Teachers Union Resource Center.