A recent congressional bill proposes to revoke the National Education Association’s (NEA) congressional charter due to the teachers union’s alleged political partisanship. The union has held the charter since 1906.
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) introduced the “National Education Association Charter Repeal Act” on July 13 and noted that the NEA “is the only union with a Congressionally-backed charter.”
“No union should have a federal charter, and certainly not an organization that failed a generation of children during COVID and is overtly pushing leftist propaganda on our students,” the two-term congressman said. “By repealing the NEA’s charter, we would send a clear message that we are serious in our fight to protect and develop the young minds in America’s education systems. Our top priority is quality education that prepares students to be successful,” he said. “The NEA’s is anything but that.”
According to Rep. Good’s press release, Congress created the NEA in 1906 to “elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching.” The press release also listed several background notes about the NEA, such as the union’s resistance to reopening schools by threatening strikes in 2020 and 2021.
Rep. Good’s bill has eight co-sponsors: Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), David Rouzer (R-NC), Mary Miller (R-IL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Josh Brecheen (R-OK). The bill is also supported by nine groups, including National Right to Work Committee, Club for Growth, and Young America’s Foundation.
This is not the first time Congress proposed revoking the NEA’s charter. AFFT previously reported on similar bills proposed in both chambers in 2022, which had the same name as this year’s bill. The sponsor of the 2022 House bill, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), said, “Rather than supporting students, the NEA consistently put the interests of progressive teachers’ unions over the learning of students. It is time for Congress to say enough is enough and revoke the NEA’s federal charter.” Reps. Good and Miller were among the seventeen listed co-sponsors of the bill.
The 2022 Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who said, “The NEA is by all accounts a political organization and should not be rewarded for their left-wing activism with a federal charter.”