NEA Delegates Take Aim at ESEA Flaws

National Education Association President Reg Weaver opened the Association's 2003 Representative Assembly in New Orleans with a vow to fight politicians' attempts to hold schools accountable without holding up their end of the bargain.

Nearly 10,000 delegates mobilized to meet the laudable goals of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The NEA announced plans for a lawsuit challenging unfunded mandates imposed on the states by the law's federally mandated corrective actions, including the costs of open enrollment and private tutoring for schools designated as in need of improvement.

"NEA has always been dedicated to leaving no child behind -- that is nothing new to us," Weaver said in Thursday keynote address. "The stated goals of ESEA -- closing the achievement gap, ensuring highly qualified teachers, improving academic achievement -- are a page from our very own book. NEA's concern with this legislation lies with the implementation of, and the lack of adequate and equitable funding for, these laudable goals."

Weaver also told delegates, "Our members are angry, and they're frustrated. But behind all of that is emotion. There is energy. I have seen it...It is our job to help our members unleash that energy."

Educators from every state, the District of Columbia, and overseas came to to the NEA's Representative Assembly to set policies for the coming year.

As part of an organized lobbying effort, delegates sent nearly 13,000 e-mails and made more than 1,000 phone calls to Congress and state legislators over six days. They urged support for revisions in the federal elementary and secondary education law -- including provisions to ensure that over-reliance on standardized testing not interfere with teaching and learning.

Members also expressed their concerns that school improvement plans focus on helping students, teachers, and schools, and not undermine the ability of public schools to be effective. Delegates also wrote postcards to Bush administration officials that support the law's goals but urge that it be fixed and fully funded.

NEA delegates shared stories of how the law's sanctions and unfunded mandates threaten to leave the nation's most vulnerable children behind. For example, one Michigan teacher spoke of an elementary school where art, music, physical education, and recess all had fallen to the budget ax. Hundreds of members told similar stories about their concerns for the children with whom they work.

Delegates elected Lily Eskelsen, an elementary school teacher from Salt Lake City, to her first full term as secretary-treasurer. She will oversee the Association's multi-million dollar budget for a three-year term beginning September 1.

In addition, delegates elected two members of the NEA Executive Committee. Carolyn Crowder, an elementary school and music teacher from Oklahoma, and Wayne Nadeau, a high school social studies teacher from Vermont, and were each elected to three-year terms beginning September 1.

The NEA Executive Committee consists of nine members -- three executive officers and six members elected at large by the Representative Assembly.

Policy Actions

Delegates adopted a new early childhood education policy, urging that every child should be required to attend full-day kindergarten and should be offered free pre-kindergarten education. They also voted to draft and support model legislation to be proposed in state legislatures.

The early childhood education policy was developed as the result of a year-long study of kindergarten and pre-kindergarten practices by a special committee chaired by Michael Marks, a Mississippi drama teacher and a member of the NEA Executive Committee.

The committee report emphasized that quality, full-day kindergarten programs and pre-school education programs boost student achievement and help children throughout their school careers.

Each year, delegates to NEA's Representative Assembly take action on three types of policy statements -- amendments to the Legislative Program, Resolutions, and New Business Items. In addition, they vote to approve the organization's budget. Delegates overwhelmingly adopted a strategic budget that directs resources to enhance teaching and learning, advocate for children and members, and build partnerships with organizations and individuals who support public education.

NEA adopted language in its Legislative Program calling for legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination in organizations that receive federal funds, such as religious organizations that act as "supplemental services providers," or tutors under ESEA.

Changes to the Resolutions included language that specified that standardized tests be used as a supplement to other assessments developed and conducted by teachers and schools, and that tests be used primarily to evaluate student learning. New provisions also deplore test preparation that impedes teaching and learning or testing regimes that limit opportunities for students.

Delegates passed a number of New Business Items, including a number of actions related to strengthening teacher retirement systems and expanding access to health care. Other New Business Items urged NEA to plan a lobby day to influence the government pension offset and windfall elimination provision -- federal policies that reduce the pensions of public employees and to participate in the anticipated 40th anniversary of 1963 March on Washington.

NEA Honors

The late Sen. Paul Wellstone received the Friend of Education Award, NEA's highest honor. Wellstone was a tireless champion of meaningful federal support for public education. He died in a plane crash during his reelection campaign last fall. Education Minnesota President Judy Schaubach accepted the accepted the award on behalf of the Wellstone family, calling the senator a "politician who voted his conscience and lived his beliefs."

NEA also honored 18 leading advocates for human and civil rights, including three educators who pioneered the 1966 merger between NEA and the American Teachers Association, an organization that primarily represented African American teachers. Elliott Palmer, Joe Reed and Horace Reed were among those recognized at NEA's annual Human and Civil Rights dinner on July 2.

Delegates heard from a number of inspirational education leaders.

Betsy Rogers of Alabama, the 2003 National Teacher of the Year, told delegates, "I want to live in a country where our legacy to the world is how well we take care of our children."

Martin "Marty" Meyer, the NEA National Education Support Professional of the Year, spoke of his commitment to children, their education, and their quality of life. "My job description is about a building, but my job is about people," he said.

Pre-Conference Activities

NEA preceded its Representative Assembly with forums on a variety of topics, including the ESEA law. In a symposium about legal and bargaining ramifications of the law, General Counsel Bob Chanin announced NEA's intention to file suit challenging the unfunded mandates of the ESEA. Chanin cited a number of analyses that projected that per pupil expenditures would increase -- ranging from 16 percent in New York State to 84 percent in South Carolina.

At NEA's Joint Conference on the Concerns of Women and Minorities June 28 and 29, speakers included Kerry Kennedy Cuomo. She described the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, which addresses the problems of social justice in the spirit of her late father.

And in NEA's annual public service activity, NEA's student members -- together with retired and active members -- painted, pruned and planted in a beautification project at St. John Child Development Center in Garyville, La., as part of the Association's Outreach to Teach program.

The 2004 NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly will be held in Washington, D.C.

Posted July 7, 2003