Education Week - July 17, 2019 - 9

Teachers' Union Delegates Focus on Politics, Social Justice
Little talk of Janus
at annual meeting

political endorsement "publicly state
their opposition to charter school expansion."
During the debate over that
issue, many members pointed out
that NEA represents an increasing
number of charter school teachers.
(There are about 219,000 charter
school teachers nationally, compared with 3.1 million teachers in
traditional public schools. Only 11
percent of charter schools across
the country are unionized.) Teachers' unions have been eyeing charter
schools as opportunities to counter
membership losses.
"With the attack on unions today,
the last thing we need to do is run
off our members in charter schools,"
one delegate said.

By Madeline Will
Houston

A 'Progressive Direction'
David J. Phillip/AP

At the nation's largest democratic
assembly, thousands of educators debated such white-hot social issues as
abortion and reparations, protested
immigration policies, and, above all,
pledged to defeat President Donald
Trump in the 2020 election.
About 6,200 union delegates were
boisterous in their commitment to
social and racial justice during the
National Education Association's
four-day Representative Assembly
here over the Fourth of July holiday, passing several measures that
seemed to move the union in an even
more progressive direction.
And they spent little time discussing the aftermath of last summer's
U.S. Supreme Court decision that
made it easier for teachers to leave-
or not join-their union. The decision
has led to membership and revenue
losses, though not to the extent that
was projected. Union leadership
seemed more focused on the presidential election than on the impact of
the Supreme Court decision-though
there were signs that membership remains a concern for the union, including when, in a somewhat surprising
move, delegates voted to allow noneducators to join the NEA.
This year's Representative Assembly emphasized the NEA's continued
focus on straight politics, beyond the
traditional bread-and-butter workforce issues. After about 18 months
of large-scale teacher activism across
the country, experts say educators
are fired up and eager to be more
politically engaged.
"We're generally getting into a
more polarizing political time," said
Jon Shelton, an associate professor
of democracy and justice studies at
the University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay, who did not attend the convention. "I think what's happening with
NEA [delegates and leaders] ... is
sort of mirroring what's happening
with the larger political process."
On the first day of the annual
convention, hundreds of educators
marched in protest to a nearby facility for immigrant youths. Hours
before, delegates overwhelmingly
passed a new business item-submitted by the NEA's board of directors-
that calls on the U.S. government "to
address the human-rights violations
for which it is responsible in detention centers across the country." The
resolution pledges NEA's support for
litigation and legislation that protect
immigrant families.
The next day, 10 Democratic presidential candidates answered questions from educators, with many
pledging to raise teacher pay and
bring back respect to the teaching
profession. (See Opposite Page.) The
union will likely make an endorsement sometime next spring, said
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García in an interview.
Last time, the NEA endorsed Hillary Clinton in fall 2015, angering

Delegates cheer before the start of the National Education Association's presidential forum on July 5 in Houston. The
forum took place during the teachers' union's four-day annual convention.

many delegates who wanted more
input into the selection. This go
around, the NEA has beefed up its
endorsement process.
One delegate, García said, told
her: "Lily, there's a lot of power in
this room, but there's a lot of responsibility. ... The people in this room
are going to help elect the next president of the United States. We've got
to do this carefully. And we've got to
do this right."
Indeed, delegates brought forth a
spate of new business items meant
to cement their stances on issues
that have already emerged in the
presidential campaign, from abortion to charter schools to racial justice and reparations. New business
items, which are submitted by at
least 50 delegates and then debated
by the larger group, direct the NEA
to do something for a year.
After one notable debate, delegates passed a measure that said
the NEA "stands on the fundamental right to abortion"-a stronger
stance than the union had ever before taken. A number of delegates
expressed concern about taking a
clear position on the charged issue,
with some saying the measure could
cause educators who are against
abortion to leave the NEA. One delegate said she thought the union
should stick to "teacher things."
"It's not especially surprising to
see some resolutions like this [now],
particularly given the state of politics," UW-Green Bay's Shelton said.
"The teaching profession is one
that's a large majority of female
members, and I think a lot of folks
feel threatened by the spate of antichoice rulings."
Shelton said he didn't think politically charged resolutions like that on
abortion would affect membership.
"The primary way that most
people engage in their union is locally, and the average rank-andfile member may pay attention to
some of these resolutions, but there
are tons of them," he said. "I doubt

that's going to be the thing that
makes or breaks whether a significant amount of people are members
of the union or not."

