“From branding President Trump a fascist to embracing divisive gender ideology and walking away from efforts to fight antisemitism, the NEA has become nothing more than a partisan advocacy group.” So said Representative Mark Harris (R-NC) when he introduced a bill with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to revoke the congressional charter of the National Education Association (NEA). The National Education Association Charter Repeal Act (H.R. 4450/S. 2310) would put an end to the fallacy that the NEA is an entity that fulfills a national need. The original charter from 1906 states the NEA’s mission is to elevate “the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching and promoting the cause of education in the United States.” But no longer. “It’s incredibly sad that the nation‘s largest teachers union has put woke politics before America’s children,” said Senator Blackburn.
The NEA has been intertwined with the leftists in the Democrat party for decades. Instead of working to improve the profession, they are responsible for many of the problems of the education system today. In 1976, the NEA sent 265 delegates to the Democratic National Convention to secure the nomination for Jimmy Carter. When Carter won the presidency, he rewarded his “friends” with the creation of the Department of Education (DOE). Despite the NEA’s incredible access to the Department over the last 50 years, public education outcomes have consistently gone down, and our students have suffered. Much to their chagrin, President Trump has taken measures to dismantle the DOE, and the Supreme Court has given his Administration the green light to move forward. In doing so, the power and policies of the NEA have been greatly weakened.
Despite the NEA being a union, the organization is much more concerned with political donations than with promoting the cause of education. In 2021, they received $377 million in dues, but only $32 million of that was earmarked for duties related to representing their members. Of the total, $66 million was spent on political activities, and $117 million went toward “contributions, gifts, and grants,” which were mostly political in nature. Almost every single endorsement or grant was given to Leftist politicians and groups.
The NEA was pushing gay rights before it was “cool.” Phyllis Schlafly wrote about the NEA-GLC (Gay-Lesbian Caucus) in the 1990s. At first, they kept this group quiet, but by 1996, they had “come out of the closet.” At the DNC convention that year, they donned buttons, passed out professionally published newsletters, created an AIDS quilt display, and hosted a cocktail reception for the delegates. They pushed the Democratic party even more to the left by demanding the inclusion of gay and lesbian curriculum in the classroom, providing illicit books in school libraries, and training teachers and school staff on how to become resources for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. What was almost unthinkable at the time became a reality a generation later.
Flash forward to today, and the NEA has many resources that push the “LGBTQ+” agenda —guides to pronouns, lesson plans, and book recommendations. They advocate for males in female sports and boys in girls’ restrooms. They offer model legislation and school board resolutions to push sexually explicit materials into schools. They arm radical activists to take over public schools, harming children for the rest of their lives.
NEA’s national convention was held this month, where, as they have done for decades, they passed many radical resolutions. This year, several resolutions were passed denouncing recent actions by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court. One of the main speakers, Ashlie Crosson, who was crowned “Teacher of the Year,” affirmed that her job was “deeply political” while insinuating that one of the NEA’s goal is to “protect democracy.”
The inflammatory rhetoric didn’t stop there. The dismantling of the Department of Education was characterized as “illegal, anti-democratic, and racist.” There was clear disdain for parental rights with their opposition to the Supreme Court ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the case that affirmed the right of parents to opt their children out of sexually explicit lessons on religious grounds. They even accused President Trump of embracing fascism, but failed to spell “fascism” correctly. Perhaps they should have focused on basic educational skills, such as spelling, history, and critical thinking, rather than pushing a partisan political agenda.
Although National Education Association Charter Repeal Act has been introduced in previous Congresses, it has never received a vote. With the Trump administration’s commitment to return control of education back to the states and defund organizations that have blatant partisan bias, the time is ripe for Congressional action. “Time and again, teachers’ unions have shown they’ll put their political agenda ahead of students’ needs,” said Senator Blackburn, the Senate sponsor of the legislation. “The National Education Association has made it crystal clear it’s a partisan organization, and it shouldn’t be rewarded with a federal charter that platforms woke gender ideology, antisemitism, and left-wing propaganda. Our students deserve better.” We encourage the House and Senate to move forward on this bill.
In September, Eagle Forum is holding our national conference — Eagle Council 53 — where we will discuss real solutions to education. There will be opportunities to meet with members of the Trump administration and elected officials who are working on policies to improve education by sending it back to the states and allowing parents to be stakeholders in their children’s education. We will also discuss how you can encourage your state Governors to opt in to the new federal program that allows individuals to receive tax credits for donating to scholarship organizations that provide school choice. To learn more about Eagle Council 53, click here.
