A bill in Congress would hold the National Education Association accountable, forcing it to once more put students and educators first or risk losing its special status as a chartered organization.
By Rich Witzel | Illinois Policy Institute
The National Education Association was given a federal charter to be a professional advocate for teachers and public education, but it has morphed into a hyper-partisan advocacy group.
Spending tens of millions of dollars on campaigns, lobbying and ideology-driven resolutions that have little to do with students has real consequences. It hurts teachers. It politicizes the classroom. It undermines trust in public education. And it’s happening under the recognition of a federal charter, a rare privilege possessed by fewer than 100 national-interest groups, such as the American Legion.
Congress is considering fixing that. The Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today Act, would hold the NEA to the same standards of neutrality, transparency and public service expected of any nationally chartered nonprofit. The STUDENT Act is intended to refocus the NEA on education.
NEA is more focused on power than education
In 2024, the NEA spent $23 million on political campaigns and another $3 million lobbying Congress. That same year, just 9% of the NEA’s spending was on representing its members, while the rest went to political causes and other union leadership priorities.
Its ideological drift isn’t hidden; it’s celebrated. At its 2025 Representative Assembly, the NEA passed a series of extremely partisan resolutions:
- Praised anti-ICE and “No Kings” protests as models for “mass democratic demonstrations.”
- Declared Trump’s political platform to be a form of “fascism” that the union must resist.
- Denounced a Supreme Court ruling that supported parental opt-out rights from LGBT instruction.
This isn’t normal union advocacy for teachers. It’s a highly politicized agenda.
Educators join unions to advocate for better pay, safer classrooms and professional dignity, not to fund politically divisive causes. The results speak for themselves: the NEA has lost nearly 400,000 members since its peak in 2009. Teachers are walking away, and public trust is eroding.
Read more here.
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