Membership Losses
Last June, the Supreme Court
ruled in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees Council 31 that teachers do not have to pay "agency" or
"fair share" fees if they're not union
members. Teachers who disagree
with their union can now cut ties
completely, while still being represented in collective bargaining.
The decision affects teachers in
about half the states-the rest already had laws prohibiting unions
from charging agency fees. Union officials and outside experts expected
many members to drop out, since the
fees were usually not much cheaper
than a full membership, and teachers often kicked in the extra dollars
to become full members.
In addition to losing 88,000 agencyfee payers, the NEA did see initial
membership declines. But a projected loss of more than 10 percent
from 2018 to 2020 did not entirely
materialize, according to the union's
modified budget.
NEA has budgeted for 2.29 million full-time equivalent members in
2019-20, instead of the anticipated
2.11 million. But before the decision, NEA had recorded 2.45 million
full-time equivalents in 2017-18, although that figure included agencyfee payers. (In total, the NEA has
about 3 million members, but many
of them are part-time teachers. For
purposes of the budget, NEA just
counts full-time equivalents, which
include teachers, education support
professionals, and retirees.)
Experts have attributed the membership numbers to several reasons:
The unions have spent months,
even before the Supreme Court
decision, asking members to "recommit" to their unions. A wave of

teacher strikes, partly organized by
the unions, has incentivize teachers
to join. And despite informational
campaigns funded by anti-union
sources, at least one survey found
some teachers aren't aware of their
rights to leave the union or what
will happen if they do.
Another issue: Ending union
membership can be tricky. Some
unions have time-limited windows
as short as a few days in which
teachers can opt out of membership
payroll deductions. Several lawsuits
have been filed on this issue.

A New Category of Members
At the NEA's Representative Assembly, delegates voted to create a
new category of membership, which
could be a way for the union to recoup some of the losses it's already
seen. Nearly 70 percent of delegates
voted to amend the union's constitution to open up membership to
noneducator "community allies."
The amendment, which had failed
several times in the past, needed a
two-thirds majority to pass.
The community allies will not be
able to vote, nominate candidates for
elected office, or hold governance positions within the union. They will,
however, be able to donate to the
NEA's political action committee,
something only members are able
to do. And the move will allow union
leaders to communicate directly
with the community allies, particularly in regards to political advocacy,
in channels reserved for members.
Community allies, who won't receive all the same benefits of other
members, will pay $25 in dues.
Several delegates said this change
will allow the NEA to harness the
support of parents and community
members who showed up during
teacher strikes and demonstrations.
Delegates also considered, but
voted down, a business item that
would have required the NEA to demand that all candidates seeking a

While many debates during the
gathering were heated, some delegates said they have noticed a shift
in how their peers discuss racial and
social justice.
"I've been going to [Representative Assemblies] for about three, four
years now, and there's always been
some type of pushback with some
of the racial issues, but I feel like
... every year, it gets a bit less," said
delegate Kumar Rashad, a teacher
from Louisville, Ky. "We're moving
[in a] progressive ... direction."
This year, delegates passed two
measures in support of reparations
for the descendents of enslaved Africans in the United States. They
also passed a new business item
that directs the NEA to incorporate
the concept of "white fragility" into
union trainings and staff development, literature, and other communications. White fragility is a concept
explaining why many white people
are reluctant to talk about racism.
Delegate Ruth Luevand, a teacher
from San Dimas, Calif., introduced
the measure. A couple years ago, she
said she had proposed a similar new
business item about white supremacy. That measure failed.
This time, some delegates were
concerned about the language in the
item, worrying that it implied that
"all white people are the issue." But
many other delegates were in support of the effort to address unconscious biases head on.
"Over the last few years, I believe
NEA is becoming more open to
the conversation of race and social
justice, because our schools are becoming more diversified," Luevand
said. "This is not meant to exclude
anyone; we're not asking anyone to
step out, we're asking everyone to
step in."
And according to the member
who's expected to be the union's next
president, the NEA will continue to
be vocal about social and racial justice-and about politics.
"Those who say we have no business being in politics could not be
more wrong," said Becky Pringle,
the NEA's vice president, and a selfdescribed "social justice warrior."
Eskelsen García will end her second and last term next fall. So far,
as is common in the NEA, Pringle is
running to replace her unopposed.

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