National Education Association

National Education Association
AbbreviationNEA
Founded1857; 167 years ago (1857)
Type501(c)(5)
53-0115260
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., U.S.
Location
  • United States
Members
2,872,000 (2022)[1]
Key people
Becky Pringle, president
AffiliationsEducation International
Websitenea.org
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General meeting, National Education Association on July 3, 1916, at Madison Square Garden, New York City

The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States.[2] It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become teachers. The NEA has just under 3 million members and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.[3] The NEA had a budget of more than $341 million for the 2012–2013 fiscal year.[4] Becky Pringle is the NEA's current president.[5][6]

During the early 20th century, the National Education Association was among the leading progressive advocates of establishing a United States Department of Education.[7]

Driven by pressure from teacher organizing, by the 1970s the NEA transformed from an education advocacy organization to a rank-and-file union. In the decades since, the association has continued to represent organized teachers and other school workers in collective bargaining and to lobby for progressive education policy.[8] The NEA's political agenda frequently brings it into conflict with conservative interest groups.[9] State affiliates of the NEA regularly lobby state legislators for funding, seek to influence education policy, and file legal actions.

At the national level, the NEA lobbies the United States Congress and federal agencies and is active in the nominating process for Democratic candidates.[10] From 1989 through the 2014 election cycle, the NEA spent over $92 million on political campaign contributions, 97% of which went to Democrats.[11]

  1. ^ US Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards. File number 000-342. (Search) Report submitted November 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Layton, Lyndsey (March 25, 2014). "Nation's largest labor union: We want 2016 hopefuls talking about schools". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  3. ^ US Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards. File number 000-342. Report submitted September 26, 2014.
  4. ^ "IRS Form 990 2012–2013" (PDF). Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  5. ^ "New president of national teachers union a Pitt, Penn State grad". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Grunwald, Michael (September 23, 2015). "Arne Duncan's Wars". Politico. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  7. ^ Slawson, Douglas J. (2005). Department of Education Battle, 1918-1932 Public Schools, Catholic Schools, and the Social Order.
  8. ^ Marjorie Murphy, Blackboard Unions: the AFT and the NEA: 1900–1980 (1992)
  9. ^ Shelton, Jon (2017). Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-09937-3.
  10. ^ Burkins, Glenn; Simpson, Glenn (August 23, 1996). "Teachers' Unions Will Show Political Clout at Convention". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  11. ^ OpenSecrets