by Nat Malkus and RJ Martin Last week, thousands of teachers gathered in Houston for the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual convention. During the convention, any group of 50 delegates could bring to the floor a new business item, which is a one-year, non-binding resolution directing the union to take a certain action. Over 160 new business items were proposed, including New Business Item 2, a motion pledging the NEA would “re-dedicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America.” The resolution also proposed that the “NEA will make student learning the priority of the Association” and that every NEA program should be evaluated by asking, “How does the proposed action promote the development of students as lifelong reflective learners?” When put to a vote of 6,000 NEA delegates, the motion failed. It’s unclear why the NEA would vote against re-dedicating itself to “increased student learning,” since the vote happened in a closed-door session. But with no obvious poison pills in the item, “supporting student learning” should be the easiest vote that these teachers take. One would think that this motion’s defeat would be a public relations nightmare, because it could fuel the…
Read the full story
